Welcome to TEFL Logue - the ultimate guide to TEFL'ing. We'll help you with everything you need from getting your TEFL certificate to building your curriculum and living abroad while teaching English.
As we continue to provide useful information about the world of TEFL, we’ve just come across a company that does online TEFL courses that look very interesting. They are currently offering discounts for new customers as well as a free trial program, so it looks like it would be a good place to start for someone who is considering jumping in to this fascinating career and lifestyle.
It appears they also have in-person weekend classes, as well as a placement service, so this could be a really nice resource for some people. Check it out. Online TEFL course - free trial
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I will be entering early blogging retirement…as of this post. The TEFL Logue itself will remain here, but I will no longer be posting.
I’m not out of ideas. I still enjoy writing and have a lot to say about TEFL, but there comes a point in many pursuits where the cons just outweigh the pros. I have written a lot here – just over 1000 posts and 7 “pages” (see above) in about 17 months. My experience and knowledge are not that extensive, but I’ve worked hard to make posts that I felt were more than just …
[more]Thinking of teaching English in Spain? Finding it hard to sort through all the info out there? Pain in Spain is one TEFL blog which is long overdue for a TEFL Logue review.
I first mentioned the site in a post about TEFL courses, where Pain in Spain blogger takes a pragmatic look at the value of a TEFL certificate. From what I can gather about the blogger/s – not all that much, but that’s okay – s/he is from the US and has been working in Spain for several years, mainly teaching one to one students and small groups in company. For the first period of work, s/he was working under the table, and so can share information on that experience, including how to become legal in Spain.
I haven’t worked in Spain, but I find the blog very straightforward. It is honest about the frustrations and challenges of EFL, particularly in Spain and in the bloggers particular context, without being overly cynical. There is advice on finding ESL jobs in Spain…
[more]With experience I get better, but I don’t get perfect. What do you do when a lesson starts to go sour? This could mean that students really don’t catch on to the task or language point, or just don’t like the activity.
If students seem not to get it, it could be that my instructions weren’t clear or I didn’t clarify something well. Even if that is the problem, I’m still faced with the same dilemma: what to do when I realize that in class?
[more]Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
ESL Café: none of our old regulars!
If you’ve been noticing a distinct lack of new posts at the ESL Café, it could be because a whole lot of the regular members have found a new neighborhood hangout: the forums at David’s ELT World. Tesall.com’s recent Top 10 list alerted me to the presence of this site.
David is an EFL teacher in Turkey, and started the site as his contribution towards making EFL a better “place” for teachers. In an interview with TEFL News, he mentioned that he makes it a priority not to suspend members because they make unfavorable comments towards companies which pay to advertise on his site. There is an innovative solution to threads that get a bit out of hand – threads which might be closed or deleted elsewhere – and that is the Fight Club. In this corner of the site, those who are so inclined can argue to their hearts’ content. Making top bill at the Fight Club are a thread on Been banned from ESL Cafe and the Emerging story about TEFL International.
The general discussion forum is the busiest at the moment. Contributors I “recognize” from ESL Café keep the discussion going, and there is room for questions and new contributors on the destination-specific forums.
It does raise an interesting question: how much do advertisers influence what is posted online these days? Are TEFL sites responsible for bad jobs?
[more]The Peace Corps is one of the best known programs which places US volunteers in developing countries for about two years. Teaching English is one of the jobs volunteers do.
Read the New York Times article yourself and have a look at some letters to the editor that followed the article. I can’t speak directly to the article, but it really did make me reflect on some of the views I’ve developed in my time teaching abroad.
I don’t have personal experience with the Peace Corps…and I’m not personally opposed to the idea that it “doesn’t work” in bringing vast change to developing country by training and placing handfuls of volunteers – even highly qualified ones. But if this is what it took to “fix” the developing world, it would already have been done. Instead of spending money to train and support younger volunteers, the US could just select experts in each field. If people have this expectation – that the volunteers are there to “produce change” in two years - of course it will fail.
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