Teacher Discussion Forums

Thanks to everyone for posting their suggestions. I'll be teaching that class this afternoon, so we'll see how it turns out. I've been trying to get them to suggest the topics they want to cover, and they have decided on shopping for today, so thats what we're doing. The frustrating part is, since i...

I wonder if anyone has any ideas for me? I am an elementary and JHS EFL teacher in Japan, but one of the schools I work at has asked me to do a conversation class for the teachers at the school. I have never taught adults in my life, I am most comfortable with children, and I have no idea how to pro...

Will you be the only one teaching, or will there be other adults present? Thats a lot of students for one teacher to handle at one time. I would recommend lots of songs with TPR as a starting point, since most kids enjoy them and those who don't know the words can still do the movements and have a g...

The only thing I remember about my JHS science books was that they were boring as anything. What about scientific magazines for kids? These would have the advantage of keeping it short, so that the students might not feel as overwhelmed at first, and having lots of different subjects. When I was you...

I've found songs work well, esp. if they involve clapping, stamping, or other things the kids can do even if they aren't comfortable. Just having a big personality helps a lot, too- no matter how fun the lesson is, if you're too tired the kids will pick up on it. I'm always over the top- big gesture...

Just to clarify, are you looking for ESL and EFL teachers, or just ESL?

Phew! That is definately a downside to splitting by ability that I hadn't thought of! It'd about triple my lesson planning time... Here, the JTE does have some more responsibilities, mostly for assesment and such as well as teaching the class more often (they're supposed to see the classes 3 times a...

All the jobs I applied for required a Bachelors... Maybe if you looked in a high demand area where they need a lot of teachers?

<-- doesn't know where that would be...

Woah!

That's really neat- I had no idea there were so many!
I had the US in mind, but I might do something with all of them.

Thanks!

I'd like to try forming classes based on ability- my school doesn't do it but my schools in America always had ability based division and I feel that I benefited from it. I could feel free to shine as much as I could in English and History, my better subjects, and I don't think I would have survived...

I'm looking for some good Independence Day activities for a junior high school classroom in Japan. Any ideas?

Thanks!
Maia

1- I'm in a public middle school in rural Japan. 2- ALT (assistant language teacher, team teaches with a Japanese teacher) 3- hours- 8:00 to 5:00 in the contract. In reality I show up at 7:45 and leave anywhere between 4:30 and 6:30. 4- salary- no comment. 5- contract- its vague, but its been follow...

In my area of Japan, a classroom often has three teachers- two Japanese and one native speaker. I have this setup for my first-grade junior high school classes and I have found it to be a complete flop. One teacher is always standing around doing nothing, and often two. The rational for 'TTT' teachi...

In response to Larry- Of course learning English is the goal- however, in order for the students to learn English, first we have to convince them that they want to learn English- otherwise it is all for naught. I have the same unmotivated Japanese teenagers, and it seems to me that their teachers ha...

I teach the same age group in Japan, (though we have no textbook) and here's what I have found keeps them focused- changing the activity constantly. So, first a warm up activity, then a song, review yesterday's lesson, play a short game, learn the new target, play another game, and so forth like tha...