Teacher Discussion Forums

Here Here! (Or is it hear hear?!!)

To Sally Olsen - from your question, I am assuming you think it is unfair of 'pullingmyhairout' to criticise the situation he is in if he cannot provide a solution to the problem. However, i also work in a Chinese school and wholeheartedly endorse what 'p...' says. I am a qualified teacher with many...

Thank you Lorikeet and emile - some nice ideas. I'll keep them in mind.

I could really do with some help planning my curriculum. I have classes of mixed ability children (they are expats) ranging from very little English to fluent! I have to plan my own (speaking/listening)curriculum from scratch as there are no course books. What I am looking for to get me started is a...

I think the above advice may well be very useful if you will be teaching in Korea but every country/school has a different way of helping new teachers. I am in China and am basically left on my own. I did not have a particularly friendly welcome in my school and was told just to do whatever I wanted...

Wher are you teaching?

Shelley - thanks so much for your reply. You have reassured me as i will soon be teaching my first ever primary age efl class and had thought I might predominently use games. I wonder how you make sure there is a progression during the term? My classes will be large with a huge ability range so that...

Do you use games as a reward at the end of a lesson or are they more often the main activity? Would you consider filling an entire lesson (of say 40 minutes) with a game? Personally, I think motivation is the key - if children are having fun, they are generally more motivated to speak the target lan...

Oh dear - all those views and still no replies. My start date is looming and I really could do with some help. At the moment I am just planning a few random lessons to suit all abilities and I really don't know how I should be structuring the term's work. As I said, there will be a huge range of abi...

In English primary schools, The Oxford reading Tree series is very popular - I'd imagine it could be used just as well with ESL children. They're really nice little books - great stories, lots of humour, fun, multi-ethnic characters with lots of repetition of language.

I will soon be starting work, teaching children of expats, aged 8-11. The children will be in mixed ability classes and resources are very limited. I will be teaching speaking and listening. I have plenty of ideas for individual lessons and feel comfortable with managing the class but I need some he...