Category Archives: TEFL chains

A big change at the BC

Posted on 04/12/2009 by alexcase

British Council Chennai only employs local teachers. I wouldn’t be surprised if it has been imposed on them by visa restrictions, but if it works I can see them trying to spread the idea elsewhere. A welcome change? Likely to … Continue reading →

Posted in British Council, Teaching English in India | Tagged | 13 Comments

Proof of a TEFL oligarchy??

Posted on 18/10/2009 by alexcase

I’d always scoffed at such conspiracy theories before, but I could have sworn that there were more than this many publishers of EFL materials in the UK. Maybe Delta Publishing etc have all been taken over by Saudi oil princes like Premiership … Continue reading →

Posted in British Council, ELT publishing | 14 Comments

A fireside chat with Sandy McManus

Posted on 22/09/2009 by alexcase

He’s been the most famous/ notorious online TEFL figure for around five years, and the age of Twitter doesn’t seem to have calmed him down at all. In this exclusive TEFLtastic interview, Sandy shows his sensitive side

Posted in Dogme, EL Gazette, first TEFL job, getting out of TEFL, Guardian TEFL, Humanistic language teaching, NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming), Teaching English in Spain, TEFL blacklist, TEFL blogs, TEFL career planning, TEFL chains, TEFL heroes- Mario Rinvolucri, TEFL heroes- Sandy McManus, TEFL heroes- Scott Thornbury, TEFL in the UK, TEFL villains- Paul Lowe, TEFLtrade | Tagged , | 13 Comments

How can we increase TEFL pay?

Posted on 17/09/2009 by alexcase

The question in the last blog post “Does better pay lead to better teaching?” seems more or less agreed on- maybe, but probably less so than other ways of investing that money and anyway we can never prove it well enough … Continue reading →

Posted in finding good TEFL jobs, first TEFL job, International House, Teacher training, TEFL career planning, TEFL chains, TEFL pay, TEFL strikes, TEFL unions, TEFL working conditions | Tagged | 22 Comments

Host family horror stories

Posted on 30/07/2009 by alexcase

Actually, this very nice article on EF and Kaplan in California  is far more fair than my scandal raking post title (note to The Guardian- real journalism on TEFL is possible!), but thought it might be a good chance to … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural differences/ cultural training, EF, Kaplan, links, Teaching English Abroad, TEFL chains, TESOL in the US | 1 Comment

Maybe British host families aren't the worst

Posted on 20/05/2009 by alexcase

This American family borrowed 1000 dollars off their Norweigan exchange student and then he got booted out of the country! Still, I still think host families in London win the prize. One Brazilian student told a hilarious story of rushing … Continue reading →

Posted in Cultural differences/ cultural training, EF, links, TEFL, TEFL chains, TEFL in the UK | Tagged | 2 Comments

How to spot a bad TEFL job Part One

Posted on 05/05/2009 by alexcase

– Job ads that start with descriptions of the place instead of the school. Here is a particularly extreme example: “You may have heard of the world-famous Bogor Botanic Garden in Java, Indonesia. This is Indonesia’s first and foremost botanic … Continue reading →

Posted in EF, first TEFL job, Teaching English in Asia, Teaching English in Indonesia, Technology, TEFL, TEFL career planning, TEFL chains, TEFL working conditions | 4 Comments

How to really improve the standard of TEFL courses

Posted on 01/05/2009 by alexcase

The Guardian reports (uncritically, as ever when it comes to TEFL) on the setting up of yet another organisation meant to, apparently, boost the standards of TEFL in the UK- this one called The Association for the Promotion of Quality … Continue reading →

Posted in British Council, British Council accreditation, Cambridge ESOL, CELTA, Dodgy TEFL courses, Guardian TEFL, links, Teacher training, TEFL, TEFL certificate, TEFL in the UK, TEFL qualifications, TEFL scams, TESOL, Trinity, Trinity CertTESOL | 6 Comments

An interview with Bruce V of TEFL International Part 5

Posted on 14/04/2009 by alexcase

This is pretty old now as it was part of the same interview that eventually became Parts One, Two, Three and Four. Unlike them, I couldn’t be bothered updating or sending the third set of follow up questions this time, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bruce Veldhuisen, Cambridge ESOL, CELTA, Dave Sperling's ESL Cafe, Dodgy TEFL courses, Dodgy TEFL school owners, Teacher forums, Teacher training, Teaching English Abroad, Teaching English in Thailand, TEFL, TEFL celebs/ TEFL heroes and villains, TEFL certificate, TEFL chains, TEFL forums, TEFL International, TEFL qualifications, TEFL scams, TEFL School Reviews, TEFLwatch, Trinity, Trinity CertTESOL | Tagged | 9 Comments

7 things you probably didn’t know about me

Posted on 01/02/2009 by alexcase

1. Dave Sperling still owes me ten Euros he borrowed off me at the TESOL Spain conference 2. The EF school in Eastbourne had the alternative word for the “F” part of its sign that me and my friends graffitied … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge Delta, EF, EFL geek, IATEFL, Teacher forums, TEFL blogs, TEFL chains, TEFL heroes- Jeremy Harmer, TEFL heroes- Michael Swan, TEFL heroes- Sandy McManus, TEFL heroes- Scott Thornbury, TEFL Tradesman, TEFL villains- Jennifer Jenkins | Tagged | 23 Comments