Category Archives: TEFL blogs

The best ever IELTS humour?

Posted on 07/01/2010 by alexcase

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 calendar from The Tao of Teaching. Not sure there are many other candidates for best IELTS humour, to be honest, but this made me laugh on almost every page anyway. Any other IELTS jokes, anyone? … Continue reading →

Posted in IELTS Writing, links, TEFL blogs | Tagged | 3 Comments

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

Interview- TEFL Hero Jon Marks on the life of a full-time TEFL writer

Posted on 31/12/2009 by alexcase

It’s been a while since I’ve used the TEFL hero category, and I’ve even stripped some people of the honour (and Sandy MacManus has been pretty close a couple of times), but I’m glad I kept it going because Jon … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge Young Learner Exams, Delta Publishing, EFL exams, ELT publishing, English Teaching Professional, General English textbooks, getting into ELT publishing, Getting published, Grammar games, IELTS, links, Photocopiable worksheets, PPP (Presentation practice production), Teaching English in Korea, TEFL, TEFL career planning, TEFL games, TEFL heroes- Jon Marks, TEFL pay, TEFL Tradesman, textbooks, Writing ELT textbooks and materials | Tagged | 2 Comments

The most TEFLtastic attempts at humour in 2009

Posted on 29/12/2009 by alexcase

Wasn’t a great year for humour on TEFLtastic (must be taking my job seriously in my old age?!), but I did manage my most successful spoof yet, if not quite up to the standard of UN to Ban Unnecessary Languages: Don’t Do the … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative teaching techniques, Dogme, links, notes from the TEFL graveyard, Teaching English in Spain, Teaching methods and methodologies, TEFL, TEFL blogs, TEFL in the UK, TEFL interview questions, TEFL Tradesman, The Silent Way | Tagged | 5 Comments

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

A short diversion in which we advert to ancient Chinese wisdom

Posted on 15/12/2009 by alexcase

A guest piece by Sputnik of The TESLA Coil ” All teaching is based on deception While everything may seem hunky-dory to outsiders, those of us in the profession know that TESL is, in fact, beset by problems.  Chief among these … Continue reading →

Posted in Lesson observations, Teaching teenagers, TEFL blogs, TESLA Coil | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Netiquette and TEFLers

Posted on 13/12/2009 by alexcase

Please don’t Ask Auntie Alex if you have specific questions about netiquette, because I remain the least technology aware of all TEFL bloggers and proud of it (or so I tell myself when I stand in front of my mirror … Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, TEFL blogs, Twitter | 8 Comments

Completely meaningless TEFL research results Part One

Posted on 09/11/2009 by alexcase

I was recently discussing whether there was research to show that using an IWB (interactive whiteboard) does/ does not  lead to increased learning. Here is how I have decided to use those research results once they are finally clear: 1. Because it … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Mass ELT, Interactive whiteboard, Technology, TEFL | 9 Comments

Golly gosh, not Geos too??!

Posted on 28/10/2009 by alexcase

Two years after the demise of Nova, by far the biggest chain of Eikaiwa (English conversation) schools in Japan, rumours are that one of the remaining big three, Geos, is also showing signs of strain with late payment of wages, … Continue reading →

Posted in Eikaiwa, Geos, Let's Japan, Nova, Teaching English in Japan | 4 Comments

New TEFL articles etc October 2009

Posted on 20/10/2009 by alexcase

Chuseok holiday came just at the right point for me, so for once you can actually read my articles in the month which they are supposed to be for: Natural Interactions (in HLT magazine for the first time in many … Continue reading →

Posted in EFL CD ROMs, ELT World, Grammar games, HLT magazine, Present Perfect Continuous, Specific English, Teaching English in Turkey, TEFL, TEFL blogs, TEFL games, TEFL Tradesman | 9 Comments