For both experienced teachers and students hoping to travel the world, teaching EFL can be a profitable and interesting job. You may not need a master’s degree to do it, but teaching overseas can be quite different from tutoring and teaching positions in your home country. Here, we offer several tips for success for those individuals planning for (or already involved in) a career teaching EFL.

1. Gather real-world resources

Real objects and resources can be used in a variety of ways, from vocabulary building to reading to descriptive writing, and practically everything in between. Before leaving for your destination, collect free and lightweight English resources that could be used in a classroom. These might include restaurant menus, sales ads from local stores, maps of real cities, and magazines. Using such English materials provides EFL students with access to authentic English usage they are unlikely to get outside of the classroom.

 2. Learn about educational norms and expectations

 Education in your home country may be fairly informal. Teachers may often dress casually, have students use their first names, and drink coffee in class. In other countries, however, educational settings may be more formal, and students could balk at such informality. Students in other countries may also be accustomed to lecture classrooms rather than conference-style discussions or interactive classroom tasks. EFL teachers may need to gradually introduce discussion and other participatory activities to help students adjust to new methods.

3. Learn the Language

Efforts to learn the local language can be quite beneficial to EFL teachers. Experiencing the difficulties of language learning helps make teachers more empathetic to the struggles of their own students. These classes may also provide information about similarities and differences between the local language and English, which can be capitalized on in the EFL classroom.

4. Make use of the Internet

Online resources to aid English language learning are seemingly limitless. Students can learn vocabulary, review grammar, take quizzes, and even listen to examples of real English speakers. Teachers can find grammatical explanations and examples, and many sites have downloadable handouts and print-ready assignments. Such resources can be invaluable to EFL teachers whose classroom resources and ready access to English language realia may be limited.

5. Provide lots of English input

Input is a necessity for language learning. During class, EFL teachers should speak only in English, especially since it may be the only time students hear English all day. Rather than doing written work in class, have students complete it as homework, and reserve classtime for active spoken English usage. The more students hear and understand English, the easier it will be for them to produce it, so plenty of classroom use of English is essential. Homework assignments that utilize online resources will also provide students with additional input outside class.

6. Know your students

Successful teachers identify and build relationships with their students. One crucial first step in establishing relationships is learning the names of everyone in each class. Teachers should also learn more about the students’ goals for their English and their motivation for studying the language. Teachers who know their students are better able to choose topics and communicative tasks that will be appealing to a particular class.

These six tips provide both potential and current TEFL professionals with hints for success in teaching EFL. Outside the classroom, teachers should consider resources, educational norms, and the local language. Inside the classroom, teachers should creatively use resources, spoken English, and knowledge of their students. By doing these things, teachers are sure to create a more successful learning experience for all involved.

I have a guest blogger and she wrote about speech errors. It is really interetsting to know about them how to treat them in class. Thank you Elaine.

Elaine Hirsch is a kind of a jack-of-all interestes from education to history to medicine and videogames. This makes it difficult to choose just one life path, so she is currently working  as a writer for various education-related sites and writing about all these things instead.

Speech errors have long been a source of fascination to both linguists and language teachers. Despite their interest to linguists, speech errors can create many problems for English language learners in conventional classes, online schools, or any other language learning environments. To avoid confusion and embarrassment from such problems, four common types of speech errors are explained, with helpful resources included to aid ESL teachers in making their students more aware of such mistakes.

Spoonerisms, a mixing up of the sounds within a word or phrase, are arguably the most common kind of speech error. Named for the Rev. William Archibald Spooner of Oxford University, these slips of the tongue often result in hilarious results. While many examples of original spoonerisms exist, the most famous arose when Spooner was giving a tribute to the “Dear old Queen” in which he referred to her as the “Queer old Dean.” Such slips of the tongue may be problematic for English language learners, who may need practice in recognition of these errors and deciphering the original message.

Next is malapropism, or a substitution of one word by a similar word, resulting in a ridiculous or nonsensical phrase. A derivation of mal á propos, meaning “ill-suited” in French, malapropisms are commonly used in verse and drama to add humorous effect. The term malapropism became common with the production of Richard Sheridan’s play Rivals, in which the character Mrs. Malaprop mixes up her words with hilarious effect. Like spoonerisms, malapropisms can be problematic for English language learners, whose incorrect word choices can lead to great misunderstandings. However, becoming aware of commonly confused words can aid ESL students by making them more aware of their word choices. This malapropism quiz is a good place to start to help students recognize common word choice errors.

While spoonerisms and malapropisms are generally errors in production, or slips of the tongue, mondegreens are perceptual errors, or what might be called slips of the ear. The term mondegreen was coined by Sylvia Wright, who misheard the last line of a ballad as “And Lady Mondegreen” rather than “And laid him on the green.” Mondegreens are most commonly associated with songs or recitations, making them fun and fascinating for ESL students interested in learning English song lyrics, but who may have problems hearing the words correctly. Dave’s ESL Cafe offers an interesting idea for teaching mondegreens with Christmas songs.

Another interesting speech error is the eggcorn, an idiosyncratic substitution of one word for another, such as “elk” for “ilk.” Eggcorns have garnered so much attention that an eggcorn database has been created and is continually updated with real life examples. Teachers interested in helping their students avoid using eggcorns can browse the database with their students, discuss the correct forms and their eggcorn counterparts, and then practice the correct usage.

For language learners, overcoming the difficulties of speech errors in English can be an overwhelming task. The first step is simply being aware of the possible errors and problems that may arise. Teachers can help students make better, more correct word choices by focusing on these speech errors and how to decipher and repair them. Ultimately, this will improve automaticity and aid students as they progress on the path to becoming proficient and fluent English speakers.

Most of us, as language teachers, often leave the classroom saying ‘Today, I taught the simple present tense OR the countable and the uncountable nouns, OR the past tense with irregular verbs.’ Yes, we do, don’t we? Then we sometimes say ‘I spent the whole week teaching the simple present tense, and they still forget the rule for the 3^rd person singular.’

Michael McCharty, Anne O’Keefe and Geraldine Mark who gave a session entitled “What should learners’ grammar for B1/B2 learners include? Brighton, IATEFL 2011.

Actually, the Cambridge Learner Corpus has great and relieving answers to these questions. It helps us to gradually become more tolerant to inaccurate usages while our learners are trying to use the language points that have been recently introduced to. ‘Mistakes are good, they are normal, and they show the trial and developmental process’  suggested by Michael McCharty, Anne O’Keefe and Geraldine Mark who gave a session entitled “What should learners’ grammar for B1/B2 learners include? in Brighton,  at IATEFL 2011.

What is the Cambridge Learner Corpus?

The Cambridge Learner Corpus (CLC) is a large collection of exam scripts written by students taking Cambridge ESOL English exams around the world. It currently contains over 135,000 scripts and it is growing all the time. It forms part of the Cambridge International Corpus (CIC). It has been built by Cambridge University Press and Cambridge ESOL (part of UCLES, the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate).

This slide shows the most common errors which occur with past simple across CEFR Levels.

If you do not have time to watch the video, here are a few highlights and some slides from the session which shows the trial of the simple past tense of the learners at different levels: Notice how the language level increases yet the mistakes occur.

Here is another slide which shows what tenses learners confuse the past tense with form A1-B2.

 The McCharty, O’Keefe and Mark say that these are positive errors and they are indicative of learning. In other words, while the students are trying to use a higher level of language these mistakes occur.

The session holders look at the usage of countable and uncountable nouns as well.

Actually, we teach this concept at a quite early level and almost forget about it at higher levels. However, mistakes occur at higher levels.

Course books and uncountable nouns

In short, it is not enough to teach anything once for our learners to use it competently. The higher the level gets, the rate of mistakes increase. Lots of repetition and recycling are essential. The Cambridge Learner Corpus helps us to prioritize what we should recycle. For example, past simple should be recycled at B Levels. It is a great resource.

Learning English as a second language is a complex undertaking. Some language specialists have noted that English is among the most difficult languages to learn. With numerous homophones and complicated rules of grammar, many students struggle to attain fluency. However, the immediate and future rewards for doing so are many, so the endeavor is well worth the effort.

Because learning English can be so frustrating, many teachers have devised a multitude of methods through which they hope to make the process just a little easier. Games can enhance the experience and make it more fun. Immersion programs expose learners to a multitude of concepts all at once. Online classes enable students to complete courses with greater flexibility. Such methods are tried and true, but with the growing role of technology in everyday life it only seems natural that ESL teachers should incorporate some form of technology in their methods.

 Many social networking technologies are excellent tools for reinforcing the concepts introduced during class. ESL students should be encouraged to use Twitter to communicate with their teachers and peers. They are limited to only 140 characters and so must carefully craft a message for meaning and readability. Though the first tries are likely to be rough, ESL learners will quickly grow more adept as they continue to practice.

Another popular way to use technology for ESL lessons is by creating a class Wiki. A Wiki is essentially a collaborative website built by all of the members of the class, including the teacher. It doesn’t really matter what subject matter the Wiki covers; what’s important is that everyone participates. Students would be encouraged to write, proofread, and edit the content they contribute. The teacher can post questions for discussion to keep the Wiki active and on target. It’s also a fun way to experiment with web design, making this a class project with multiple utilities.

 Other ESL teachers have reported great success from using the Flickr website. Using Flickr teachers and students can upload and share photos with text. The use of a visual element brings the lesson to life and gives students real world examples. Teachers might post a photograph and ask students to describe the action in the scene, and then query them about whether they’ve ever done something similar and also ask them to describe the experience. Students can also use Flickr in small groups or pairs in exercises where they are asked to describe an assigned image and then compare it to the image assigned to their partners. The diversity of projects made possible with Flickr is immense and students typically enjoy these experiences.

 Some experts have gone farther than simply integrating some technology into a traditional ESL classroom environment. There are those, in fact, who maintain that ESL classes can be conducted entirely online. The web-based environment would of course allow students learning English to interact through text, but would also contain an audio component through which students could actually hear the correct pronunciation of words and complete sentences. The convenience of such online courses for students encountering English for the first time is undeniable. Students could log on to the course website from anywhere with internet access at any time. They would complete assignments and gain proficiency more or less at their own pace within the broad structure of the course schedule.

However, not everyone agrees that it’s advisable to learn a foreign language in a fully online environment. Similarly, while using technology to learn languages is generally accepted as a good idea, some teachers are apprehensive that technology is used in class simply for it’s own sake rather than for any actual value it adds to the course.

The right technology has the power to engage ESL learners and enhance their ability to acquire and retain the English language so that they can useit fluently and consistently. When the technology utilized supports the stated curricular goals of the ESL classroom then it is a worthwhile accompaniment to more traditional teaching methods.

 Not all technology is necessarily useful or relevant to ESL learning. The main benefit of technology in the ESL classroom is its ability to help students make connections. Perhaps students will be able to participate in a Skype-enabled conference with their classmates and teacher. Maybe they will make connections with other ESL students and be able to share experiences. It is these kinds of innovations that make technology in the classroom so incredibly valuable.

 That said, there is no need to rush toward incorporating each new piece of technology into ESL teaching. Cutting-edge technologies that have just been introduced to the marketplace may have a number of kinks that need to be worked out before they can truly benefit ESL students, if they prove to be relevant and useful at all. It can be better to wait to bring new technologies into teaching until they’ve had opportunity to mature a bit and be tested by early adopters. A second version of a software program or new device often follows closely on the heels of the first and may include many useful improvements that make it superior to the original offering.

 Technology has the power to transform the learning experience of ESL students everywhere, but it should be incorporated judiciously and with forethought. Not everything in ESL study needs to revolve around the inclusion of technology. Great learning success can still be achieved using a pen and a piece of paper or from engaging in a lively classroom conversation and discussion. ESL teachers must reflect on what methods will best engage their students. Sometimes these can include technology, other times they need not. Mixing the use of technology with more traditional teaching methods encourages flexibility and adaptability, something that can benefit students even after the end of their formal ESL education.