With high wages, long paid vacations, and free accommodation in mind, Stacey Siebritz talks to three experts about landing a teaching job abroad.

When you first arrive in your teaching country there are a couple important considerations:

1. Clean yourself up
   
   • if you are being met by someone from your school its generally a good idea to clean yourself up BEFORE you come out of customs.  A quick hair check, teeth check and freshen up.

Motivating students can be challenging to say the least – especially those older students that seem to be going through their apathetic stage. However, with the right tips, even your most challenging students will be willing to get up and participate.

5 Strategies to Motivate Your Students:

1. From day one make sure you walk into the classroom looking like you want to be there. There is nothing worse than a dour looking teacher.

Halloween is just around the corner and what better way to celebrate then to engage your students in fun activities. Below I have put some of my favorites!

Now that you’re in the classroom it’s time to communicate effectively with your EFL learners.

The following are some tips that teachers should keep in mind throughout the school year in order to ensure the needs of the students are being met.

It’s that time again….back to school time that is! No time of year is more alluring with the promise of new beginnings for teachers and students then September. Even if no one knows what the school year will bring, it’s hard to deny the anticipation and eagerness in the air for those wanting to find out. Below I have come up with my personal recipe for what back to school was like for me as a teacher. 

March is a great time to teach students about the much-loved holiday St. Patrick’s Day! Who can resist those adorable little leprechauns and all the magic that surrounds them and their pot of gold! I know I certainly can’t.

For those of you that love all that is spooky and ghoulish Halloween is the perfect time to create lessons that focus on ghouls, goblins and ghost stories! One of my favorite things to do at Halloween is to have my students create masks out of construction paper and other art supplies, using string tied through either side of the mask to tie it on.

The school year has begun and you are off to a great start, however, there are a few students in your class that are overly eager. Yes that’s right, overly eager! They always seem to know the answers and their hands shoot up the moment you finish posing a question, which unfortunately seems to discourage the less confident students in the class from participating.

Focus, Focus, Focus

It’s that time again…or at least almost that time. If you guessed back to school you would be right. It’s that time when kids are returning to the public schools and no longer simply have their evening tutorials to look forward to, but also a full day of curriculum.

I know for myself that summertime is associated with having fun, and what better way to do so then to incorporate songs and interesting activities into the day.

Bringing songs and music into the classroom is a great way to make learning fun and enjoyable for all involved. However, why stop at just teaching the lyrics? With music there is so much you can do, that virtually a whole unit can revolve around just one song.

It’s your first day of classes and you’re excited, and not just excited but full of energy and visions of how your perfect first day is going to turn out. You’ve gone through the training, you’ve made the transition of moving to a new country, and now the day that you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived. You step into the classroom and are introduced to the students by your co-teacher or head administrator, the children who have also been waiting for this day sit attentively. They stare at you with curiosity wondering what their new or perhaps even their first ESL teacher will be like. 

We have all heard about the power of suggestion – if we are led to believe that something is too difficult for us to achieve we are bound to give up sooner than we would otherwise, just as if we are told that we have what it takes to succeed we will probably have extra motivation to accomplish our goal. Now, if this is something that we know applies to us imagine the impact that our remarks, comments, encouragements and criticisms have on the children that we interact with.

We all know that working with children can occasionally be a challenge, but what happens when there is only one of you and 50 of them? Do you surrender to the mob, or do you find ways to effectively manage them and find a little bit of peace- I say the latter.

So much emphasis is placed on preparation, that teachers sometimes want to do some hair tearing out!

Lesson planning, seating charts, having enough pencils, watching the clock. Why not give improvisation a try?

I think that we can all relate to sitting in a class trying not to nod off or listening to an instructor who is brilliant in a particular field but who has no ability to engage students. As adult learners this is often something that we can overcome through self-motivation. We can be motivated by genuine interest in the subject or by the urge to get enough credits to graduate – either way works.

Whether you're getting ready for your first day or if you're looking for a change of pace to help change the dynamic in your class it is important to give thought to how your class is set up.

Music is a part of all cultures and, for many, is a very important part of their lives. For this reason, music is an exceptional tool for teaching ESL when used in combination with your lesson plan for the day. Using music in the classroom can offer a creative and beneficial break from the normal classroom routine and can assist your students in developing for 4 main language skills - listening, speaking, reading and writing. The fact that music provides enjoyment and assists in the development of language skills has been documented by a myriad of researchers.

When you find yourself with 10 extra minutes left before the class ends and you are strapped for ideas on how to fill the gap play one of these games:

Vocabulary Games for All Ages

When it comes to the end of your unit lesson and time to make sure the kids picked up on all the new vocabulary words (reading and spelling) try these two games out – it will make the review fun and exciting for you and the students!

As new teachers, most of us are a little bit overwhelmed at the thought of planning and implementing our lessons. Even if we have the perfect plan, it’s hard to execute it if we don’t have the attention of our students. Following are a list of suggestions that may be helpful in your classroom. Remember, as a teacher the students look to you for guidance. Be consistent, fair and fun with your students from the very beginning and they will respect you.  Here are some ground rules to help you keep things in line:

St. Patrick’s Day is about more than just green beer – really, it IS. Although it is a holiday that marks the anniversary of the death of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. The present day traditions of St. Patrick’s Day parades, green beer and pinching if you’re not wearing green were started in the US. It is always fun to share the history of holidays not normally celebrated in the country you are teaching with your students. Save the green beer for your friends and let your students know a bit about this celebration.

Year of the ____

The Chinese New Year is probably the most important holiday in Asia regardless of the country you’re in. In most cases your students will know about the history of the holiday but why not use aspects of the holiday to create a lesson plan around. Here is a great lesson plan about Chinese New Year and the animals associated with it.

http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=344

Understanding and using appropriate prepositions of place and motion are often difficult for ESL students to grasp and it takes time for them to become comfortable with these types of words. They become confused when there are a host of similar prepositions and often need plenty of help and clarification. As is often the case, visualization is a key element to learning and can make the process much easier and enjoyable for students and teacher alike. I have included three games which make the process of learning prepositions fun for all parties. Here we go:

One holiday that we have fully embraced in North America that is relatively unknown in Asia is Halloween. One of the best parts of being an ESL teacher in Asia is sharing the joy of Halloween and trick or treating with your students. Check out these links for some great Halloween lesson plans. The big question – where are you going to find a pumpkin in Korea or Taiwan or China or Brazil... 

Word/Vocabulary activities are fun and are also wonderful resources in the classroom. When deciding when, where and which activity to use in your classroom both balance and relevance are key. Word games often get a bad rap in the ESL classroom as they are often used as a crutch rather than a tool. Word games build confidence because they are fun and allow the students to practice character recognition, vocabulary, reading aloud, etc. Here are a few games that you can use in your classroom.

Wouldn't it be great if all the students in your class were the same level... or would it. The unique characteristics of people is what makes uniformity impossible. The problem is that there are some classes where the ability spread ranges from basic to intermediate which makes progression really difficult.

Disciplining students in a large class can be REALLY challenging. Some classes range in size from 30-60 students... when you lose control you lose respect and often that is something you will struggle to overcome in the future with that class. The most important thing is to remember that you are their teacher, not their friend. You are there to educate everyone and create an environment where students are comfortable and can learn.

Note that giving instructions is an art and is a course taught at most universities in the Communications Departments.

Are you the type of teacher that does most of the talking? Have you thought about what kind of teacher you are? Self-evaluation is difficult but it is the best way to improve.

Every day I get a student to introduce a new word to my classes. I call a student up to my desk and I give them a piece of paper that has the word written on it in large felt pen. The student then reads a sentence that uses the word in context. 

The student will then go over to the Word Calendar that is posted on the wall and then will add the new word to the calendar. They will then ask the students in the class to use the previous days word in class. Every two weeks we have a spelling test that includes these words and other new words from their exercises and worksheets.

How many times do teachers arrive at class AFTER the students? Why, prepping last minute? Scrambling to get to the photocopier that has gone non-stop in the 10 minute break between classes. Even if this isn't you, if you are prepared but you're chatting and having a coffee or a good gossip til 30 seconds before class it to begin you might consider reading further.

Have you ever thought about how good it feels when you get mail? This is also a great way for you to connect with your students. Send them your students a letter with their report cards or even better, if you know what classes you are going to have, send them a letter to introduce yourself. In the letter you can tell them about a new unit you are going to study so they can prepare or you can tell the students what you are going to do on your first day so they can be prepared.

Daily discipline can be a real grind if a teacher doesn't have a good system. No time in a teacher's career is more exhausting or exhilarating than the first year in the classroom.

Spring is in the air and with it teachers can clean out their closets and bring out some fresh ideas. Students are ever-curious at all ages and with the sun shining, trees in bloom and the general energy on the rise there is no better time to "spring" into action.

Everyone has a friend that always has his or her nose in a book.  Don't you always want that person on your Trivial Pursuit team.  Likely he's not the one that thinks you're playing the genius edition.

Designed for your support, the Footprints Teacher's Lounge is a comprehensive collection of information that will help you get started for your first class and will be useful when you're lesson planning in every ESL class from here on.