6 Signs You Need a New TEFL Job

We've all been there: you arrive in a new job full of enthusiasm and ideas. A couple of years down the line, some of the joy has gone missing along the way. Here are some signs that it's time to refresh your CV, stick a pin in a globe and go.

1. Little things are annoying you.

Constant, low-level irritation is a sure way to drive you mad. Maybe one teacher slurps his tea too loudly; another one always leaves the classroom in a mess. Maybe they're in the habit of setting their mobile ringtone at full volume and leaving it in their desk in the staffroom while they go to teach a lesson. Maybe the coffee in the staffroom is just terrible. If the small things are irritating you more than they should, time to get out of there.

2. Professional development isn't happening.

If you've been staying in the job just to clock up the number of years' experience, while at the same time seeing no sign of actual professional development, maybe it's time to move on. If you're not encouraged or supported in developing your skills, you'll probably feel pretty demotivated. If there's no reward for striving to be better, then why bother?

3. You don't want to progress.

If you're serious about your TEFL career, you probably want to climb beyond an entry-level teaching position. But if the idea of managing the particular mix of personalities or organising the specific brand of chaos at your school makes your toes curl, best start applying elsewhere.

4. You've 'done' this city.

A picture postcard location can truthfully get pretty boring if you stay there for a long time. Maybe there's just not quite enough to do in your city, or the heat, the cold, the dust or the pollution is starting to grind you down. Maybe you've heard one too many horror stories and want to get out while the going's good. Change it up before you start to hate the place.

5. You've forgotten why you wanted to teach in the first place.

You arrived bursting with excitement and fresh-faced enthusiasm. Now certain things have started to turn you bitter and resentful, such as a negative atmosphere, bureaucracy, bitchiness, gossip, a schedule that wears you out. Avoid getting to the critical point where you're turned off from ever teaching again. A change is as good as a rest.

6. You're making excuses.

"I don't want to have to settle in again somewhere"... "I can't be bothered to sell my bicycle/rehome my cat/clear out my room." Suck it up. Moving is an adventure. Shopping for a new apartment is exciting. Buying a new set of kitsch decorations in a new city is fun. Fussing with visas, work permits, phones and bank accounts is annoying, sure, but it's part of the parcel.

7. The atmosphere is rubbing off on you.

It's easy to do: the environment is bitchy, and then you find yourself constantly bitching about it. People are less than friendly to you, so you respond by becoming less friendly to them. There's a culture of favouritism, and you respond by forming cliques. When you find your job bringing out aspects in yourself that you don't like, time to get out of there before you become bitter and unpleasant, like that terrible staffroom coffee.

Don't Speak That! It's Not Yours...

Does a language 'belong' to its native speakers?

By definition, something that belongs to us is something that we own, control, have control over. We can own a car, yes. If you take my car you're punishable by law. But what if you speak my language? Have I got the right to take your words from your mouth, to tell you you're not welcome in my language?

Are native speakers the ones who make the rules?

When language is borrowed, it is changed. The quirks of EU English, Globish, Chinglish, or any of the miscellaneous mashes of language that people speak every day, show it. Do native speakers have the right to take English back from those who are using it in a different way?

Do native speakers have the right to stop others from using their language?

Can English (or French, Chinese, or Hindi...) be patented, licensed and distributed in controlled amounts?

No.

Language is interchange, currency, commodity. Who owns money? (But who owns it, really?) Who owns electricity? Who owns the air in your lungs?

Language exists in the space between people. By using it, we give it away. When we release language into the world it's subject to interpretation, misunderstanding, judgement, plagiarism, endless mixing and remixing. And then it's not ours any more.

To truly 'own' language we would have to never communicate, to keep it locked up in a box.

If we 'own' language we are like dormant volcanoes.

The true value of language is not in its possession but in its use.

First-world problems in EFL textbooks - a rant and questions

As we all know as ESL teachers, reading lessons are up to 90% less akin to pulling teeth if the students can relate to the reading text. My latest lesson was entirely unrelatable for my students, and it's left me with several burning questions.

First, a description of the text in question.

The text, from a recent British textbook, deals with the well-worn modern cliché of inaccurately self-diagnosing illnesses using the Internet (eg. Googling a headache and thinking you have a brain tumour).

I was aware there was a problem as soon as I tried to lead in to the subject. When you are sick, what do you do? Go to the doctor. Do you ever try to look up your symptoms on the Internet? ...No. Well, that's what we're going to read about today. Ok, teacher.

They politely humoured the lesson, but ultimately couldn't relate to the content at all. It's not that these students don't have access to the Internet - most urban Cambodians have a smartphone and regularly use the Internet. I would guess that they simply don't have the free time or the compulsion to Google every ache and sniffle.

I may be going out on a limb here, but I think "Cyberchondria" is an affliction of bored salaried office workers who desperately hope they might be getting sick enough to take a day off.

In Cambodia, paid sick leave is a rarity, healthcare isn't free, and medicines are often counterfeit or prescribed somewhat haphazardly. Hospitals seem to work on a sort of bribe system; pay more to get treated quicker. You don't go to the doctor or hospital unless you really have to.

So my students' responses to the article ranged from a sheepish "it's a bit stupid" to "if she's sick, she should go to the doctor". The implication: if she isn't sick, she can stop her whingeing.

And so on with other textbook articles that deal with various shades of suburban ennui. Being 'addicted' to travelling, being a 'textaholic', worrying that you're consuming too much sodium because of your job as a professional cheese taster. The absolute horror!

This may sound like a rant against textbooks in general. It isn't. I appreciate that these texts, even if the context is a little far-fetched, are designed to include key vocabulary and reinforce grammar structures that have been recently introduced. I'm a little loath to 'just throw out' chunks of the book.

I'm sure these articles go down a whole lot better in Western Europe, and especially for foreign students who have come to England.

My point is, really, why do people insist on using Britain-centric Oxford textbooks in far-flung locations such as Cambodia? Not just in urban language schools like mine, but also in volunteer-run projects in village pagodas.

When you're in a small tin-roofed classroom building, the view of bright green rice paddies out of the shutters, the smell of incense wafting in from the shrines and the occasional orange-robed monk strolling serenely past, what is really the point of talking about Liam from Surrey who is finding it hard to readjust to his life as an insolvency administrator after his gap year?

I've got more questions than answers about this.

Why do countries such as Cambodia use British-centric textbooks?

I'm under the impression that there are a limited selection of textbooks that are approved by the Cambodian Ministry of Education, and they're mostly British. Why?

Is there a good-quality comprehensive textbook with an international focus?

I've used a few different textbooks, but they've all been overwhelmingly British. I've come across some good internationally-focussed reading/listening books that are good for supplementary material (National Geographic produce some great resources) but not any international General English coursebooks. Are there any?

Are there any General English textbooks that are specifically aimed at use in Asia?

Surely Asia must be the largest market for TEFL. Which textbooks are used in China?

Why are we teaching EFL, not ESOL?

Facts and figures tend to suggest that English has more second-language speakers than native speakers. Instead of using textbooks with sections devoted to quirky idioms and how to use the Tube, why aren't we focusing on teaching second-language speakers how to communicate with each other clearly and effectively in simple, neutral English?

What can we (and I) do?

To redress the balance, I have to adapt and supplement the textbooks, sometimes pretty heavily. I would really like to know if anyone is working on creating modern Asia-centric ESOL resources, plus how I can get involved!

I would welcome discussion and opinions on any of these points! Do you get frustrated with your coursebook? How do you get around it? What can we do to help each other?

Sizing up Phnom Penh - a year in the Khmerde part 4

So here's the thing. I'm holed up in a hotel in Phnom Penh and kind of torn about relocating here semi-permanently (for a year or two, before the next bout of itchy feet sets in). I've got a promising job application for an editing/copywriting job and in the meantime am trying to decide if I really want to pack up my worldly belongings small accumulation of clothes and books and start looking for an apartment in Siem Reap's bigger and smokier brother.

So far, there seem to be the following factors to take into account...

Pros:

+ More shops. I like Siem Reap, but all my clothes are from the Old Market or Lucky Mall. The Old Market is fine if you like your clothes with elephant-print in tissue-thin cotton that develops holes and stretches and has to be thrown away within a month or two. Lucky Mall is OK, but I need just a little more variety now, please. The existence of a flashy shopping mall (Aeon) and a few chain stores including Zara frankly excites me.

+ More job opportunities. Yep, more people means more students. Options for a writer/teacher/freelancer seem to be plentiful, salaries may vary.

+ More restaurants. Again, I like Siem Reap and it's got a lot of restaurants to suit any budget. Unfortunately a large swathe of them are tourist-oriented and offer overpriced food, lousy service and a soulless atmosphere. Which brings me to my next point:

+ Fewer tourists. Don't get me wrong, I like tourists. Bring them on, sweaty busloads of them. I like the type that converge in throngs of neon singlets with paint on their faces into bars that sell drinks by the bucket. I like the crusty tourists travellers dangled with wooden bracelets and bone pendants who vaguely brag about who hasn't washed their hair or worn shoes for longer. I even like the hipster ones in their retro sunglasses, showing off their tattoos of penny farthings and pocket watches and sweating under the heat of a full beard in the tropical sun. I like overhearing their loud conversations about who's done Laos and who's going to do Burma. I like every last precious one of them. I just need a break so I can continue to like them forever and ever without getting to the point where I want to tip them all into the sea.

Cons:

- Less dust, more smoke. Phnom Penh seems to have solved the dust problem of Cambodia by pouring a thick layer of concrete over everything. Result: an urban heatsink with a flooding problem and growing pollution levels. It's hotter, and there's a light haze of fumes over the city. (Although it's nowhere near the scale of Jakarta, Bangkok or Shanghai, I would imagine.)

- More traffic. I love driving my scratched-up Yamaha Fino around the sleepy streets of Siem Reap. Actually, the traffic in Siem Reap can get bad enough around rush hour, and I've only just worked up the nerve to drive on National Road 6. Phnom Penh is worse, with terrifying junctions where seven roads seem to converge with no traffic lights or road markings. Unless I've failed to grasp the subtleties of Cambodian road rules (which is highly probable), the only rule seems to be that the driver who doesn't give way is the one who has the right of way. Cycling would be out of the question (if I liked cycling, which I don't). Eh, well, so be it.

Reflection

That probably just about sums it up. Apparently I can see more pros than cons, so the decision may be made, depending on the job situation. On further reflection, I think Siem Reap in a way was my attempt to hide from the world, and it's a great place to do that. With its slightly provincial, insular feeling and slow pace of change, it's easy to forget that the outside world still exists. Phnom Penh certainly has more of a buzz and up-to-dateness, whilst also not being overwhelmingly large. I think I could just about get used to it.

Interlude - A year in the Khmerde part 3

For almost 2 years now I've been living and teaching in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and have recently come to the decision to take 3 months out and see what happens. Caution: a self-indulgent navel-gazing post will follow. So, what am I going to do?

Give the job a rest.

My teaching job, which I have loved, is getting repetitive. It also involves teaching every evening, which a priori I don't mind, but means I don't get to enjoy the early evening in Siem Reap, which is a lovely time.

Freelance it for a while.

I've got a blogging job that pays the rent. Other projects to investigate: translation, tuition, copywriting, publishing (another) Kindle book...

Try volunteering.

So many people come to Cambodia to volunteer that it feels a little selfish to work for money. On the lookout for volunteering opportunities! Much is said about the destructive effects of voluntourism, so I would like to find something constructive and valuable to do.

Write more.

Ideas are going through my head all the time, but it seems that teaching pre-intermediate English for extended periods of time tends to shrink my vocabulary. Mission: rediscover words. Put fingers to keyboard and let something into the world.

Relax.

Is a meditation retreat a ridiculous thing to do? Maybe it is, but the option is there. Also on the menu: massages, swimming, soaking up some UV rays. But you know what? I'm actually bored of yoga.

Exercise.

I've been running about twice since I've been here, filling the void with workout videos that achieve a lot of sweat but (probably) not much else. With the cool, dry season approaching and my Vibrams gathering dust, now's the time to fix that.

Go somewhere.

No, I don't know where, but I would like to visit pretty much every country in Asia. Problem: too much choice.

Study.

My Khmer needs to be improved more. I think that once more, teaching English has interfered with my ability to speak Khmer since my aim has been to stop my students speaking Khmer in the classroom and make them speak English. Now the tides can turn, and it'll be me making myself speak the foreign language. Other than that, I have vague notions of studying journalism and teaching myself more about Wordpress.

Relocate.

It should be said that a big reason for my position at the crossroads is that my partner and colleague is moving to Phnom Penh for work and study. I'm not completely convinced about living there, so I'm going to test the water first and see what happens. Relocating in a hurry sucks, so I'm going to take my time and do all of the above first!

Be unique! - Intermediate grammar revision game

This is a grammar revision game that alleviates some of the tedium of a gapfill exercise! It revises general verb tenses and forms.

You will need:
One copy of the worksheet per group of 2-3 students

Procedure (20-25 minutes total)

• Use your favourite student grouping method to make groups of 2-3 students.
• Give one copy of the worksheet to each group.
• In their group, students fill each gap with any appropriate word. Allow 10-15 minutes.
• As a class, check the answers. I like to do this with small whiteboards that students can reveal all at the same time. Groups score 1 point for a correctly used word, and 1 bonus point for a unique answer (that none of the other teams used).

Enjoy!

Song lesson - Magic - Rude

This is a song lesson I used with my intermediate Cambodian students. It worked well because they enjoy the song and it lends itself to a little follow-up discussion. Without further ado...

You will need
One copy of the worksheet per student 
Mp3 or Youtube clip of the song 'Rude'

Procedure

• Students listen to the song 1-2 times and circle the correct words 1-10.
• Follow up with True/False questions.
• Students in small groups discuss the question of what the singer should do about the situation (try to persuade the parents? Run away with his girlfriend? Take his parents' advice and find another girl? etc...)

Click HERE to download the worksheet for free!

Titanic reported speech activity - free printable worksheet

This is an activity I made to practice reported speech. First students listen to fill gaps in Titanic dialog, then they use prompts to create reported speech sentences.

This went down fantastically with my intermediate Cambodian students who love Titanic.

 
You will need:
An audio or movie clip of Titanic where Jack and Rose are clinging to the wreckage of the Titanic (the "I'll never let go" scene). 

One copy of the worksheet per student.

Click here to download the worksheet for FREE

Link opens with Google docs - no sign in required. You can then print and use as required

Perfect day song lesson (free printable worksheet)

This is one I often get out at the end of term. It's mellow, relaxing and lends itself nicely to a pleasant discussion. Plus, this song is so perfect that I never get sick of it, even if I use it for all of my lessons over a couple of days. You're going to reap just what you sow repeated at the end - at once reassuring and cautionary. Perfect, bittersweet, the languorous piano, the slightly uneasy strings, the strings, the strings.

I probably like it a lot more than the students do. Well, never mind.

Materials
Mp3 or Youtube clip of the song.
1 copy of the worksheet per student.

Time
Approx 45 minutes.

Procedure

1. Lead in. Write "a perfect day" on the board. Ask the students: what's your perfect day? If you had a day where you didn't have to work or go to school, what would you like to do the most?

2. First listen: gist task. The students listen to hear what activities the singer mentions doing on his perfect day. (Going to the zoo, watching a movie, drinking sangria in the park, going home with someone...)

3. Second listen: minimal response task. Hand out the worksheet. The students circle the word that they hear. Check unfamiliar vocabulary, and discuss the meaning of "reaping what you sow".

4. Productive follow-up: Ask the students to imagine that a foreign friend is visiting them this weekend, and plan a perfect day. Where will they go, what will they do? etc.

Click here to get the FREE worksheet.

(Link opens in Google docs, you can then download, save and print as required)

Life after the CELTA - 5 things I learned in my first year of teaching

January 2015 marks my first anniversary of teaching English in Cambodia, and I've learned a few things along the way. There have been moments of confusion, seas of blank faces, tedium and repetition, as well as (fortunately) nice surprises, unexpected insights into local life, and the satisfaction of developing a rapport with my students and getting better at my job (maybe). Looking back, here are a few things I've learned in the first year (as much for my own self-indulgence as anyone else's benefit).

1. You can't elicit what they don't know.
Sounds obvious now, but the focus during the CELTA was so much on eliciting that at first I stumbled when the students didn't know something that I was trying to elicit. I had put more effort into planning how to elicit something, than planning how to teach it. Lesson learned: your job is teacher, not eliciter!

2. You don't need to plan to the minute.
Start and finish at the right time, yes. Plan to spend 2 minutes explaining a task, allow 8 minutes for the students to complete the task, predict 5 minutes for answer-checking and feedback... no. In practice, you quickly learn that lessons don't work like that, in the same way that life doesn't work like that. An activity might take more or less time than you thought, depending on a multitude of factors: the mood of the students, the ability of the class, unexpected vocabulary questions, and so on. Students might not have a lot to say about the discussion questions you planned, or on the other hand they might take a topic and run with it. If an activity is taking longer than planned and the students are enjoying it and being productive, you can always cut something else and give it for homework or save it for the next lesson. But if the lesson is running too fast, then...

3. Always have something extra up your sleeve.

Or somewhere. Hee hee.

Maybe the students whip through an activity much more quickly than you thought. Maybe you planned 10 minutes of discussion, but they've finished after 5 and have nothing else to say. Maybe the unthinkable happens, technology fails or an activity falls flat and has to be abandoned. Always have an optional extra activity on standby. It could be extra exercises on a grammar point, extra discussion questions, a spelling race or vocabulary game, a mini quiz, or revision of something from a previous lesson. As you get more experienced, you build a bank of go-to fillers that can be adapted for any situation. It's better to have an extra activity and not use it, than run out of activities early. What you don't want is that awkward moment where you have 20 minutes left of the lesson, you've got no more material, and all you can think of on the spot is a Hangman tournament. Uh-oh.

4. Don't panic if it doesn't go right first time.
As a new teacher, it's easy to get distraught if an activity flops or if a student asks a question you just can't answer off the bat. But then you realise that it's not the end of the world. You can work out what went wrong, or check that weird grammar point so that you know it better for next time. You never know exactly how something's going to work until you try it, so don't be discouraged from trying new things. Over time you can refine techniques and tweak lesson plans so that activities run properly and you are prepared for the 'usual questions'.

"Teacher, have you got Facebook?"

5. Don't rush feedback sessions.
You've planned a fun and quick answer checking session and plan to whip through it in five minutes so that you can get on with the next activity. But then a student asks but why is that the answer? and it's a little bit tempting to answer because it just is, OK? However these are valuable opportunities for you to clarify a grammar point or explain an exception to a rule; and if one student asked the question, it means that several of them were probably wondering the same thing. If they don't understand the reasoning behind the answer, they risk making the same mistakes over and over again. Don't forget that feedback sessions are a great time to clear up confusion, and not just a hoop to jump through.