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ESL Teaching - Attitude Matters More Than Skills
By:Mistina Thomson

“Last month, I heard someone saying that to be successful in a job, you would need 98% attitude and 2% skills. In terms of ESL Teaching, I would change the percentage to 100% attitude and 0% skills. I say that for a reason - if you have the attitude to teach, you can always hone your skills in teaching to be qualified for one of the ESL Teaching jobs.
That said, the importance of you being a certified teacher to apply for ESL Teaching Jobs cannot be undermined. In fact, it is the sole criterion in most cases for you to qualify for being selected in ESL Teaching Jobs. Does that mean that you being certified in ESL Teaching will make you the best ESL Teacher in the world? Let’s find out.

ESL Certification gets you to a point of eligibility where you could apply for ESL Teaching Jobs. For example, English Jobs Japan would not consider you if you are not a certified and trained teacher in English. For the newcomers, English Teaching Jobs in Japan is the list of ESL Teaching jobs in Japan. Once you get the job, you can thank for you being certified. That’s where it almost comes to an end.

ESL Teaching jobs are more of challenges and how you adapt to the challenges. To be honest, you could be a well trained English Teacher teaching English as a First language. All that could come to a zero when you consider that the set of challenges posed to you in ESL Teaching Jobs is completely different. In ESL Teaching Jobs, you would be up against an audience that does not English quite well. You would have to put up with making them understand English. Worse still, your instructions cannot be comprehended by your students as English has never been their first language.

Additionally, you would also have to face the mindset of people. As said before, not everyone would be susceptible to the change management that you are planning to bring about. For example, in English Jobs Japan the toughest thing to teach students is the harsh sounding words. Historically, the Japanese are known to be the friendly people on earth. Teaching them the harder words would need you to optimize your skills. More importantly, after a point of time it will be your perseverance that will make the deal for you.

Last but not the least, patience bears fruit in ESL Teaching Jobs. Before you get down teaching, please note that you will be teaching people who are naïve to English. Hence, you would be required to be extremely patient and passionate to your job to get the best results.

With the above discussion, you can easily see that attitude is the most important facet to ESL Teaching Jobs. You could still do with the lack of skills that could be built by your attitude to learn. And it is this attitude that will help you succeed in ESL Teaching jobs.”

Ms Mistina Thomson, the author of the article. Search the internet for ESL Teaching Jobs to find a lot of information on English Teaching Jobs in Japan, as well as in other countries around the world. http://www.esljob.org/

		Tips for Online Teaching
			Interaction Give Feedback: Provide ongoing feedback to students and clear policies on when/how you will be available. Students need the reassurance of an available real person on the other end of their computers. Use the Threaded Discussions: In the threads, provide motivation, support, and feedback for discussions - thank students, summarize responses, bring the discussion back on track, but allow students to discuss amongst themselves. Encourage student-to-student interaction: Provide opportunities for student-to-student interaction, which can be just as valuable as teacher-to-student interaction and can save you time and work. Engage Learners Tap learners’ knowledge: Create activities where students integrate new ideas with existing knowledge. Provide them a frame of reference within the online environment. Empower students: Make students responsible for summarizing the week’s discussion, taking the lead of a discussion, or teaching others a concept. This approach will empower them and save you time. Use Student-Centered Techniques Assign group projects: Assign group projects and small group discussions. Have students role-play, act out simulations, or engage in mock trials and debates. Use peer-review: Use peer-review for projects or papers. Students can assist each other before grading, motivating them to display their work publicly and receive feedback from more than just one person. Involve learners:Involve students in their learning, remember the adage that students remember only 10% of what they read or see, but 80% of what they do and 90% of what they teach others. Motivate Students Online Require class participation: Make class participation a weighty part of student grades. Use the Threaded Discussions as you “in-class” time. Give positive feedback: Use the Web to help motivate students. Send them on virtual vacations or send virtual greetings or gold stars for outstanding work. Engage “silent” students: There will be some-reach out to them with private email/ phone messages of concern. It’s easier for students to drop out in this environment. Acknowledge “netiquette”: Words can be interpreted very differently online. Make sure you explain your feelings with cues like, “I feel very strongly about this,” or “I’m confused by your answer. Is this what you mean?” Design with Appropriate Use of Technology Achieve balance between presentation and content: Good courses have multimedia and strong use of technology, but don’t overdo it. Use technology appropriately: You want students to spend their time learning the course content, not tinkering with new technology. Establish a time framework: Design your units within some time framework. Students then know what to expect and can get into a weekly routine. Personalize: Little touches make a huge difference in how a student views the learning environment. Your “voice” will come through. Incorporate student feedback: Consider student feedback in redesigning parts of your course-a perfectly normal process in online course development. Preparation Learn the technology: Get you computer literacy and knowledge of the system up to speed well in advance of the course start date. Allow enough time: Plan on taking longer to design the structure of an online course. More time spent in design up front will lessen course “maintenance time”. Use students’ perspective: Go through course “from a student’s perspective” before class starts — make sure what is expected of students is clearly stated. Don’t forget to include when and how to submit course work. Check accuracy: Check out all links, dates, etc. before students do. They’ll let you know otherwise. Courtesy of Real Education, 1999

CALL MY BLUFF
I remember when I was a child my mother used to watch this programme religiously, who remembers Frank Muir with his colourful bow ties and Patrick Campbell with his famous stutter?

Recently I used this game for my advanced students and they enjoyed the lesson so much that we had to have another lesson to finish it. Here’s the lesson plan..

Skills: Writing and speaking
Level: Intermediate - Advanced
Class Size: 6 or more players

Materials: Dictionary, envelope, paper and pencil
Objective: Call My Bluff is a writing and vocabulary activity that will encourage your class to learn new words. Students try to guess the true definition for a given word is based on a number of mixed definitions written out by the class.

Instructions

1. A player picks an obscure word from the dictionary and writes it on the board. The class must now write a definition of the word on a piece of paper, making it sound like a geninue dictionary definition. The player who picks out the word writes the true definition of the word and places it in an envelope.

2. Once the class has finished writing their definition, the papers are collected together in the envelope. The first player reads out all the definitions from the envelope, including the true definition.

3. Each player than nominates which definition they think is correct. Players score a point for guessing the correct definition, and a point if their false definition was accepted as true by other players.

Example:
Paolo chooses the word “dolour” (which means a state of great sorrow or distress) from the dictionary and writes the word on the board. Other players writes their own definition and hands them in an envelope to Paolo. Paolo reads out the following definitions, including his own correction definition:

(1) The small, slow growing European shrub.
(2) To mislead or deceive others.
(3) A small prehistoric insect.
(4) A state of sorrow or distress.
(5) A light, brownish colour.

Players now vote for the correct definition. Paolo keeps a record of their votes and tells them that the fourth definition is the correct one.

Have fun!!!

What makes a good teacher?

Good teachers:

• love what they teach and convey that love to the class.
• have both an enthusiasm for and an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject.
• have such an obvious enthusiasm for what they do that it is contagious and their students pick up on it.
• have a desire to learn, and for others to learn, all of the exciting things they have learned.
• are obviously excited about teaching. When a teacher enjoys teaching, it is usually obvious, and that enjoyment is passed on to the students. The classes I’ve had with teachers who loved the subject they were teaching are the ones I’ve enjoyed the most, and the ones I’ve been the most eager to learn in. A teacher who isn’t enthusiastic can ruin even the most fascinating of subjects.