Category Archives: Teaching English as a Foreign Language

How to really teach interrupting – don’t!

Posted on 12/01/2017 by alexcase

Teaching business meetings and academic discussions to Japanese learners means sooner or later having to deal with their real weak point – turn taking. I’ve therefore slowly built up what could well be the most comprehensive selection of teaching turn … Continue reading →

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More new stuff in 2016

Posted on 19/12/2016 by alexcase

  Updated 27 December 2016 On top of loads of new stuff on Xmas, telephoning, Cambridge Proficiency, etc that I’ve already mentioned, have put up these new articles and photocopiable materials in the rest of this year: Articles How to … Continue reading →

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New Xmas worksheets

Posted on 08/12/2016 by alexcase

Updated 12 January 2017 More seasonal cheer for specific language points: Xmas and New Year negotiations – NEW Describing Japanese and British Xmas and New Year – NEW Seasonal trends meetings practice (language of trends tied in with festivals and … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural differences/ cultural training, Modals, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Telephoning | 1 Comment

TEFLtastic updated nearly every day (really!)

Posted on 04/06/2015 by alexcase

You certainly wouldn’t think  it from the number of actual posts, but under the hood (also known as the classroom activities section) new links to my articles and worksheets are added several times a week. To make it easy to … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching English as a Foreign Language | 2 Comments

Why I’m a TEFLer who doesn’t worry about money

Posted on 02/02/2015 by alexcase

Given the crappy pay and job prospects, a lot of TEFLer understandably have money worries. Not me! And unlike most TEFLers who don’t worry about money, it’s not because I haven’t thought about the future. The way I see it, … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching English as a Foreign Language | Tagged | 6 Comments

TEFLtastic attempts at humour in 2014

Posted on 25/12/2014 by alexcase

I was too busy following my own recommendations on Kaizen TEFL and endlessly polishing up worksheets to see the funny side very much in 2014, but I did come up with these when I was really trying to take a … Continue reading →

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Freelance teachers’ survival kit

Posted on 23/12/2014 by alexcase

Perhaps the saddest of the many things I like about being freelance is that packing up for a day out and about teaching reminds me somewhat of setting out on a camping or backpacking trip. Here’s a list of things … Continue reading →

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More realistic lesson aims

Posted on 18/12/2014 by alexcase

One of the strongest criticism of PPP is that it never achieves typical lesson aims like “Students will be able to produce Future Continuous and use it in communication”. Or at least it seems like a strong criticism until you … Continue reading →

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Worksheets to tie Xmas in with your syllabus

Posted on 12/12/2014 by alexcase

Ones on my Xmas and New Year materials page for present tenses, past tenses, future tenses, It is/ They are, action and state verbs, adverbs of frequency, first conditional, modals, imperatives, numbers, describing foods, trends and the language of negotiations, … Continue reading →

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The TEFL Blame Game

Posted on 11/12/2014 by alexcase

A recent typically involving discussion on ELT Jam turned about halfway through into a version of my new favourite comedy podcast The Blame Game. Instead of questions like “Who do you blame for Jeremy Paxman?”, the TEFL version had questions … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching English as a Foreign Language | 25 Comments