TEFL Prague and Abroad

ESL Lesson Demonstration

2012-02-12T14:42:00.000-08:00

Create Your Own Country ESL Demo - Low Intermediate Level

To kick off lesson planning, here is a demo lesson that I did about a year ago to a group of practice Czech Students on one of the TEFL courses at The Language House. It's a good example of a Task Based lesson where the students, in this case, have to create a new country in groups based on about 10 new lexical words like - population, export/import, capital city, landscape...etc. At the end of the lesson, students discuss and compare their new countries to each other using the correct sentence structures and lexis that we taught earlier in the lesson.

Is this an example of my best work? Of course not, but it demonstrates some positive qualities that you want in a lesson. A couple of things to note though about the video -

1. I had never taught these students before.
2. I hadn't taught a single English lesson in about 1 year because I had been away from Prague.
3. This was a spur of the moment thing and I didn't have a lot of time to prepare.

I'm mentioning these things to illustrate the point that you don't need to know your students well or have something special prepared to achieve positive results like high output, high participation, motivation, engagement...etc in your lessons. You just have to TRY to do the right things. My only materials in this entire lesson was one piece of flip chart paper. That's it!

Too many times teachers make excuses or blame their students for why things didn't go their way. In reality, it's usually the teachers fault because they failed to do what was right, or needed, to get the students involved. Your job as a teacher is to mold your class to do what you want them to do and to get them involved in almost an effortless way. I think for me, my use of humor, my fast pace, my high (but not overpowering) energy and the constant friendly pressure I put on them to get them speaking especially in the beginning, but also throughout the lesson, is what ultimately gets the lesson to where I want it to be.

I'll write a complete lesson plan of this particular lesson later but here are the basic steps. The actual lesson was about 50 minutes long and obviously the video has been shortened, but you should still be able to see the main stages.

Intro - guessing and talking about what country I'm from - (since I don't know these guys this is almost serving as an icebreaker)

Lead in - students in groups discuss what they like and dislike about their own country

Lexis - 10 words elicited and drilled

Study - students practice answering and asking questions to each other using these words

Task Creation - students create in groups their new country

Activation - students compare countries with different groups and ask each other questions using the target language, sentence structure presented. At this stage, I want the output to sound as authentic and realistic as possible.

Wrap up the lesson with some feedback and correct some mistakes from the activation on the board.

Notice throughout the lesson I'm monitoring. I'm actively involved in the students' group work. I'm helping them practice pronunciation, sentence formation, eliminating the use of L1 (Czech) and encouraging them and giving them positive feedback. This is essential if you want results in the classroom. I will say that my TTT is probably a bit higher than normal but I used it to develop a better rapport with the students and inject humor into the lesson. If I were to teach them again, it wouldn't be necessary to use as much language.

Cheers,

W.

TEFL Prague Courses
The Language House

Lesson of the Day and Lesson Planning

2012-01-31T13:02:00.000-08:00

I've decided as a challenge to create an English Lesson of the Day for (hopefully each day) for ESL/EFL. I've always been pretty fast on my feet and creative in this department and that might be more unique and interesting then linking EFL related articles or going of technical aspects of teaching. I will still be getting into that content, but hopefully this something that everyone can use. I'm going to lay out the ESA structure and tips in the next few posts and after that I'll start with some unique and handmade/created plans that yu can use. If you have any requests for lesson with specific grammar points, lexis, target language, levels...etc just leave a comment and I'll design one for you. Can you ask for anything better? Keep an eye out!

TEFL Prague Courses The Language House http://www.thelanguagehouse.net

Motivation - Making it Work 2

2011-10-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

Dressing up/taking on roles
is a great way to increase motivation

The concept of motivation and motivating your students is really TEFL 101, but we should nevertheless go over it briefly. It's really easy for everyone to nod their heads and say 'yes motivating students is important', but actually doing it and doing it consistently and effectively is a different matter.

let's begin...

There are Two main types of motivation and an additional two that are specific for language learning.

Motivation for Language Learning
Instrumental/Integrative
Instrumental meaning that the students are using the language to perform an outside task or duty. Perhaps they need to improve their language to complete a test for university or for their job or because they need have to travel somewhere. Integrative involves them learning the language because they have an affinity for the culture or people of that language and want to be more involved with it.

What does this mean in the classroom?

Every student unless they are forced to attend your language classes are learning the language for one of these reasons or a mixture of both. Find out WHY your students are taking the class and it will help you motivate them during the course. If you have a student that you know is only in the classroom because he needs to pass a test, focus on that. Make a passing comment that your specific activity is important because it will help him do better for x or y reason. Likewise, if you are a native speaker and know that your students are interested in your culture, get into the specifics. Bring up funny cultural things that they would not be aware of.

Two main types of Motivation

Intrinsic/Extrinsic

I think we all know what these mean. Intrinsic coming from the inside or internally and extrinsic coming from an outside force.

What does this mean in the classroom?
You need to be using both at all times. Students naturally come into your language classroom (most of the time at least) with some intrinsic motivation. I mean, they've usually paid for the course...so there has to be something there. The English language has a lot of built in benefits of learning that most other languages simply don't have. Let's take a look at some of the ways that learning English can benefit your students

1. The ability to travel
English is still the most common language in the world. If your students can speak it, they can essentially communicate and travel wherever they want. If they can't, it makes even leaving their borders a confusing and difficult task

2. The ability to make international friends
I have friends from all over the world. We usually communicate in English.

3. An enormous amount of media, entertainment, books, movies and music that are all in English
It doesn't mean that most of this stuff is good, but it's out there. Wherever you go around the world, you're exposed to English. Understanding it and being able to decipher it is important.

4. Worldwide job opportunities
If you can speak English well you simply have more opportunities in terms of employment

Bring these up every now and again to your students

Aside from the above, what YOU do as teacher is what really can motivate students to come to class and enjoy their time with you. Some general things to think about are...

1. Are you making your lessons as engaging as possible?
2. Is your pace brisk and void of lag periods?
3. Have you found interesting content for your students?
4. Do you vary your teaching technique, style, dress?
5. Are you aware of how your students feel about you and your lessons?
6. Does you classroom function as a community where students feel comfortable talking to each other?
7. Are you trying daily to add humor to your lessons?

Extrinsic Motivation
Deals with external things that keep students motivated.

1. Token Economy works great
2. A friendly nod
3. Encouragement
4. Grades
5. Fun punishments if your students speak L1 or are late or something like that
6. Actually recording your students' progress so they can see their improvements
7. Using competition
8.Having clear goals and objectives each lesson that students can reach
9. Being firm with what you want and not giving into students' bad behavior

Final Thoughts

Motivation and how your students feel about you, your lessons and learning English is your responsibility, or at least you should look at it that way. Many teachers never really look at their own abilities and ask how they can be better or what they should do differently. Instead they blame the students. They complain that they don't show up or do homework or don't' participate. Blaming students isn't going to help your classroom.
I've had hundreds of classes and taught thousands of students. It is true that you will sometimes run into the truly regrettable student that simply doesn't care at all, every now and then, but most of your students can be shaped. Most students have the potential to be great language learners if given the right push. YOU just have to be willing to do what is necessary.

For Example...

I had a teacher trainee on our Language House TEFL course in Prague years ago who simply couldn't engage a class and it was hurting his grade and student evaluations on the course. Technically, he was good. He did everything he was supposed to. He had sound lesson structure, good activities and adequate error correction. He just couldn't get students motivated and they simply didn't want to be in the classroom with him. His next lesson was on the emergence of Somali pirates and how it was effecting trade.
I told him that the most important thing he needed to do was break the pattern of his presentation and how he related to the class. I wanted him to do something to keep the students on their toes and get him out of his personal bubble that he had created between himself and his students. He needed to do something to face his insecurities in the classroom and his natural shyness that these students confused as being resentment.

So I told him to dress up as an old school pirate for his next lesson.

It would surprise the class completely and whatever image they had has him as being an uptight teacher would vanish immediately. It made sense to the lesson and it was something that he COULD do and do instantly. Changing someones personality in the classroom would take a lot of time, this would be immediate. All he would have to do, would be to put it on.

Well he didn't. He said he would, but when it came time to actually teach, he made an excuse and taught without it. The lesson was technically fine, but when it came to the students reviewing him as a teacher he got low scores. Why? Why wouldn't he just put it on? I knew that he respected my opinions and training techniques. So why not just wear it on and surprise the class?

The answer is that most people don't want to change. They don't want to go the extra step or make the extra effort. Don't settle for mediocrity. Use your classroom as a training ground to improve and experiment with new things.

Cheers.

C.W.

TEFL Prague Courses
The Language House
http://www.thelanguagehouse.net

What Makes a Good Teacher? - Getting started 1

2011-09-04T11:56:00.000-07:00

See, even Robin Williams gets it
- wait he's bipoloar

What makes a good teacher? It's a question that gets asked lot by students of The Language House TEFL/TESOL and university students that I connect with who are interested in teaching abroad. While the question is vague and definitely a bit subjective, it's not that hard to answer. Here's a list of what I think is important from my own experience in the field and watching literally thousands of lessons from other teachers. These aren't in any particular order but I have added an asterisk on some that I think are really important.

1. Creativity*
Creative people will obviously have an easier time being creative in the classroom. Such a needed skill for making your lessons interesting and finding new and dynamic ways of presenting material. The props you use, the interactions you create, the role-plays you design will greatly help you in the classroom. Note - a lot of more analytical minded teachers will make excuses regarding their creativeness and say that they are 'simply not like that.' BS I say. Everyone can be creative if they put the energy into it. You just have to make it part of your lessons and it will eventually become part of your personality.

2. Organization
Being prepared, having assignments done, having materials ready... all of these things will make your students believe that they are in the presence of a professional. If you are a naturally disorganized person as I am, too bad. It's part of the job and part of being good. Take the extra time before the lesson to set your activities up. Do a double/triple check to make sure you have everything you need.

3. Punctuality
Being on time and ending on time. As with being organized it gives an air of professionalism.

4. People skills
You can't be a good teacher without having a love for other people and need to see them succeed. If you can't communicate well with people or if you are shy about interacting with strangers, you are really going to have to work on it. YOU have to be the instigator of communication in the classroom. YOU are the one that sets the tone and feel of your classroom/lessons.

5. Passion/compassion
A love for teaching, the subject matter and the time with your students/class is a must. You will be tired, you will be unmotivated during many, many lessons. Too bad, get over it. Your job is to motivate and inspire. If you are not feeling it that day, fake it. Nothing is worse than seeing a tired teacher that clearly doesn't want to be in the classroom.
I used to have a crazy schedule in Prague, training TEFL, doing ESL, managing a TEFL course, doing emails and promotional work. It was nuts and I was exhausted most days out of the week. It didn't matter though. When you step into the classroom, you should always be ready to bring it and give it 100 percent if you can.

6 Goal-oriented behavior*
So, so important for language teachers to adopt a model of goals. Without goals, what are you doing? You should have goals for your class/lesson as well as for the semester. Why are these goals important? How can I test them? What things can I do to help them achieve them? What parts of the lesson/curriculum are not helping and can be stripped out? All of this stuff is important. If you don't have goals/objective and ways to test them, then all you're really doing is having your students talk without any purpose.

7. Empathy*
Without a doubt the most important thing you need as a teacher. Hands down. Don't think of empathy as you caring for your students, it's not about that. It's about knowing what they need, what motivates them, what they can and can't handle, when to push harder and when to back off.
Again, some people have a natural sense for others and some are in the dark. Don't let that hinder you. Scan your class, how do they feel? Are they enjoying the lesson? How can you tell? What do these individual students need language wise? Language, motivation, grammar, lessons, interactions...etc vary greatly depending on whether you are teaching teenagers, middle aged businessmen, elderly ladies. The list goes on and on. How do you approach these individual groups? How do you make the language relevant for them? How should you dress? This all deals with empathy. Knowing your students and knowing what makes them tick. If you have that sensitivity, you can design and crate

8. Knowledge
You have to know what you're doing. You have to know grammar and language and all of those crazy questions that students will ask. If you don't, you'll be caught off guard and will literally blackout for a second or two. When you start teaching you are going to be thinking about so many different things. Your mind has to approach language from a totally different way and it is very easy to forget even the most basic of things. It's kind of like being self aware as your driving. If you really start thinking about how to drive, you'll notice that you start making mistakes. Language teaching is the same way. We are not used to analytically looking at our own language and why/how it works. When we do, we blank. Learn as much as you can, practice as much as you can and you'll be able to face head on, confidently, any question that a student asks you.

9. Energy
Big energy always wins out over passiveness in the classroom. It's actually hard for a lot of teachers of other subjects to grasp that. You need to use your body and move around the classroom. This doesn't mean that you are screaming and dancing all class, but when it comes time to turn up the energy, you need to be able to hit that switch. If you can't, your students are going to be bored.
When teaching group classes you should be standing up, monitoring crouched and able to hover to group to group. Think of yourself as being a bee or hummingbird darting in and out of student group interactions
* Note- the energy you display will be a direct result of your group/interaction .Some classes are going to need high end energy, others not as much. Use your best judgement.

10. Adaptability/flexibility and the ability to improve
Be flexible with your structure and organization and let your instincts/empathy of the class guide you. If things are working, stick with them. If not, change it up. Be quick and fast and be able to mold and change freely. Everything should be smooth and you should have an arsenal of different techniques and approaches in case things don't work out.
Also look at the ability to teach as being a constant process. Work on getting better at your skills in the classroom. Look to others for different approaches and never assume that improvement is an impossibility. There are so many highly educated teachers with MAs and PHDs that are stagnate in their abilities. Don't settle for that. Never let your ego get in the way of progress. There's always more to learn and getting to the level of true mastery is as rewarding as the process it takes to do so.

Ending comments
Some new teachers are going to be naturals and you yourself might not be. It's going to piss you off quite a bit seeing someone excel fast while you don't. Do not get discouraged in the beginning and certainly don't quit. Teaching is about skills and learning skills. It can take time and energy and a lot of mistakes and horrible lessons until you get it down. The trick is to work at it, practice being better, learn as much as you can and you'll get there.

Cheers,
Chris Westergaard
TEFL/TESOL Prague Courses
The Language House

Intro to TEFL/TESOL Teaching Methodology - Getting Started

2011-08-01T18:04:00.000-07:00

Most of my training experience comes on a face to face basis and I've never really had to write in depth my teaching techniques and how I really get it to all work in the classroom. It's pretty easy to list a bunch of tips, and they do help a bit, but without depth behind them, they really won't be of much use. Most of the previous posts have dealt with deciding to take a TEFL course and how to get the most out of it. What happens after that though? How do you actually teach well? It's going to be a daunting task, but I'm planning on making the next few dozens posts related specifically to getting better in the classroom. I'll try to keep all of the posts systematic and have a logical progression. That being said, don't shoot me if I jump around a bit.

TEFL Prague Courses
The Language House
http://www.thelanguagehouse.net

TEFL Course Review Video

2011-07-19T22:56:00.000-07:00

I gotta give a hand to all of the great graduates that let us have fun on the course. If it wasn't for them, the course just wouldn't be the same. That being said, I love making these videos.

Here's a compilation video of a game we play on the first day. Thanks again everyone.

TEFL Prague Courses The Language House http://www.thelanguagehouse.net

A Particular Set of Skills

2011-06-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

Living in Prague for nearly a decade has given me a unique skill set that only other Prague Expats can truly achieve. The city will hone your body over the years and give you nearly superhuman attributes leaving friends and strangers back home in wonder and awe. Remember people, with greater power comes greater responsibility. If you decide to live abroad for a number of years, you too will gain these powers.

I couldn't possibly list them all, but here are the main ones.

Tram Grip Strength (Raw Power): From years of riding Prague trams and giving my seat up to the elderly, my tram grip strength borders on the level of being superhuman. Nothing can break it. Whether it's holding onto a tree branch to survive a deadly tsunami or riding a bull, my tram grip strength will never fail me

Bagging Skills (Blinding Dexterity): In Prague you have to do all of your own grocery bagging. It's intense in the beginning and you will fail miserably the first time. The years of practice will give you lightening quick response times that will make others marvel at your new skills. I'm a lefty by nature but when it comes to bagging groceries, both of my hands are skillfully equal. I can do the one hand feed and other hand place technique or I can double stuff with both simultaneously with lightening speed and efficiency. Grocery baggers at Trader Joes or Whole Foods ain't got nothing on me.

Eating While Walking (Expert Multi-tasking): The nature of English teaching is that you might not really have a proper lunch hour. You're going to be eating on the go a lot. I've reached the level of multitasking where I can maintain a brisk walking speed while talking on my phone, chewing gum, planning a lesson all as I wolf down a smazeny syr in a matter of seconds and giving the occasional bewildered Czech a high-five.

Drinking Hard Liquor (Improved Constitution): Czechs make their own form of plum brandy moonshine (Slivovice) and man is it rough. Worse off (or better off if you're an alcoholic) is that they always want to share it with you. If you ever are invited to a Czech's cottage (and you will be) you are going to be offered this stuff and you are going to be offered it often. Everybody seems to make it from uncles to grandmothers and the older the generation's concoction , the more powerful and vile it is. If you think you can look the ninety year old Czech granny in the eyes and tell her 'no thanks', you are surely mistaken. The first time you drink homemade Slivovice, you will believe with all your soul that you are about to die. After years of giving into Granny and the rest of the town folk (they all make their own) your body will become a steel trap. You will have the ability to ingest and digest any liquid or solid with ease.

Eyes of Cold Blue Steel (Dominating Presence): Czech's like to stare and they will stare at you often. In the beginning of your training you will try to stare back, but you will lose. Years of training though will give you this same ability and your stare can be used as a weapon. No more will you be intimidated by snobby waiters, office bureaucrats, rude drivers...etc Flash them your Cold Blue Steels and they'll turn away with their tails between their legs.

Resistance to Body Odor and Other Nasty Smells (Improved Toughness): It's getting better with the youth in the city, but the older generation, especially men, like to lay off the Right Guard or any other kind of deodorant. The smell sometimes on a hot summer day in a crowded metro can be overpowering. Dozens of men with years upon years of deodorant neglect - their body odors mixing and combining to make a vapor more potent than riot tear gas. At first it's unbearable, but in time your sense of smell will toughen to that of a police K9 dog unit. Nothing phases me now.

Dog Poop Avoidance (Improved Eyesight and Tracking): Czechs love dogs, have dogs and walk dogs all over the city. These dogs poop everywhere and their owners seldom clean up. Every Expat in Prague at sometime (usually multiple times) has stepped directly into a hot steamy pile of dog poop. There's a lot in the city and your untrained, novice and dare I say pathetic eyes, can't possibly notice it all. And God help you if walk off the beaten path of the cobblestone sidewalks...God help you. Walking on patches of grass in Prague is akin to walking through a minefield in Afghanistan.

Years of sidestepping and scanning for the brown, orange, yellow, yellow-brown, brown-black, black, orange-yellow-purple substance, has given my eyes hawk-like observational abilities. I could play ultimate frisbee for a 5 weeks straight in Letna Park and you ain't seeing nothin' on my white sneakers.

There are so many more that I could list, but I don't want to overload anyone's brain with the possibilities. Take caution young students and heed my warning. Keep these abilities to yourselves and use them responsibly. The world is often afraid of people with powers that they don't understand.

Cheers

TEFL Prague Courses The Language House

A Little Less Conversation-A Little More Action!

2011-06-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

   Challenging Higher Education in Education

Many times as educators gain more experience and qualifications, the teaching game becomes less about skill work and more of an intellectual pursuit. Regardless of what advanced degree you get in TEFL or really any field of education, there is change from skill work to theory and research. We start out as brand new teachers knowing nothing. Our TTT is horrible. We have no classroom presence. We can't lesson plan. We have zero understanding of error correction. This list could go on and on.

When we start our first training in TEFL we learn some skills. I think these days probably a majority of ELT teachers begin with some form of TEFL course. These skills are great and we start practicing. We bomb our first lesson, but over the course of the training we keep improving. We practice our TEFL skills from concept check questioning, to graded language, to effective monitoring...etc. We get better, and by the end of the course/training, we can at least hold our own the classroom.

   Then we graduate, and that's really where our skill training ends.

If you take a look at any advanced degree in TEFL, you find only a smidgen of skill training. The DELTA for example only has 4 hours of observed teaching practice compared to 300 hours of assignments and paperwork. It doesn't end there, MA programs in education are the same thing. Tons of methodology research, paper writing, form filling - nearly nothing in observed teaching practice. This would be great if teachers want to work in a lab and do research or write papers, but it's not helping them to actually teach.

Look back at your educators throughout your life. Some were great and some really missed the mark. How is that possible? How is that you can have two teachers who have studied TEFL or education to the advanced level and one is amazing and the other appears to never have taught a good lesson in their life?

The reason is that often teachers and universities forget that there is a complete difference between knowing and doing. Knowing how to teach, means nothing. I know how to do a back flip and I know how to throw a baseball. It doesn't mean that I am a gymnast or pitcher. I could read every book, attend every lecture and ace every written test on these subjects, but I'm still going to have the same ability as I did before.

Education is exactly the same, but for some reason, it is ignored. Take aviation where it is not ignored. What if pilots only received 4 hours of actual observed flying practice and the rest of the time was spent in a lecture or writing an essay. Would this be acceptable? Would you consider this pilot to be an expert?

My own feeling why this is, is that it would be too hard to set up practice teaching sessions for hundreds of graduate level training classes and that a significant number wouldn't pass. Setting up 12 hours of practice teaching for 15 TEFL trainees is hard, doing it for a graduate level course of 100 students would require about 20-30 classrooms. Universities of all kinds simply wouldn't be able to do it, so they don't. You would also need dozens of observers to watch the teachers and a pool of hundreds of students to set up practice classes. Then you have to account for teachers simply not being good. How many would fail out? How many educators have the ability to learn these skills and do them to the advanced/expert level? Probably not a whole lot.

Whether it's an MA in TEFL or PHD there seems to be a disappointing correlation between how that translates into the classroom and being 'good'. I've met PHD level TEFL teachers that were very impressive and knew their stuff and I've met some that were literally afraid of doing a practice lesson because they had major holes in their skill game.

There needs to be a change. There needs to be a little less conversation and a little more action in TEFL and education as a whole. Universities and other forms of higher education in ELT need to incorporate a lot more hands on training into their curriculums to shape up or weed out lackluster teachers.  Teachers of all backgrounds and educational levels on their own need to return to the things that make us solid teachers and that is the return the practice and improvement of ELT skills.

TEFL Prague Courses The Language House

Best of Prague

2011-06-17T15:00:00.000-07:00

I posted the question to some graduates living and teaching in Prague on what they felt were the 5 best things about living in the city (with negatives as well)

Courtney:

Likes: the ex-pat circuit is close and like family. public transportation is fantastic (until they're striking). Opportunities for entertainment and fun social experiences abound. Parks!

Michelle:

Likes: lots of paid holiday -- although that might not be typical for teachers.

Indigo

Likes: 1). Ease of travel around the city and around Europe! 2.) Its a safe city, overall if you are wise to the night freaks. 3.) Lots of culture and tons of festivals- architecture, music, dancing, opera, theater, literature - in many languages. 4.) Great beer and breweries to visit, and great places to drink said beer all over the country. 5.) Not only are you in a big city, but you also have the nature. Plenty of huge parks and forests in and out of the city. Many places to do outdoor activities all year round.

Adam

Likes: 1) The interesting culture/food/traditions/language, 2) the willingness and enthusiasm Czechs have when learning/speaking English/hanging out with Anglo-speaking people, 3) the beauty of the city, 4) how openly "lustful" Czechs seem to be, 5) how easily accessible the "nature" is.

Roy

Likes:

Beer, women, transportation, architecture - but not necessarily in that order.

Andrea

Likes: 1.Things to do! From cultural events, restaurants, pubs, beer gardens, day trips, the list goes on and on. 2. Architecture & history.... I'm on year 3 here in the C.R. and I don't get bored walking the streets and learning new things. 3. Czech interest in language and different cultures. 4. Size of Prague... its' big enough, but not too big. It's a very walkable city. 5. Once a Czech decides they like you, you are in. They are very loyal and awesome once you can crack that shell.

***************

Negative things that they mentioned were

a. Czechs can be pretty stoic when you first meet them

b. The visa process is tasking

c. Lack of air conditioning

d. Government bureaucracy

e.Costumer service

f. Technology is still backwards

TEFL in Korea - the best and the worst

2011-06-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

I posted a question to a bunch of Language House TEFL graduates asking them to list their 5 favorite and least favorite things about working in Korea.

Here's what they posted

Heather L.

The Good

1. People compliment you in the streets, good self-esteem booster.

2. Awesome food, if you love spicy food.

3. Drinking in the streets is legal.

4. Noraebongs are actually fun entertainment.

5. Strange dancing girls, or mimes, or men on stilts performing things to advertise a company on random street corners.

The Bad

1. Pollution, gray skies nearly every day, which leave a strange smell that takes awhile to get used to.

2. Lack of organization in many hagwons and you`re expected to change your plans to meet the new classes or meetings.

3. Asian style expectation that westerners should work as hard as they do....which is all day every day.

4. Illness - caused by Koreans feeling the need to work when they are sick and spread germs making you sick every month.

5. Strange game children like to play which involves sticking their fingers together like a gun and shoving them in your butt crack, called dong chim or something like that, it's always unexpected and awkward.

Matt L.

The Good

Public schools in Korea:

1. 2-3 hours of prep/lesson planning time a day.

2. 22 classes a week and you get paid for full time.

3. Huge online community with tons of resources.

4. Korean co-teachers who can help with classroom management.

5. Great vacation time, usually almost a month for summer and winter break.

The Bad

1. Some co-teachers don't contribute.

2. School politics can get a little bizarre, the principal and vice principal are like gods in the school.

3. Class sizes can get a little big, I've had 40-50 student classes.

4. There can be huge differences in levels among the students, depending on who goes to hagwons and who doesn't.

5. Co-teachers and the textbooks sometimes try to teach some very strange English. Korea is a great place though, I just signed up for my 3rd year at my schools, the people are great, the food is awesome, great expat community, the basics of the language and reading are pretty easy, and its really easy to get decent flights all across Asia.

Mike B.

The Good

1) You will gain an immense appreciation for having a normal/real childhood.

2) The pay is great and start up costs are super low.

3) In Busan or Seoul there are many foreigners and a pretty lively nightlife.

4) You can drink in public.

5) You get to live in the twighlight zone. There are more things that will make you say "wtf" than one can even imagine, and It is more often amusing than annoying.

The Bad

1) Its way more expensive to travel to a different country than in Europe.

2) There are alllll kinds of problems you can have if you choose the wrong hogwan or get placed by epik in the wrong public school.

3) pollution and the garbage system.

4) Everything is backwards here. Even the count in a baseball game. I could go on all day on this one but thats a whole nother thread.

5) Ajummas - A vast fleet of eldery korean women who believe that their superior age not only entitles them to automatic respect but also gives them the right to disrespect all those younger than them.

Rebecca L

The Good

1. The pay is good and the jobs provide apartments for you to live in. The utilities, gas, and internet are usually below $100 for all three combines. So cost of living is low.

2. The beaches are just a subway ride away. Great in the summertime.

3. Costco and Homeplus or Tesco provide western food to buy, so I can cook the same food that I eat in the US.

4. The cost of flying to other Asian countries is fairly low and the cost of hostels or hotels is really low too! And you can get massages really cheap too!

5. The public transportation rocks! So cheap!

The Bad

1.No matter your size, if you are a foreigner, you are considered fat. LOL! I know a girl who is size 4, but she is called fat. It's crazy! They are so vocal to you about dieting and exercising.

2. Everybody takes public transportation, so people get pushy and crammed on the subways and buses. You learn to get pushy back. LOL!

3. They put chili sauce in everything! Even if you order fried chicken with no sauce, you get chicken that was first coated with chili sauce then had the breaded stuff put on, so even that;s spicy.

4. If you work in a Hogwan, or private institution, you have very little vacation time.

5. People burp and spit freely here. It's GROSS! If they are sick, they hack up loogies, too! Right in front of you!

So what can we take from these comments? It seems as if the pay and teaching conditions are quite good. You just have to be able to put up with the locals calling you fat while spitting on you, old ladies cutting you in line, and the ever sneaky Korean kid trying to cram their finger up your butt. Don't worry though, since alcohol is allowed in public, you'll be drunk most of the time and won't care.

Count me in!

Chris W

TEFL Prague Courses

The Language House

http://www.thelanguagehouse.net

TEFL Course Preparation Tips

2011-06-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

   How to Prepare for your TEFL Course

Internet forums are always abuzz with future TEFL students asking what they can do to prepare for their course. Here are some of my tips on what you can do to make sure you have an edge over your classmates and help make the transition into teaching and living abroad easier.

I. Things to Improve your Teaching Pre-Course

1. Learn your own Language - You need come into your course with some kind of grammatical base. It will make everything easier. Know the tenses, perfect tenses, continuous vs simple forms, structures and functions...etc. Know at least the basic kinds of verbs and parts of speech. The more the better if you ask me. There is a plethora of websites and books out there dealing with grammar. Start learning it.

If you don't know where to start, ask your TEFL provider for some assistance. If they can't give you a sheet or anything to help you learn the grammar, you've picked the wrong program. At The Language House TEFL, we have a grammar test at the end of the course and require an 80 percent on it to pass. It's difficult, but guess what? An ESL teacher not knowing grammar is like a chiropractor not knowing the names of bones in the body.

2. Work on Public Speaking - Language teaching is all about presentation. You are going to be up in front of a lot of people for the rest of your life or career teaching. Work on this if you are afraid of speaking in public. Teaching is not like giving a speech or a lecture. You are not going to have a podium to hide behind. Getting some speaking practice in before your course will help you get rid of those jitters that can crop up during your practice sessions.

3. Work on Voice Control - Communicating as an ESL teacher requires excellent voice and language control. To illustrate, how do you communicate with beginner English language students? You speak slowly, clearly and basically to them. All of this is a slap in the face to our educational upbringing where we have been taught to speak eloquently, use complex language and sentence structure.
  This seems like an easy thing to do, but you would be surprised. If you can't control your voice, you won't be able to teach well. Period. I've seen dozens of teachers simply break and drop out of teaching because they were unable to control their voice and output (TTT). As you get nervous, your voice speeds up. The faster you talk, the more your students cannot understand you and the more nervous you get. This begins a downward spiral of TEFL failure.
  I actually force my TEFL students to practice speaking slowly and basically to each other. The trick is to not sound like a caveman or unnatural. So my advice - sit in front of a mirror and work on speaking slowly. Voice should be clear, speed should be slow, vocabulary should be basic and intonation should be audible. The rule is thumb is to be able to communicate what you want as directly as possible.

4. Read up on TEFL

Jim Scrivener's "Learning Teaching" is my favorite book. Spend the 25 bucks and buy it, read it, learn it.

5. Get in Contact with Past TEFL Graduates - Makes sense to do this. You'll probably get a lot of great inside information regarding the course and tutors. If a school cannot get you in contact with at least a dozen past graduates, there's something up and the TEFL school should be avoided. I've heard schools say things like because of privacy issues they cannot give out graduate contact. Bullshit, simply bullshit. In my experience, our TEFL graduates have always been helpful with potential students and as long as you ask them if you can use their personal info they are totally fine with it. If a school can't give you a list of students who you can contact on facebook, there is something really wrong with them.

6. Practice Being more Animated - This can be paired up with public speaking, but it's often an important skill. Teaching requires you to use your body and hands to gesture and mime things to your students. A lot of new trainees are very uncomfortable doing this and tense up. Practice it. Teaching a course, especially to lower levels, is almost like playing a 90 minute game of charades. Get used to using your body. I know it sounds basic, but it's so important.

  Preparing for Living Abroad

Doing well on the course is only half of the coin. You also want to plan for your new life abroad. I'll keep most of these basic, because they are basic.

1. Have Enough Money in the Bank. You'll need it

2. Have a Passport and Visa (if you need it)

3. Buy your Tickets Early. I suggest paying a bit more money to have a ticket that you can cancel or switch the dates with ease. Things can come up and plans get changed. Flexibility is always a good feather to have in your cap.

No matter where you go, she'll get ya

4. Take Care of all of your Issues Back Home Before Leaving. Don't leave your home in chaos and move abroad. It's just going to follow you wherever you go. Deal with it first, and then make the move. Addiction is serious, family problems are serious, mental health is serious. Leaving for a bit might sounds like a breath of fresh air, but your problems will chase you around the world.

5. Connect with Expats living in the City. One of the most stressful things whilst (how British of me) on the course is that you are going to need to eventually find your own place. You can start looking before you leave or you can start looking a day before you're going to get kicked out of our temporary accommodation. Look before. It will help you get a feel for the different areas and prices and what you want.

6. Start Learning the Language - Why not? Get a jump start on it. It will help you get around the city, impress your fellow students and tutors and make you focus on the move abroad. If you don't have the funds to take a proper course, then learn online. There are tons of videos, podcasts and free materials for most languages out there. Start learning and practicing.

*Note: Don't assume that even if you live in a foreign country for years you'll automatically pick up the language. Most English teachers in Prague can hardly speak any Czech at all, even after years of living there. You learn by making the effort and practicing. Start now.

7. Read up on the Culture, History and Current Events - Everything becomes more personal and more fascinating when you know the culture and history of your new country. Use the internet or buy a proper book on the country/location you are going to. It will make you value the experience and get you more excited about your new future life.

8. Ask your TEFL Provider if there is Anything you are Unsure of - I mean not everyday, that would be annoying. However, if you are confused about something, there's nothing wrong with simply sending out an email and having them help you.

9. Start Looking for Work Early - The demand in a lot of past TEFL hotspots is waning. That's the reality. Jobs are out there, but it takes more effort. Search forums, contact your TEFL provider, network with expats and past graduates, maybe even contact actual schools. You want to hit the ground running. During your course, you're most likely going to be overwhelmed. Get@it early and it will improve your chances of being successful.

Cheers,
Chris Westergaard
TEFL Prague Courses - The Language House

TEFL in Prague - Pros and Cons

2011-06-08T13:51:00.000-07:00

Making the decision to teach abroad is an important one. Wherever you end up, there are going to be positives and negatives to look out for. Each country is different, but a lot of the experience of teaching abroad can be applied to different locations. My speciality is obviously TEFL in Prague, Czech Republic, so let's start there. Perhaps later on I can get some graduates who I know to offer their experiences of teaching in Asia or other parts of the world.

Let's start out with the positives

9:30 am or 9:30 pm, it don't matter

1. You'll Most Likely Have a lot of fun (A LOT of fun during the first year)
Sure life is about work, but it's also about having a good time. My first year in Prague in 2002 was probably one of the most fun years of my life. The city has a great nightlife and if you are into staying up late and having Hangoveresque experiences, then Prague is a great stomping ground for you. Life can't and isn't always be about partying and having a good time, but to say this isn't a plus to the city would be dishonest

2. The Teaching is Very Flexible
In a lot of other areas of the world you are given a strict schedule and contract that you can't really break. You are usually only able to work for one school and things like conduct and dress code are strictly enforced. Prague is different. It's way more flexible. Many people work for a variety of schools and you are given a lot of educational freedom on what and how to teach.

No I'm not kidding!

3. Great Balance between Strange and Familiar with the City/Culture
Prague is a modern city, but it's still very different. It's easy to relate to Czechs and become friends with them, but the culture is very unique. I mean where else do young women get hit with sticks by the males on Easter to make them more fertile? Where else do people keep live GIANT carp in their bathtubs to fatten them up so they can have their Christmas dinner? I found that every year I was in Prague I was always learning more and more about the culture an there was always something new to discover.

4. Easy to Find a Place to Live and Get Around the City
With websites like expats.cz and prague.tv, it's super easy to find a nice apartment in the city center or surrounding areas. Most teachers live relatively central. I don't know anyone who lives out in the sticks and has to commute more than 20-25 minutes to their job unless they have intentionally chosen to. In many other countries a long commute is the norm. Also, no one is going to force you to live in a certain place. In most other countries, you are at the mercy of where the school houses you. In Prague, you decide all of it.
The public transport in Prague is ridiculously easy and inexpensive. It costs about 30 USD or so for a month long pass that can be used for all buses, metros and trams in the city.

5. The Level of Teaching in Prague is Great
Pretty much everyone now knows what they are doing in terms of methodology, practice and technique. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but you'll come out of your first year actually being a good teacher (usually) In a lot of parts of the world, training is not important at all. Most people who are teaching in Asia probably have no idea what they are doing and most schools have zero understanding of what works and what is important in the classroom.

6. Simply a Gorgeous City
Prague is beautiful. What more could you ask for? Seriously, go on google and look at the place. It's one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.

7. Friendly and Curious Population

Czechs get a really bad rap for being cold. They might appear this way when you first meet them, but they really are sweet, interesting, honest and surprisingly outgoing people. Over the years I've met some amazing Czechs who were my students. I think this is possible in other parts of the world, but maybe not as easy due to formality issues. It's not uncommon for students to remain friends with you after their course and invite you to social gatherings. This usually entails 'going on the cottage to pick mushrooms in the nature'.

8. Jobs Are Still Available.
To say it's same as it was in 2002 would be dishonest, but jobs are out there and the majority of people find work as teachers. The pay rate isn't as high as in some other places, and nothing of course is a guarantee, but work is available if you have the skills and ethic to make it

9. Living Full Time is Possible
You can stay for a year or stay for your life if you're smart. Most likely it means getting a zivnostensky list and branching out from just working at a school, but it is possible. I know a lot of people who have lived in Prague for over a decade and are doing well. Due to the transitory nature of the city, you can also move up in the teaching world fast. This means becoming a Director of Studies or a Senior Teacher without many times needing higher qualifications.

10. Contracts are Flexible and Not Written in Stone
If for some reason you have to leave the city and go back home, you are not usually legally bound to a school. You are not going to be fined or really penalized if you have to break your contract. Give them notice of course and that should be enough.

11. TEFL Courses in Prague do a Good Job
In general they all do what they are supposed to do and offer a lot of graduate assistance. This is not true in other places where I believe the training can be subpar. I think since the market is so competitive with TEFL schools here, we are all trying to offer whatever we can and do whatever we can to make people happy. Also there is the understanding that our graduates are going to be teaching here and we want them and the schools where they work to be happy and satisfied. There are some bad apples out there of course, but it's pretty easy to find out which ones to avoid with a simple search.

12. Other Outlets Besides Teaching
There's a lot of things you can do besides teaching. If you like acting, join a theater company or do stand up or form a band and play at different venues. I know people who within a week or two of being in the city were already writing articles for the Prague Post. Yes it's not the New York Times, but it's still impressive. Get involved in other things. It's not too hard to do here if you make the effort.

13. Expat Community
   There is an enormous Expat community in Prague of native English teachers. If you are worried about being alone in a foreign city - don't. You'll meet a lot of other fellow English teachers and they are usually great and interesting people. When you are abroad, you bond faster with people and develop stronger friendships. It's one of the things I really miss when I'm not in the city. It's simply a unique thing when you live abroad.
*That being said, please meet Czech people. Don't be the typical expat who just hangs out with other Expats, you'll be selling your experience short.

Negatives - Yeah because life in Prague isn't always peachy

1. Visas and Getting Legal
The days of working under the table and just border hopping are gone. You are going to have to get legal now if you are not an EU citizen. This means you'll have to have money in the bank or a bank note to show proof of funds along with other documentation, stamps and forms. It means waiting on lines and running around getting stuff done. You are also going to be on a time limit and if you don't get it done in time, you'll have problems most likely. You get 90 days to get stuff sorted and that's it. This means you need to work and work fast during your first and second month to know what you need and start getting it. If you need help with Visas or want to get a Zivnostensky List I highly recommend a guy named John Mohr who operates a company called CFO 2 GO. Here is his contact information john.mohr@cfo2go.eu.

2. Less Guaranteed Hours
I used to tell all of my TEFL trainees back in the day that if they couldn't find work in the city with a TEFL certificate and a recommendation that there was something seriously wrong with them. We could literally guarantee work to graduates and most had multiple job offers before the course ended.
No one and no course can do that now. The work is out there, but you have to run around to get it. This means working for a number of different schools in the beginning and trying to rack up a schedule. Generally though if you hustle a bit in the beginning you can get a good schedule in about a month or so after graduating your TEFL course. Take this as a warning though. If you believe that you can just show up in Prague, not work hard, not take things seriously and believe that magically a job will be placed on your lap - you're wrong.

3 Cold Winters
   Never really bothered me much, but I'm from Minnesota. For some people who are not used to winters, it can be rough at times. Remember, you are going to Europe where people walk a lot. You won't have a car. This means that when you buy groceries, guess who's lugging them back to your apartment?
   Also, there's the sun, or lack of it. Days and weeks without any sun. Winters can be a bit depressing if you don't like cold weather. My advice, get outside, go skiing, take a trip to the mountains, go ice-skating..etc If that doesn't work, just wait until Spring when things go back to being totally awesome again.

4. Depression and Anxiety Episodes
   It, they happen. It's normal. You're abroad, away from your family and friends and living in a culture that is foreign to you and a language you don't understand. You are going to be spending a lot more time in your head than you're used to and it's not uncommon for the 'Carnival' to come out. The Carnival being all of your thoughts about what you are doing and what you should be doing and where you are in your life. It's normal and it happens, but for some people it can be a bit overwhelming if they are not used to it. This whole process can be a positive thing though. It allows us to look at our lives and question things and improve. Some people rise to the challenge and the experience of living/teaching abroad makes them better human beings. Others, unfortunately, can waste away.

5. Prague is not Cheap Anymore
Some things are still cheap, but the days of 37CZK per dollar are long long long gone. The city is probably still cheaper than most cities in the US or UK, but you're going to need more startup money. Don't come abroad or take a TEFL course if you're broke. I don't care what the TEFL provider you are in contact with says about you being fine or that things will work out for you. They won't. You'll be broke without a place to live and no money to help you get set up. I recommend having at least 3,000 USD or equivalent to help you get started If you can't get that, it's probably better to wait until you have the funds.

6. Pay
Teachers make enough to get buy and live a comfortable lifestyle if they work full time. However, you're most likely not going to be able to save a lot or anything really unless you budget or really crank up the hours. You cannot compare the money made in Prague to say that of South Korea. There are ways to make more money but it requires getting a Zivno usually and that's another investment.

7. Vegetarians Might Still Have it Rough
   Things have improved for sure on the Veggie front, but the city still has a long way to go. I remember many times a student ordering some vegetables only to find out later that there was bacon in them. Of course when confronting the waiter about it, his reply was 'Well it's only a little bit. There's nothing really there.' Which brings me to the next point -

8. Customer Service is Still Lacking
   Prague has seen massive, massive improvements, but it's not the same as in the UK, US or Canada (can't really speak for other English speaking areas) You will have moments where you will be a bit shocked at the rudeness sometimes of people in customer service. It's not intentional, but tipping is not really a big deal in the city so most servers don't have any real incentive to always be nice. Again, it's not horrible, but you will have, at some point, a 'WTF Oh no she didn't!' moment.


   My overall thoughts are that Prague isn't for everyone, but it is for most people. Don't go into this venture as a life changing career move. You'll freak out and lose your mind after 6 months. It's better to take a year and see how things go. You'll know very quickly if this is place you want to be. If you realize that Prague is where you want to be, then you can start working on how to make a career and enough money to make the idea a reality.
   I fell in love with the city from day one. Many of the people that I know feel about Prague the same way I do. There's an energy to this place and to the people and it's a city where I always had an undeniable feeling that anything was possible.

Cheers,

Chris Westergaard

TEFL Courses in Prague

The Language House TEFL

http://www.thelanguagehouse.net

Top TEFL Teaching TIps

2011-06-01T10:55:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of half assed teachers out on the market and there's a lot of good ones. My philosophy in regards to everything that I do, is to try and do it well and develop a deep understanding for it. I mean why wouldn't you? If you are engaged in an activity for most of the day, it seems like a waste of time to not try and be really good at it.

I had never thought that I would have a career in education or live abroad or develop a school or any of these things growing up. You never know what opportunities will come your way if you make the effort, take chances and most of all try and be an expert in your field.

This is all beginning to sound really hacky so let's plow ahead. Here are some tips for your first year teaching abroad

Tips For Teaching

Learn as much as you Possibly can

* The idea that proficiency in teaching or anything really is based on time and experience is nonsense. I've graduated teachers with zero prior experience that left the course amazing and better than the majority of language teachers out there. It's not about experience. It's about talent and working hard on improving. Make that effort to get better and to learn as much as you can and you'll be better than a lot of teachers out there.

Keep your Lesson Plans

*Reuse them. You'll save a lot of time

Learn how to Adapt and Modify Material

*Again, it saves time. Learn how to change a 45 min lesson into a 2 hour lesson. A lesson for pre-intermediates to a lesson for advanced students

Share Lesson Plans and Learn from Others

* A lot of my versatility in the classroom came from watching other teachers. Find out who the best teachers in your school are and watch them. You'll learn a lot

Learn how to use a Textbook

* Again, it saves time. Adapt, modify, expand... Textbooks on their own are some of the most boring creations of mankind. Make the stuff interesting!

Explain Methodology Briefly

* Most of my students have no idea about TEFL methodology or why we do the things we do. A little explanation to your students about TTT/STT, CCQ's etc will help them understand why you are doing certain things.

Be Visible at your School

* If you are around, you will be offered more responsibility.

Seek Advice from Experience Teachers and help new ones

* Kind of like the other one above. You can learn a lot from other people

Use the Internet

* Easy to understand. There's a lot of great resources out there. Use them.

Publish Material

* You may not get a book deal or anything, but post stuff online. There are tons of people interested in what it's like to live and teach abroad. Post these things. I'm sure people will read it and you might make a name for yourself

Change your Schedule

* When you first start teaching you will usually be given a bad schedule. Try and change it after your first semester or year. Go for blocks of classes and have your hours concentrated. Nothing is worse than having your classes spread out over the morning or night. It will feel like you are always working

Get Feedback from Students

* Have them fill out a private form with a grade for you. It will help you work on what's wrong and give you some more confidence if you are doing a good job. You can also use these evaluations to get a pay raise

Push a Career

* The DELTA and Trinity DIPLOMA are both good 8 week or 6 month low intensity courses. Not too overpriced and will help get you better jobs. Also you can make your own path, create your own school and be your own business. These things don't come easy and most people do not have what it takes to set something up that's successful, but anything is possible if you put your mind to it

Don’t be afraid of your Experience

* Once again, the biggest mistruth in education is that years in the field and qualifications matter more than anything else. Yes they do matter, but talent and hard work trumps both of these things. Don't be afraid that this is new to you. Just work on getting better. Try and develop a deep understanding of what you are doing. Look at teaching as being a set of different skills and work on trying to master them. You'll be better in year then most people are in their lives if you take this approach.

Don’t Upset your DOS

* Director of Studies. Yeah why do that?

Quit if you want, but do it Professionally

*If you are unhappy with the job, give them some notice. If you have to leave early or cancel your contract, give them some notice. 1-2 months is fine.

Inform School about Absences

* That wedding that's coming up... tell them a month in advance and it won't be a problem.

Don’t Tell your Students that this is your First Class

* Doctors, don't tell your patience that you have never performed the operation before...Pilots, don't tell your passengers that this is your first time going over the Atlantic. You are going to scare the bejesus out of your students. Just focus on being good. If they ask, tell the truth though.

Create Goals and Realize them!

* What do you want out of this experience. Do you want to learn the language, write that book you always wanted to do...Start working on it now. Time will move fast.

Ask for a Raise if you think you Deserve it

* Nothing makes a school cringe more than paying you more money. You are going to need to be a bit (A bit) pushy. If you are getting great feedback and have full classes, ask for it.

Find out about Mobility

* Do teachers move up the TEFL ladder at your school? Are they being paid more? You want to work somewhere where you can grow as a teacher and grow in your career.

Stay in Contact with your Students

* These people are your friends and if you've done a good job they have a lot of respect for you. They will help you. Don't feel as if you can't remain friends with these people.

Keep in Contact with Us

* At TLH TEFL we are all about community. I don't know what other courses are like, but you should feel comfortable contacting your TEFL provider and asking for help or advice if you need it.

Thanks guys,

Chris
http://www.thelanguagehouse.net

I Love TEFL Videos - Language House TEFL

2011-05-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

We had this fun thing that we used to do (and still do at TLH TEFL www.thelanguagehouse.net) which involved playing a poker style game in class. I always thought that fun punishments were a lot more motivating than giving out hacky rewards in the classroom. I'll probably have a separate page eventually about my thoughts on motivation, token economy and different reward systems later on. Here are some cute and funny videos that we made of the losing team(s). Basically if the team lost they had to go outside and yell "I LOVE TEFL" a certain number of times. What made it the best though was that we did this during the first day of the course.

I've always thought that in teaching it's good to set the tone of your pace and style to your students right from the get go. Don't be afraid to push them a bit if you can. I loved that we do this during the first day and it usually creates a WTF moment for the students. I think overall everyone has a really good time and it sets the tone for the rest of the course.

Love TEFL? Who Doesn't

Also if you want to be a good ESL/EFL teacher, you are going to have to learn to be able to make a fool out of yourself at times and get rid of all your natural fears of public speaking and embarrassment. What better training for this than to scream some random sentence in a crowded public setting while amused and terrified Czechs look on.
(If you can think of something better write me)

Take care,
Chris
http://www.thelanguagehouse.net

Keeping your Sanity and Making the Most of your Time Abroad

2011-05-18T16:23:00.000-07:00

Living abroad and teaching abroad is intense and both demanding on your body and psyche. Most people have never really had the experience before and they have no idea of how they will react towards it as the days becomes weeks and weeks become months abroad. Listen, staying in a hotel for a week while you visit various historical sights on a summer trip, being doted upon and having everything laid out for you is not the same as getting your own apartment, paying your own bills, dealing with a foreign culture, making new friends and being successful in a TEFL career.

When you first enter a new country you're most likely going to love it. Realize though that this is simply the honeymoon stage of your experience and it's totally normal. Unfortunately, this stage will inevitably fade.

TEFL is demanding. Living in a foreign country is demanding. The awe of it all will wear off eventually. I've seen a lot of TEFL graduates that go back home only after a few months of being abroad because they simply cannot cope with the experience as a whole.

The people that are successful and make it work are the ones that follow these tips. These are general principles that I've observed that all successful teachers and people living/working abroad adopt

Living Abroad Tips

Escalators in Prague can be terrifying to some TEFL kids

Stay Productive - Do something besides teaching, get up in the morning early, whatever your hobbies are back home bring them to your new home
Keep Fit - Join a gym, jog, exercise daily.

Learn the Language - Yes it's hard but don't become the stereotype and don't make excuses. Youtube and the internet is a great way to get started. Practice the language whenever you can. It will really help you in the long and short run

Be Outgoing - Too bad if you are a shy person, learn to make friends faster

Learn to be Flexible

Learn the Culture - Past and present. Do you know who the current president of the country is?

Make Local Friends - If all of your friends are other Expats you are doing something wrong. Get out and meet the local

Get out the City

Do other Things besides Teaching

Watch your Diet

Watch the Alcohol

Become Active in the Community

Bring your Hobbies over here

Get on a Schedule

Don’t become a Cynic - No one forced you to teach abroad. Stop comparing your own country with the country you moved to. No one likes someone that is always negative

Don’t become a Snobby Expat - Ohhh you've lived abroad for 1 year so now you're better than all the new people? Get real

Watch out for Depression - It happens. Drinking alcohol everyday and not exercising is a great way to start this

Watch out for Anxiety - It's going to happen. Relax, it's ok and normal to experience this

Stay clear of the DarkSide

Make the Effort to Make new Friends

Know your Limits - Some people are not meant to live abroad. If you are miserable, then go back home

Budget for Long Term

Take Risks - I've seen people that came abroad looking like abused animals but left after a year as completely different and confident people. The experience can change you for the better if you let it

Know Holidays and Time Changes - It's up to you to be aware of these things.

Be True to your Personality - Don't try to pretend to be someone you are not. The real 'you' will catch up with you eventually. Change takes time and is possible, but don't put on a charade to impress others.

If you need any help or any clarification on any of these, just ask

Cheers,

Chris
TEFL Prague Courses

http://www.thelanguagehouse.net

Choosing a TEFL course tips, do's and don'ts, and everything else

2011-05-07T10:01:00.000-07:00

A past graduate of The Language
House TEFL taken in Spain

  I get asked these questions all of the time and it's pretty important to go over everything here. While I am clearly biased because I run TLH TEFL in Prague, I'm going to keep this post as honest and as un-ad-like as a I can. The thing that I always tell people first is to NOT WORRY TOO MUCH. I've met and talked to dozens of people that got so caught up in the course selection process that they never actually took a course at all and never taught abroad. Most courses do what they are supposed to do. If they are not doing that, they will be rated poorly on the internet. Whatever you do, do take the plunge (as long as you pass the crazy test see my previous post) and teach abroad.

If you really want my opinion on TEFL courses and what to take, I've listed everything for you below

1. Should I even Take a TEFL Course?
For the most part, yes you should for a variety of different reasons. If you are interested in teaching in some countries in Asia, you can probably get by without having to take a course, but you will probably do a pretty poor job in the classroom and not really leave learning anything. That's not even touching on your students that have to deal with your fumblings. I taught for a year without any kind of real training, and looking back on it, I didn't know what I was doing at all. If money is really tight, taking a course might not be an option for you. If that's the case, use the internet for your initial training and watch experience teachers teaching. This isn't ideal, but if you really can't afford to get trained and certified, give it a shot.
If you can afford to take a course, then do so. You will learn a lot. More than you can imagine and most course providers know what they are doing and do a good job at it. Besides the training, you'll meet a lot of great people and have a school that hopefully fights for you and helps you get set up in that country (where you took the course) and abroad. The certificate is a lifetime thing and most schools will pay more for trained teachers. Also it will help you, regardless of where you are, in finding employment.

2. What Kind of Course Should I Take?
There are tons of different TEFL courses out there what to do?

A. You want to take one that is at least 4 weeks long and has an actual teaching component of 8 hours of observed teaching practice. Ignore the online and weekend courses because they don't actually have teaching practice as part of the curriculum. Not having actual observed teaching practice is the same as having a swimming class where you don't ever get into the pool. You wouldn't take a non-practice swimming class, so why take a similar kind of TEFL course?

B. You want to take the course in a foreign country. At TLH, the TEFL methodology and training and is only part of the training that we do. We also train people on how to live abroad. If you take a course in your home country, you're never going to get this secondary training.

   Living abroad is tough stuff. You have to find an apartment, make friends, navigate through a strange city, deal with a strange culture... all while not (usually) being able to speak the language. You are going to want someone to help you deal with these things. If you take a course in your home country, they are not going to prepare you for these realities and when you actually fly out to your job, it's going to be a potential nightmare.

Along with this, there is no way for any of these school to compete with the contacts that a local school has. I don't care how large a TEFL organization is in the States, Canada, the U.K...etc they are not going to be able to compete with a local TEFL center in the country. Likewise a course in Prague, is not going to be able to compete with a TEFL course that is located in Spain. It's just not possible.

My advice is to take a course in the location that you are interested in teaching. The only exception for this is in a lot of Asian countries because it's still easy and usually the rule to get a job abroad. However if you are interested in say working in Prague or Central/Eastern Europe, there is no way that a school in the USA will be able to make that happen for you easier than if you were to take a course in Prague itself.

3. What is Accreditation for TEFL and is it Important?

  Accreditation in TEFL is usually just an outside body that vouches for the quality of the course. Is it important? Yes and no.

A. There are many different accrediting bodies in TEFL
These include but are not limited to - Trinity, the College of Teachers, IATQUO, Cambridge, local governments and random Universities. Overall there are tons of different accrediting bodies and there seems to be more every year.

B. IMO Accreditation doesn't really mean anything on its own
Of course, it's better to be accredited than unaccredited, but what does that mean? If a weekend course is accredited, it's still just a weekend course. You still didn't actually get any teaching practice and you still will have no idea what you are doing when you actually teach. TLH TEFL Prague, is accredited but when we first started we were not. Is the course much better now than it was before? Of course not. It's the same school, same program, same principles. If anything, accreditation is good because it shows that a course has been around for a bit and is connected, but it shouldn't be the main thing while looking into a course. I'm going to dedicate a separate article where we go into more of this later.

C. Ok, accreditation does mean something, but it can mean different things
   Not all accreditation is the same. They all deal with the course/school paying someone something, but they do mean different things. For example, some accreditors don't require much, others are really extensive. Some externally monitor a course, others just require you to sign a waiver of quality and assurance.

   TLH TEFL is accredited and externally monitored by IATQUO. For us to get that through took about 5 months or so. It dealt with a 3 day visit by an examiner that spoke with all of the staff and looked (exhaustingly so) at all of our materials, assignments, schedules...etc. We get monitored a few times a year and continually go over the process. There are accreditors that do this and there are ones that don't. Both courses are accredited, but they mean different things. Find out what the accreditation entails and info on who is offering it if you are concerned.

4. TEFL Class Size
Size does matter and Smaller is Better. Most courses run pretty small. I think when you get beyond 20 students, it's getting too big. The reason why smaller is better is because you want to be able to use the services of the school afterwards. This could be visa assistance, housing assistance and of course job assistance. Usually there is only 1 or 2 people that help out with job assistance for a course and if this person has to deal with your class of 20, plus last months 20 students, they might be swamped. Careful with false advertising. Some courses say they have classes of 14 people max, but they are running double or even triple classes. So really their class size is 28 or more.

5. Teaching Practice
By far the most important feature of any TEFL course is the actual amount of teaching you get. The more the better. Make sure the teaching is real though. A lot of providers will say things like 14 hours of teaching practice, but it's mostly peer teaching. That's not the same!!. You want real teaching, with real students where you are observed and then critiqued by real observers. If TLH included all the teaching practice (with peer teaching involved) it would be something like 16 hours or so. We do about 12 hours of actual observed teaching practice and you should shoot for a high number.
You will learn a lot from workshops and input sessions, but the actual teaching is where you will get to use these skills and grow. If you are not doing a lot of real teaching in your course, you're not going to improve and you will leave the course without a solid base of skills.

5. Post Course Support
This one is HUGE and usually totally overlooked. Accreditors don't look at this element at all and I can't think of a single accrediting body that accounts for post course graduate support. It's kind of crazy actually, because it's such an important thing. Take a course that takes care of its graduates. It's that simple. You want to be able to ask for help in finding work, a place to live, job support...etc. Some schools do a great job with this, others couldn't care less what happens to you. It's such an important thing and it's really easy to find out. Just get a list of graduates and contact them. Facebook makes it easy to do so these days.

6. Job Assistance
There's no such thing as a guaranteed job and you wouldn't want that if it was offered. I mean I can easily guarantee you a job somewhere. It might be in a horrible location with horrible pay and conditions, but hey it's a job. Don't be sold on that promise and don't buy into it. I already wrote down my tips for jobs and the main theme that keeps popping up is clear - It's about you. There's a lot of things that courses can do for you, but at the end of the day it's about you and what you put in and what you take away with you and what you use to succeed.

Schools should offer assistance though and there's a lot of things that they can do and should do.
Also different courses are massively different in their success rate for graduates finding work. You need to check with the school and graduates of the program to find out what the real story is.

The most helpful thing besides the basics like mock interviews, a job board and help with CV's and stuff is a sound network. It's best way to find work and the best way to make the right choice. All TEFL courses should have a network of graduates all over the world. Find these people! Ask the course provider to get you in contact with people working in Asia and Europe and contact them.

If the TEFL course you are thinking about doesn't have this, you need to ignore them. We've always had tightly knit group of graduate support and recently created forums online and a web of graduates and new trainees that can communicate with each other. This honestly has been more effective than any job board or CV workshop that we had in the past. Pick a course that does this too. It helps so much and it's such an important thing to have.

Other Factors ?
- Location is important and google maps makes it easy to see where the school is located. Centrally located is obviously better unless you like the life of a hermit and the feeling of isolation

- Cost and extras is important. Just because something costs more doesn't mean anything. Find out what are the direct costs of the course. Does it include anything? Some courses offer tons of extra stuff included in the price. Find out what you get for everything

- Fail rate and recourse. You don't want to take a course that automatically passes people. You also don't want to take a course where if you miss a few days or fail a few practice lessons you have to take the entire course over again at full price. One of the main problems with the TEFL course that I took back in 2002 was that one of my classmates (who was an awesome teacher btw) missed two classes because he was legitimately sick and they outright failed him. That was totally unacceptable to me at that time and still is today. Why should you have to take the entire course? It was two days. Why not just charge him for two days and have him make up those two lessons? It was crazy!
A lot of TEFL courses do this because they really couldn't care less about people. You have a management that doesn't interact with the trainees and then you have trainers that do what they are told by the management. I hate this type of business setup because no one is accountable.

With me and TLH TEFL, it's usual for people to have to makeup work. It happens almost every course where someone isn't quite there or they need to retake the grammar test or maybe they need to do another practice teaching session. We don't charge them the entire course and have them sit in on it the next month. What a total waste of time and money for everyone. Instead, they make up what they need to make up and graduate a day, a week or so afterwards. They pay for the cost of the trainer to help them which isn't much at all.

Not everyone is going to be a natural and there are some people that simply shouldn't be teaching period. For most people that do not pass though, it's small stuff. Easy things that can be fixed with a couple of extra days. Don't take a course where if you fail off of some technicality you have to retake the entire thing. It's simply bad and cheap business.

- Housing. Easy stuff here. Get pictures from the TEFL school. Try not be charged an arm and a leg. Get an address and check the location in relation to the school. You don't want to be 40 minutes away from where you are training. That's going to be a rough morning each day for you.

- Also a language school or educational environment Not a crucial thing, but it helps. If your course is just a TEFL course, you won't meet too many other people. It's nice to be in a college or language school for the atmosphere. You get to also meet other teachers that are not connected with the TEFL course and get their perspective on things.

I think that's about it for this. I'm going to write more about specific courses and accreditation on a different post. If you have any questions on a course let me know. I help people make decisions about teaching all over the world. Even if you are not interested in Prague or have found a TEFL course in a different country, send me an email and I can help.

Cheers,
Chris
Prague TEFL Courses - The Language House

Getting your First TEFL Job in Prague and in Europe

2011-05-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

We are jumping a bit ahead of ourselves with all of this talk about jobs so soon, but we might as well get part of this out of the way. I posted this article on a few forums a year ago to set the record straight on what it took to find work in the city and it was pretty popular.

At TLH TEFL, most graduates do find work, but they find work because they are better trained and connected then a lot of other TEFL graduates and because they put in the effort. If you want to be successful abroad, you are going to have to work. If you don't have a solid work ethic, you most likely won't make it very far or stay very long abroad. That being said, enjoy the article in its original form.

I figured I'd write my personal tips down and hopefully it will help a couple of new teachers make it in their new host country.

For starters, I've personally trained and job coached about 1000 new TEFL teachers as a TEFL trainer for The Language House TEFL, so I think I have a pretty solid base to give some suggestions. Please feel free to add more if you want and hopefully we can develop a sound resource for new teachers coming into the city.

This primarily is for people who are on or will be attending a TEFL course in the city.

Here it goes

1. The Training is More Important than the Certificate you Receive
Yes a TEFL certificate will open doors for you and help you get interviews, but it's the training and what you bring to that interview or demo lesson that will get you the job. Learn as much as you can, practice as much as you can and continually try and improve your techniques.

2. Skills are More Important than your Grade
TEFL teaching is not based on a GPA. Whoever is interviewing/watching your demo will see in minutes if you are a skilled teacher, the same way that a basketball coach could assess a player's ability in minutes. Work on these skills, cultivate them. You are going to be competing against other people for the job. The school is most likely going to hire the teacher who performs the best.

3. Start Early!
Don't wait until after your course to start looking for work. You should be submitting CV's and going on interviews before the course ends. If you wait to long, you'll lose motivation and you may simply go back home.

4. Send Massive Amounts of CV's out Initially
This is probably the least efficient way, but it does help. Just get a list of schools from your TEFL course and send individual cover letters to every school you can find.

5. Make Sure Your CV is Written Correctly. Generally a page is enough. You may or may not put a picture on it. Make sure to have a full description of your course and its content. Make sure to have references from your trainers. Make sure to have a cover letter as well. Generally a page is fine. If you can get the name and a direct email to whoever is responsible for hiring or setting up interviews, that's a plus

6. Don't Stop There
This is where unfortunately a lot of TEFL teachers end. They send out an email, don't hear back from anyone and then give up. Don't be like this, it's a recipe for failure. Do you have any idea how many CVs a school gets a week or a month. Lots. It's extremely tedious to go through each one and call/email back each job applicant. The school doesn't do it. They'll email a few of the people and ignore the rest.
Follow this up with

A. A second email

B. A phone call

C. Actually stopping in and meeting the school in person

7. Get an Interview at all Costs
Call the school up and request an interview. Even if they say they don't have work available, ask them politely anyway if you can come in to do a demo lesson. Large schools (well practically all schools) go through TEFL teachers fast. Yes they might not have something now, but they will eventually. If you make a good impression, they'll remember you and contact you.
I can't tell you how many CVs I've received over a period of 7 years. However, I pretty much remember every single demo lesson that I ever sat in on. Even if we didn't have work at The Language House if a teacher made a good impression I always contacted them later when we did.

8. Good Quality Paper is a Must for CVs
If you turn in a CV, use nice paper. Whoever takes it is less likely to simply throw it away. Also if it's slightly off white, it will be easier to find in a stack of others. Seems basic but it works.

9. Network and Make Friends
The best way to get a job is through a recommendation. Find out if any teachers you know, knows someone who is leaving the city. The school will be looking for a replacement for them. If you can get a recommendation from a teacher who is already working at the school, you'll most likely get hired or at least be asked to come in.

10. Use your TEFL Provider's Job Assistance.
Most TEFL schools have a job assistance person working to help find trainees jobs. Use them. Ask them for help. Contact them before the course begins. Let them know what your looking for. Get a list of past graduates who you can contact for help. Ask them to write you personal recommendation or something like that.

11. Obviously Dress Nicely at the Interview
I can't tell you how many times I've had an interview and someone walks in with a T and pair of shorts. It just looks bad. You don't have to dress like a penguin, but semi formal - even a tie or a nice dress can't hurt.

12. Don't Wait for the Perfect Job
This one really annoys me. There's always that one guy who has a lot of job offers but is simply waiting for one specific school. What happens? All the jobs dry up and they're left with nothing. It's your first teaching job, take whatever hours you can get in the beginning. If you don't work relatively soon after your course, you are going to forget everything.
Besides pay and a few other things, the quality of your job will depend on your relationship with your students. Also, it's a lot easier to get more hours if you are currently working.

13. Don't Postpone Interviews
I don't care who is in town or what your plans were for that day. Go to the interview. If you don't someone else will and the job is gone. Schools don't take weeks looking for teachers. They take a day. If they find someone they like they will tell them right then and there usually. They won't wait to interview you a week later when you have the time. Letna Park beer garden can wait people.

Tips For Interviews and Demo Lessons

Interview

Obvious ones

A. Don't be late - and I mean 1 minute late

B. Dress nicely

C. Bring in Lesson Plans - I tell my graduates to have 5-10 fully functional lesson plans. If you didn't keep yours from your course, you should have. Anyway, it's easy to create a few mock ones. Have the materials with you and make sure they cover a few different levels, perhaps a receptive skill, but definitely a few on grammar.
Why?
You want to show the school that you are trained, that you have ideas and that you can demonstrate that you know what you are doing. The more plans you can bring in the better

D. Be Charismatic and Speak Clearly.
When I'm interviewing someone, I'm thinking one thing - 'Is this person going to be able to engage a class for 90 minutes or more at a time?' Show a bit of energy (not too much) Show some enthusiasm. Speak clearly, have good eye contact...etc You're in Prague. It's your first year here - what more do you want? Show some excitement. Show a little passion. Don't worry you'll have years to develop into the stereotypical pissed off angst ridden Expat. This is your time to have fun now.

E. Don't Let the School Worry About You
For example this is what I honestly heard someone I was interviewing say

Me: So, why did you decide to come to Prague and teach English?

Them: ......mmmmm ...well.... it wasn't QUITE like I was RUNNING away from something, I just didn't have anything going on back hom-

Me in My Head: No freaking way

Schools don't want to babysit you, they don't want to worry about you, they don't want students to call them up and say your not there, they don't want you to have an anxiety attack in two weeks and move back home...etc

Demonstrate that you are confident. Show that you like the city, the culture and teaching. Make them see that you are not going to run away after week.

F. Ask Questions but Don't be too Demanding
It's your first job. Your going to get the schedule that they have. Don't turn it down because you don't like getting up in the morning. If it's unreasonable, then don't accept THAT class. That MIGHT be possible, but don't overdue it. There will be a time where you will learn to say NO. When you are experienced and your school is throwing classes down your throat, sure! Go ahead and say No! It feels good. However, not when you just started and not on your first job.

G Know your Grammar and Know your Course and Know TEFL
They will ask you questions about Grammar, TEFL and your course. You better have a good answer and it better sound smooth. Go over what you went over. Go over the tenses and other grammatical points. Go over TEFL techniques like lesson planning structure and all of that stuff. Know what training you received. If they ask you what you did on the course, you should be able to fire back with an accurate description

H. Don't BS an Answer and Don't Stall.
It looks horrible. If you don't know something, say so immediately. It's OK, people expect it. Just say you'd have to look that up. Nothing is worth than trying to stall or mumble your way out of a question.
I've seen it dozens of times. I ask what the 3rd conditional is and the person thinks while making strange sounds and guess like answers for 5 minutes before they say 'I don't know' Just say it in the beginning

I. Follow up the Interview with a Call
Leave your CV of course and call back if you didn't get a direct answer

Tips for Demo Lesson

Make it or Break it. It's that easy

The school will decide if they want to hire you based on 1. your demo lesson and 2. your looks (joking)

You should have one prepared. It should be practiced and ironed out. You should have already done it in front of a few people if not your trainers.

A. Practice it
B. Have a trainer look at it
C. Make sure you are doing what the school wants you do to.
Many schools will email what they want you to teach. Teach that, not something else
D. Make sure it's engaging
E. Make sure it has props and is really interactive
F. Make sure to error correct students (or whoever is pretending to be the student- usually the director)
G. Many schools follow an ESA/PPP format use that. Have a solid intro, lead in questions, studies, activation.
H. Know what's happening
Know what your target lexis is, grammar focus...etc

You most likely won't have to do the whole thing, but you should be able to stop and explain what comes next if needed. Don't be staring at your lesson plan reading things off. You should be able to kill this thing by this point.

What Comes Next?
If you've done those things correctly, usually a job! and all the fun that goes along with getting legal. The lines at the foreign police. The random stamps. The red...red tape. Oh the fun we had, oh the way we were - but that's for another thread. Overall it's a pain, but the process is easier now than it was a few years ago so you'll be fine.

Let's get back to teaching

Make the effort to do a good job and constantly try to improve. If you are a worthless teacher, you and your students are going to be miserable. If you do a good job, you'll get more hours and will generally feel like a functioning person.

I will say this about TEFL teaching in Prague. You get in what you put in.
I honestly believe that the quality of your teaching has a direct correlation with the quality of time you spend abroad and in this city. I don't care if you don't plan on being an English teacher forever. You are one now. This is what you are doing. Why not make the most of it? Why not try to be as good as you can get.
Talent and intelligence or fluid things. You might be teaching students who are very powerful and influential people in their companies or in the city itself. They'll see the work, the talent and the effort and they will appreciate it. You might even be offered a non teaching job at their company. It does happen. My point is simple. Make the most of it.

What if I Didn't Get the Job?
Don't worry! Don't let it get you down. There are dozens if not a hundred schools in the city. Find another one and improve. If your skills, knowledge, charisma and technique are all good - You WILL get a job at some point. If the city is not working out for you and you're unhappy - forget about it. Go somewhere else. That's the beauty of this profession. You don't change jobs you change continents

Best of luck,

Chris Westergaard
The Language House TEFL

http://www.thelanguagehouse.net

Taking the TEFL Plunge Part 2 - Is TEFL right for you

2011-05-04T12:33:00.000-07:00

First Things First...

An exciting world awaits if you have what
it takes to make the first step

TEFL is not for everyone. Likewise, the military is not for everyone or at 32 and 5ft 9, a career as a pro basketball player is simply not going to happen for me. You need to decide if you and TEFL are compatible or you are going to waste time, money and tons of emotional energy.

Below is a list a to consider and are just opinions coming from a lot of experience. Individual cases of course will vary.

Most importantly

  1. Are you crazy? (And I don't mean a little bit:)
You don't have to answer that out loud, you can answer it privately... but for your own good you're going to have to answer it. If you are crazy you should probably know this by now. If you suffer from severe emotional or psychological problems, going abroad is not going to change anything. It will actually likely make things worse. So, if you are seriously crazy...please, do not come abroad for all of our sakes.

  Here are some other things to look out for
Do you or are you...
have an untreated alcohol or drug problem?
Untreated psychological or mental illness
Untreated antisocial or personality disorder
Medication that changes your moods and behavior
Irrational thinking or violent behavior in general.

If you have any of these problems, I would suggest getting treatment first before making the plunge.

Other things to look for are
... How flexible are you?
... Do you generally have difficulty making and retaining friends?
... Do small things set you off or bother you?
... Do you have a hard time adapting to new situations?
... Are you picky in terms of the foods you eat and the people you socialize with?

The most successful teachers abroad or those that can make friends easily, are outgoing, don't sweat the small stuff and can adapt wherever they are.

You are going to a different country. Most likely a country less advanced and modern than your own. You don't speak the language, don't know the culture and really don't know anyone there. If you don't have these above qualities, or if you're not willing to work on acquiring them, it's going to be a rough time for you. However if you are a person that is up for change, the experience will make you a better, more confident human being.

Overall, the experience is worth it. Whatever happens to you and wherever you end up, you have no idea what adventures await. I spend about half my time in Santa Fe now and about half my time in Prague. Whenever I'm not abroad, I'm just a different person. The world isn't nearly as interesting back home. The colors are not as bright, the food isn't as tasty and the memories aren't as vivid. More importantly, the relationships that i make with people aren't as strong. My best years of my life were most certainly in Prague. The challenges I faced, my fears and my triumphs, my successes and failures are all in that city. That to me is what is important. Nothing really compares to it and most people would agree. If you are a relatively sane person. If you care about the world and the people in it...

Jump

   My favorite Prague souvenir

If you are curious about teaching abroad and afraid of taking the plunge, please contact me. Be honest with your concerns and I'll be happy to give you straight up advice.

Chris Westergaard

TEFL Courses in Prague

The Language House TEFL

http://www.thelanguagehouse.net

Taking the TEFL Plunge Part 1 - How I Got Started

2011-04-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

Intro
The worst part of writing a blog is that I have tendency to make a lot of typos. Oh well, I guess it comes with the territory of writing things online. The good news is that at least the information will have feeling of authenticity and not that of a glossed over advertisement for teaching. I'm not interested in winning over the hearts and minds of potential TEFL students. This blog is not supposed to be a sales pitch. The purpose of it is to give some straight up advice that is both detailed and personal for anyone that is thinking of packing up a few suitcases, saying their goodbyes and venturing off to an entirely different continent all in the hope of finding some excitement and meaning in their lives.

A bit of background
It seems teaching was kind of always part of my life. My first experience with teaching was doing art classes in clay camps to kids and adolescents when I was a 16 years old in Minneapolis. I can't remember how I was got started with it, but that's the first time really educating people. If you have told me at that time or even when I was in college that I would end up living abroad for most of my adult life, teaching English and then eventually creating a teacher training school, I would have told you that you must have me confused with someone else.

I got my first introduction to teaching English while studying abroad in Vienna during my Junior year of college. I was given an opportunity to teach English to Austrian kids (all different ages) in grammar and high schools. I signed up and off I went to my first class. Looking back, I had no idea what I was doing and had horrible technique. There wasn't really any training with the program and you were more of a big (American) brother to the kids than anything else. I did often have to teach specific subject matter or give presentations, but there was little actual sound EFL/ESL methodology being applied.

I must have made some impression with them though because they offered me a job working with them throughout the year. I wasn't paid for it, but I had a lot of autonomy to work with the different age groups and during that time learned more about EFL techniques and the role of the teacher in the classroom.

While in Vienna, I took a trip to Prague for a week and instantly fell in love with the city. I really can't describe the experience, but I knew that no matter what, this was the place I was supposed to be.

Luckily during that same trip (This is back in 2001) I ran into some American and Canadian English teachers there and this is where I first heard of the the term TEFL. I had no idea that it was really even feasible to teach abroad or that you had any control of where to go. I had heard of people that taught in Japan and Asia, but I always thought that it was something beyond my reach. Meeting these regular guys who were living in Prague made me realize that it was all possible and this was exactly what I wanted to do after graduating college.

I went back home to the University of MN, filled out an application for a TEFL course in Prague (I'll leave the provider unmentioned for obvious reasons that will come up) and a month after a graduating college I was on plane heading to Prague. I had no idea then, that it would end up being my entire life.

TEFL courses in 2002, The Great Flood, Working as an EFL teacher and then Later Creating The Language House TEFL Course.
Describing the first years of living in Prague from beginning to end and how The Language House TEFL came to be would take way too long to do and probably wouldn't benefit anyone except me (oh the memories) So let's just stick with some main points.

1. 5 days after I arrived, Prague was hit with the worst flood in over a century. It killed a lot of the metro for about 4 months, power for a solid week or more and was just a crazy time to not know what was going on. Lucky for me I had an apartment right by the Vltava river - I mean Not Lucky at All - it was horrible.

2. The TEFL course that I attended had massive problems with its business model and treatment of the students. So much so that the experience stayed with me for years after and made me want to change the way TEFL courses were run in the city

3. I found out that I had the potential to be a really good teacher and it was something that I wanted to do

4. I found out that I truly loved Prague and wanted to stay there for more than just a year. That I wanted to have a real life in the city and not be a transient teacher who stayed for a year or two and that I was going to do whatever it took to make that possible

5. Further research after graduating my TEFL course and looking into others found that many TEFL courses at the time were run horribly with zero job assistance, horrible housing, 50 students in a classroom, overpriced (the dollar was worth 33 at the time and courses were close to 50k CZK. now they are like 30K CZK) Not all of them were bad of course, but enough to see a pattern.

5. I started teaching at The Language House (this was before a TEFL school there existed), was well received by the owner.

7. I spent the next year (going into my 2nd full year in the city) working day and night on the course and somehow, someway it worked.

8. We had a first course in August 2004 about 2 full years to the date that I arrived. I was 25 at the time and couldn't believe that it had actually happened. I was a co owner of a TEFL course. The owner of The Language House couldn't believe it either (he was about 58 at the time) because now he was partners with a young American kid who often didn't agree with him.

   Running TEFL, Gaining Confidence and Changing the Prague TEFL Game.
The responsibilities of running a TEFL course are insane. It's not just about the teacher training - that's actually the easiest part of it. It's about dealing with and taking care of people. You have to get accommodation for them, you have to make sure to get them at the airport. You have to deal with any problems they have during the course: low self esteem, medical problems, learning disabilities, culture shock, homesickness, drug/alcohol problems, schizophrenia (yeah i'm serious) and so many other things.

Then... You have to help them find employment, help them find accommodation of their own. Help them with visa stuff. All of these things post course, while dealing with a new batch of TEFL kids each month and rinsing and repeating.

That doesn't include doing all of the marketing, emailing, phone calling to get them to take the course in the first place while dealing with a staff of about 8 people.

   This can go on and on, but is this helping you with your own questions about teaching English? - no it is not, so let's push through.

Overall it was a huge undertaking and I was pretty much a paranoid, overworked crazy person for a the first two years.

  What is important is that 7 years and 800 or so graduates later we are still doing great. Of course I got to give props to all of the amazing people that helped and still help over the years Sanyam, Pete, Indigo, Brian C, Monika, Grammar Steve, Katie, John H, Derek, Andrea B, Clay, Richard, Mike, Mary, Renee, Alex, Skip...etc that made it all possible.

We run TEFL today at The Language House TEFL (TLH TEFL) the same way I wanted it to be run back in 2003 when it was just an idea.
1. More teaching practice
2. More extras
3. More course support
4. Non corporate
5. A real solid community of trainers, teachers and graduates who genuinely care about each other and help each other always

   So what's the point?

  The point is that I know what I'm talking about. I've personally trained and kept in contact with close to a thousand graduates of the program and other teachers abroad. I've seen and can document amazing success stories with teaching abroad as well as absolute crash and burn failures. And, I'm here to help you make the right decisions so you are more aware and prepared than I was.

  So let's get started and of course let's always have fun.

Old School TEFL - First night out in Prague with the
my TEFL course in August 2002. 10 years later we are
still in contact with each other and remain friends

Chris Westergaard
TEFL Prague Courses - The Language House

TEFL Prague and Abroad

ESL Lesson Demonstration

Lesson of the Day and Lesson Planning

Motivation - Making it Work 2

What Makes a Good Teacher? - Getting started 1

Intro to TEFL/TESOL Teaching Methodology - Getting Started

TEFL Course Review Video

A Particular Set of Skills

A Little Less Conversation-A Little More Action!

Best of Prague

TEFL in Korea - the best and the worst

TEFL Course Preparation Tips

TEFL in Prague - Pros and Cons

Top TEFL Teaching TIps

I Love TEFL Videos - Language House TEFL

Keeping your Sanity and Making the Most of your Time Abroad

Top 10 TEFL Resources and Links

Choosing a TEFL course tips, do's and don'ts, and everything else

Getting your First TEFL Job in Prague and in Europe

Taking the TEFL Plunge Part 2 - Is TEFL right for you

Taking the TEFL Plunge Part 1 - How I Got Started