Category Archives: Teaching English Abroad

What does Brexit mean for TEFL?

Posted on 24/06/2016 by alexcase

The answer is, of course, that nobody knows because it all depends on various negotiations and maybe individual policies of the countries involved on working visas, but here are some possibilities: Americans finally have equal opportunities with Brits when it comes to … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching English in Europe | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Stop speaking Japanese (etc)

Posted on 04/11/2014 by alexcase

… or How to React to Random English in Your Everyday Life Abroad. This was supposed to be in Tokyo’s freebie listings magazine Metropolis, but it was so badly mangled by the editor that I decided to publish the original version for free … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching English Abroad, Teaching English in Japan | 3 Comments

Do you really need a degree to TEFL?

Posted on 11/10/2014 by alexcase

And is that right? I really got a bit het up when I realised that someone had got a job and working visa with a degree that they had awarded to themselves , and I even thought about dobbing him … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching English Abroad, TEFL qualifications | 9 Comments

A hilariously bad TEFL course model lesson plan

Posted on 08/10/2014 by alexcase

Discovered this while researching something else and my jaw just dropped with its awfulness (and I say that as someone who still has to teach with materials made up by random teachers in other branches of my schools). I’ve highlighted … Continue reading →

Posted in Online TEFL certificate, Teacher training, Teaching English in Thailand | 11 Comments

TOEFL to improve high school English?

Posted on 29/07/2014 by alexcase

The British government has finally learnt its lesson about dealing with ETS after many cock ups including the recent big fraud which means that TOEFL can no longer be used for immigration purposes, but that’s not stopping schools in Japan: … Continue reading →

Posted in ETS, Teaching English in Japan, TOEFL, TOEIC | Leave a comment

ECC may have bought data stolen from owner of Berlitz

Posted on 19/07/2014 by alexcase

According to the newspaper Japan Times, the data on 75,000 high school students that large Japanese language school chain ECC bought might have been among that stolen by someone working at Benesse, owner of the Berlitz and ELS chains, plus the … Continue reading →

Posted in Berlitz, Eikaiwa | Tagged | Leave a comment

Almost all Politecnico di Milano degrees in English from next academic year

Posted on 07/05/2014 by alexcase

Italy being Italy, sounds like it took some doing to introduce the change: Milan University to teach most degrees in English on thelocal.it, from an original story in La Repubblica.

Posted in Teaching English in Italy | Leave a comment

Why do the Japanese add extra vowel sounds to English?

Posted on 03/05/2014 by alexcase

Three answers, including one that had never occurred to me before, on my JapanExplained blog (recently more active than this one, maybe for the first time ever): Why do the Japanese pronounce English like katakana? Much more on Janglish and … Continue reading →

Posted in Janglish | Leave a comment

Vietnam bans teaching of English in regular pre-school classes

Posted on 07/03/2014 by alexcase

Actually, it’s all foreign languages, but I’d already made the title of this post too long trying to avoid the inaccurate title of the original piece: Ban on teaching English to pre-school children raises controversy Actually the policy seems quite sensible … Continue reading →

Posted in pre-school/ kindergarten/ very young learners, Teaching English in Vietnam | Tagged | 1 Comment

A very mixed story of unionisation in TEFL

Posted on 24/02/2014 by alexcase

An interesting bit of TEFL history from the Japan Times: Lado’s histoy and demise weren’t without their lessons Anyone know any stories with clearer conclusions on this most controversial of possible changes in TEFL?

Posted in Teaching English in Japan | Tagged | Leave a comment