Job Discussion Forums

[Khrystene]

Has anyone any tips on teaching English to the Military. I might have a chance of a job in this area, through a friend.

THanks in advance.

K

[biffinbridge]

I taught an ESP course in what you loosely call 'Military English'.Who are you teaching? This will greatly effect the kind of subjects you need to teach.Back in '99 I taught a course in the 'Language of Ordinance' to some Omani officer cadets in the UK.It was a complete mare,(my boss called it a challenge).I tried to elicit the stuff I didn't understand but my students didn't know the answers either.Preparation was also tough as it's hard to find a mark 7 pk4 bouncing betty with blah blah blah detonators in the dictionary.
Leave it to people who have been in the military,they know what they are talking about.TEFL teachers are good at things like General English and General English ,(and skills), in a business context and exams like the UCLES lot, IELTS and TOEFL.
This ESP stuff is a mare if you don't have a background in it.However ,if the money is ok....screw integrity and blag it.

[Khrystene]

Thanks for your advice. I'm a little scared of it, but it could be an interesting challenge.

My friend, who's been teaching this course for the last year and who has recommended it to me, is coming over this evening, so I'll know more when I talk to him.

The money's ordinary, but it's guaranteed hours, almost every day, til December.

More later!

Keep the tips coming!

[cezarek]

My first students here were military. A bit of a baptism of fire. There's a useful textbook called Campaign English, and you can subscribe to monthly updates through either Macmillan or onestopenglish, I forget which.

[Khrystene]

Yeah I took a brief look at their website. It's Macmillan.

So tell me more about your 'baptism by fire'... What were they like?

[anospi]

Oh dear, you've just brought back memories from my own 'baptism of fire' in Cambodia. In my first job after completing my CELTA I had to teach an ESP class for Immigration Police officers. Not military, but they might as well have been considering how intimidated I felt. The sixteen guys were the biggest Khmers I'd seen, and they were all older than me as well.

I was told to teach them the same course as one of the levels in the general english program, but it was a complete disaster. I remember one class when some of the guys started talking about their exploits at the local brothel the previous evening. Ugh.

Luckily, about 4 weeks into the 10 week course one of the other teachers appraoched me with a bunch of Immigration Police specific lessons. He'd prepapred them himself a few years earlier, and from this point onwards the course went swimmingly.

I know this probably doesn't help you much! Good luck with it. I had it tough, and I'm male. It was a good challenge though, I survived, and learnt a lot from it.

[Khrystene]

Thanks for that! I can imagine their lurid descriptions of their nightly exploits. It must have been bad for you, as a man, to squirm.

I guess the more I hear about teaching the military the more I think I'd actually do well. Does sounds like quite a challenge!

[anospi]

[Khrystene]

[cezarek]