Category Archives: ELT management

Your DoS’s RMCITE (aka Nick’s Scale of Awesomeness)

Posted on 05/01/2010 by alexcase

A guest piece by Nick Jaworski of Turklish TEFL blog “Do you ever wonder why your Director of Studies likes others and not you? Do you ever get the feeling you’re being measured against some unknown scale? Well, this is … Continue reading →

Posted in CELTA, CPD, ELT management, links, personal learning network, TEFL blogs, TEFL interview questions, TEFL workshops, Twitter | Tagged , | 12 Comments

The other side of Oxford Street

Posted on 16/06/2009 by alexcase

A guest piece by “Holden Coalfield” “‘No thanks’, I said to the leafleter who offered me and everyone else a flyer for an English school as I walked out of Oxford Circus tube into this crowded and surprisingly tacky centre … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative teaching techniques, Cambridge Delta, CELTA, Dodgy TEFL school owners, ELT management, finding good TEFL jobs, first TEFL job, Job security, Learner motivation, Oxford Street schools, Teacher training, TEFL, TEFL career planning, TEFL certificate, TEFL in the UK, TEFL qualifications, TEFL scams, TEFL working conditions | Tagged | 6 Comments

Letter from a reader- DoSs as a sociological curiosity

Posted on 12/05/2009 by alexcase

“Hi Alex, I am currently researching the TEFL industry from a sociological perspective, and notice that you seem to be quite prominent in discussing the more social phenomena of the industry on blogs, etc. As someone who has been involved … Continue reading →

Posted in Becoming a Director of Studies, Dodgy TEFL school owners, ELT management, Teaching English Abroad, TEFL career planning, TEFL scams | 6 Comments

An alternative way of boosting your teaching confidence

Posted on 27/10/2008 by alexcase

“She… reported that her self-esteem was raised when her [MA in TESOL] assignments were returned with comments that revealed, in her view, a degree of closed-mindedness on the part of the tutors who had marked them.” From pg 72 of … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge University Press, CPD, ELT management, ELT publishing, Lesson planning, Materials, pre-school/ kindergarten/ very young learners, Staging, Teaching young learners, TEFL, TEFL career planning, TEFL games, TEFL reviews | Tagged | Leave a comment

Do you want the temporary buzz of moving on and/ or up too?

Posted on 21/09/2008 by alexcase

Doesn’t last of course, especially the initial thrill of being in the chaos of a third world city or in the chaos left for you by the last person who had that DoS job, but if having some kind of … Continue reading →

Posted in Becoming a Director of Studies, becoming a teacher trainer, Business English and ESP, CPD, EFL exams, ELT management, ELT publishing, finding good TEFL jobs, getting into ELT publishing, Lesson observations, links, Materials, Peer observations, Teacher training, Teaching English in Asia, TEFL, TEFL career planning, TEFL CV/ TESOL resume, TEFL qualifications, TEFL reviews, TEFL working conditions, TEFL workshops, TESOL, Usingenglish | Tagged | 2 Comments

Confucius's lessons for English teachers

Posted on 19/08/2008 by alexcase

…from the Analects’ very opening lines: “Isn’t it a pleasure when you can make practical use of the things you have studied? Isn’t it a pleasure to have an old friend visit from afar? Isn’t it the sure sign of … Continue reading →

Posted in Business English and ESP, Cultural differences/ cultural training, ELT management, IELTS, Teacher training, Teaching English in Asia, Technical English, TEFL, TEFL career planning, TEFL working conditions | Tagged | Leave a comment

The benefits of teaching in Japan

Posted on 12/05/2008 by alexcase

Number one is that the status of English teachers is not so obviously low that when I met the love of my life and asked her to marry me she actually agreed! You won’t hear a lot about it on … Continue reading →

Posted in Becoming a Director of Studies, Cross cultural training in EFL, Cultural differences/ cultural training, Discipline in the classroom, Eikaiwa, ELT management, English Teachers in Japan, IELTS, Job security, Teaching English Abroad, Teaching English in Asia, Teaching English in Japan, Teaching English in Spain, Teaching Japanese primary school children, Teaching older students, Teaching shy students, TEFL, TEFL working conditions, TESOL, TOEIC | 7 Comments

Am I past my TEFL peak?

Posted on 10/05/2008 by alexcase

I’ve been teaching three virtually identical classes every week for the last couple of months, something I hadn’t done since doing primary school classes in Thailand. For some reason the second attempt at teaching the lesson is always better than … Continue reading →

Posted in ELT management, Teacher training, TEFL, TESOL | 4 Comments

Becoming a TEFL course provider

Posted on 11/03/2008 by alexcase

You really do learn new stuff in TEFL all the time. Only a week ago I wrote an article on The Advantages and Disadvantages of Setting Up a TEFL Course  (something I did twice back when I was ambitious), and it … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge ESOL, CELTA, ELT management, links, Teaching English Abroad, TEFL, TEFL career planning, TEFL certificate, TEFL in the UK, TEFL qualifications, Trinity, Usingenglish, Via Lingua | 1 Comment

Tired of being a TEFL pleb?

Posted on 15/02/2008 by alexcase

To make up for all the navel gazing recently, have decided to give the public what it wants for once. And what the public wants is TEFL sex! That first paragraph should get some nice bizarre Google searches coming my way, but actually I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Becoming a Director of Studies, Business English and ESP, EFL exams, ELT management, finding good TEFL jobs, getting into ELT publishing, links, Teaching young learners, TEFL, TEFL career planning, TEFL CV/ TESOL resume, TESOL, Usingenglish | Leave a comment