Job Discussion Forums

[Aramas]

Dear me. All that material and three or four big hardcover books? Do you have one of those suitcases with wheels?

Another recommendation for Swan, I see. I don't suppose you've seen his "Oxford Pocket English Usage"? I started a thread about it but no one seems to be interested.

Regarding socks: Somewhat reminiscent of the convenience of USB sticks, we can now get light synthetic clothes that dry so fast you can wash them, wring them out and put them back on. You really don't need more than two pairs of jocks and socks. My travel gear, including clothes, toiletries, knick-knacks, hammock, blanket, cooking and eating gear and pack comes to about four kilos. Perhaps you can understand why, when it comes to books, I'm avoiding them like the plague.

[Justin Trullinger]

The books are all paperbacks, though still not exactly light.

It all fits in a 50 liter backpack, and weighs about 25 pounds, with laptop.

The new socks sound cool!

Justin

PS- I also always travel with one stuffed animal, for kids classes...

[ls650]

[jammish]

[Serious_Fun]

[Justin Trullinger]

Okay, I admit it. Two stuffed animals. A bunny and a koala. Very useful for prepositions (on, in, under etc), great for tossing around in getting to know you activities, and make nice language puppets for really young kids. (In classes where I speak Spanish, for discipline/control reasons, the kinds understand that Mr Koala and Hoppy the Bunny speak only English.)

I decline to answer any questions about where these animals sleep when they aren't working.

Best,
Justin

[MO39]

[quote="Justin Trullinger"]Okay, I admit it. Two stuffed animals. A bunny and a koala.
I decline to answer any questions about where these animals sleep when they aren't working.

Well, Justin, I'm relieved to learn that I'm not the only EFL teacher who's got a "thing" for cute stuffed animals. When next I leave home for a job abroad, it will be difficult to decide which of my fuzzy friends to cram into suitcase!

MO

[viovio]

Hey, have you seen the scanned books you can download at emule? I would recommend to store them in a USB or CD or DVD and travel with those.
I'm well aware that's not correct, but that is very useful.
There's also a good idea to have at least one `paper` book with you just in case.
If you're certain that you're going to have internet and printer access then forget about other books, you can easily get activities and stuff from onestopenglish or bogglesword.

[Justin Trullinger]

Funnily enough, I never had stuffed animals prior to becoming a teacher. In my first year teaching kids, though, I found a nice little white toy rabbit in my classroom, and he was a BIG hit with the kids. Obviously, after he had helped me out so much, I couldn't exactly leave him behind when I moved on, could I?

Mr Koala was a gift from an Australian volunteer who I worked with a while ago...

And you can all laugh, but now, as director, most of the teaching I do is as a substitute at the last minute. And I will be d@mned if I'm walking unprepared into a classroom full of kids without one or the other of my "little friends" in my pocket...

Fine. I will admit that the fact that they have names, and that theoretically I might sometimes possibly talk to them when nobody else is around may be a sign of a strange personality trait...but they ARE useful.

Now be honest. Of those of you who teach kids, who DOESN'T have some cute little toy you use in the classroom?

Sheepishly,

Justin

[Justin Trullinger]

On a more educational note:

[viovio]

(You have to have Emule installed in your PC)

English Grammar Workbook for Dummies :

ed2k://|file|English%20Grammar%20Workbook%20For%20Dummies.pdf|7580244|35B33E25EA6696E5397F5CEB166EECE7|/

Cambridge Business Vocabulary in use :

ed2k://|file|Cambridge%20Business%20Vocabulary%20in%20Use%20(%20Professional%20English).pdf|3953197|6FDAF6E3163B8C5A18A3AC4138842E25|/

And there are many more, just search for "English" or "elementary", etc.

[Justin Trullinger]

Thanks!

Another great resource for life overseas is the Gutenberg project. It's all public domain stuff, so not much in the way of teaching resources, but a GREAT source for reading material abroad. Thousands of downloadable titles...


Best,
Justin

[sojourner]

Justin,

I certainly agree with you about the Gutenberg Project ! Another excellent source of information is the Texas-based online Questia Library. However, unlike Gutenberg, it is not free - 12 months' access works out to around USD 120. But, unlike the Gutenberg Project, many of the books available on Questia are quite recent publications. Apart from books, there are also many journal articles. Check it out : www.questia.com .

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Apart from Gutenberg and Questia, is anyone aware of any other online libraries - preferably, free ones !

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Djob20,

Another book ( very light, I might add !) that you might want to consider squeezing into your backpack or suitcase is "Lessons from Nothing", by Bruce Marsland. This book might provide you with some ideas for lesson planning should you ever find yourself in a school that may lack many of the resources that you were introduced to in your CELTA course !

If you still have any space in your suitcase, you might also want to squeeze in Ann Baker's books and tapes on pronunciation : "Ship or Sheep" and "Tree or Three".

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Viovio,

I clicked on the links to the online EFL resources that you listed in your posting - but, couldn't "get through". Could you please check as to whether the links are correct ? Thank you !

Peter

[Aramas]