Category Archives: TEFL chains

British Council versus Pixar to go to appeal

Posted on 07/03/2011 by alexcase

The British Council’s attempts to sue Pixar for up to 545 million pounds for stealing the storyline to all three Toy Story films from the LearnEnglishKids song “Old Scruffy Teddy” will go on to the High Court next month. In … Continue reading →

Posted in British Council | Tagged | 4 Comments

British Council to be scrapped?

Posted on 24/09/2010 by alexcase

“The BBC World Service, the British Council and the Environment Agency are among the 94 publicly funded bodies whose fate has yet to be decided.” from Quango Cuts in the Torygraph It wouldn’t seem to make sense to close all … Continue reading →

Posted in British Council, Telegraph TEFL | Tagged | 8 Comments

Being a Bell Regional Delta Tutor

Posted on 22/09/2010 by alexcase

What is a Regional DELTA Tutor? Bell is one of various providers of the online Cambridge Delta, and have their own way of supporting candidates which is similar to other providers but with slightly different roles and titles. During Delta … Continue reading →

Posted in becoming a teacher trainer, Bell, Cambridge Delta, Cambridge ESOL | 9 Comments

Eikaiwa continues to shrink

Posted on 20/09/2010 by alexcase

David English House in Hiroshima, a well respected school run by author and all round booster of professionalism in Nippon David Paul, closed for business on 1 September leaving him personally bankrupt. Sounds like they managed the process well, though, according … Continue reading →

Posted in British Council, David English House, Eikaiwa, English Teachers in Japan, Let's Japan, Teaching English in Japan, TEFL chains | Tagged | 5 Comments

The Best of Chasing TEFL Ladies

Posted on 06/05/2010 by alexcase

No, not the history of trying to find a Liz to my John Soars in the teachers’ rooms of the world… One of the reasons my last post was even more untopical than usual was that when I went to … Continue reading →

Posted in British Council | Tagged , | Leave a comment

‘Shane English School (NZ) faces liquidation’?

Posted on 17/04/2010 by alexcase

Don’t know if it’s true, and don’t know what it would mean if it was, but it would have a strange and worrying symmetry with the recent problems with GEOS Australia, also a mainly Japan-based chain with branches in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Eikaiwa, Geos, Let's Japan, Shane Language Schools, Teaching English in Japan, TEFL chains | Tagged | 5 Comments

Scientific language teaching finally arrives!

Posted on 20/01/2010 by alexcase

Hot on the heels of their takeover of Wall Street English Schools in China, launching a speaking test that is mainly marked by computer and winning a huge ESL contract in California, Pearson have launched their real bid for global … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative teaching techniques, Pearson Longman, Wall Street | Tagged | 7 Comments

Interview with a Marxist TEFLer/ TEFLing Marxist

Posted on 16/01/2010 by alexcase

Interview done by email rather than talking to a Zapatista-style balaclavaed bandit in the jungle (which would’ve been nice), but the results are just as interesting as the always thought provoking Marxist TEFL Group blog, I think you’ll find: “Why define yourself as … Continue reading →

Posted in Berlitz, Cactus TEFL, Dogme, EFL exams, EL Gazette, ELT publishing, Experience of Language Teaching, Macmillan, Onestopenglish, Teaching English Abroad, TEFL, TEFL blacklist, TEFL blogs, TESLA Coil | Tagged | 10 Comments

A typical TEFL biography (and one big difference)

Posted on 04/01/2010 by alexcase

The typical bit: “I did not know what I wanted to do but I did know what I did not want to do.  I did not want to work in the UK. “ and the untypical bit: “A panel of misguided … Continue reading →

Posted in British Council, TEFL, TEFL heroes- Alan Maley | Tagged | 1 Comment

What was the biggest change in TEFL in the Noughties?

Posted on 21/12/2009 by alexcase

If you’d asked me in 1999, I probably would’ve predicted that Task Based Learning was going to take over the TEFL world, for better or worse. What a damp squib that turned out to be, with apparently even Cutting Edge … Continue reading →

Posted in British Council, Dogme, Electronic dictionaries, ELT publishing, Humanistic language teaching, IELTS, Interactive whiteboard, International House, Pilgrims, Teaching English in Japan, Teaching English in Thailand, teaching online, Technology, TEFL blogs, TEFL in the UK, Twitter, Wall Street | 10 Comments