Category: vietnamesl

Ho Chi Minh City has been in a partial lockdown for the last 6 weeks. Now the government has announced that all of ho Chi Minh City will be in complete lockdown mode for the next 15 days. wearing masks and social distancing is being enforced.

ESL Teachers ( English as a Second Language)

The teachers that are here are either waiting for the schools to re-open or teaching on line. Some, like me, have opened a second business or undertaken a new job like Affiliate marketing with Wealthy Affiliates.. For those who wish to come to Vietnam you will need to do a couple of things to prepare. First off, get your Covid shots done and along with your normal paperwork (degree, teaching certificate, police and health check) you will need a sponsorship letter from your future employer. When you do arrive you will need to quarantine yourself for 14 days.

Then, when here, you will need to get a work visa and a temporary resident card. The schools normally help with this and depending on the school you can negotiate who pays and how much. Some will pay the lot, some 50/50 and others nothing at all. At the moment the schools are starting to prepare to recruit teachers and the public schools should re-open in September. This is the start of the new semester. The English centers will hopefully open before this.

But we are at the mercy of the governments decision on re-opening schools. Ho Chi Minh city has been the worst hit for covid19 with over 8,000 people being infected. Yesterday, July 8th, were the final school tests and all students in their final year should have sat their exams.

Government edicts on Covid.

Now the government has said to be prepared for the strictest movement restrictions to curb the spread of Covid 19. The P.M has asked all localities (police etc) and Ministries to implement strict solutions to prevent, detect, isolate, suppress outbreaks and provide active treatment and pay special attention to the implementation of social distancing and lockdown. Ho Chi Minh city will also control the entry and exit of vehicles into the city.

Many traditional markets have been closed down and there are food shortages in the supermarkets (those that are open) as well as steep price rises. And people have been advised not to go outside their houses unless absolutely necessary. Any new arrivals into Ho Chi Minh city from other districts or cities must also quarantine for 7 days with Covid tests being done on the 1st, 3rd and 7th day

Tan Son Nhat International airport. H.C.M.C.

Once, Tan Son Nhat Airport ( Ho Chi Minh city) normally received 550 to 720 or between 85,000 to 109,000 passengers every day. in contrast it has handled fewer than 200 flights and 3,000 passengers a day between last Monday and Thursday. Vietnam airlines, Vietjet Air and Bamboo Airways have incurred short term debts of around VND36 trillion (US$ 1.56 billion).

So, the people and the companies have been hit very hard financially. It will take a long time to recover and for some it is lock the doors and walk away from the business.

School recruitment of ESL teachers.

However the schools are starting to advertise and this is an example of what is being offered.

URGENT: Horizon International Bilingual School is looking for Native English Teachers for Primary level Requirements:- Native English speaker(US/ UK/ Canada/ Australia/ New Zealand/ Ireland/South Africa)- CV& application letter- Teaching Certificates (CELTA, TESOL, TEFL. . .)- Holder of university degree with majors in Linguistics, English teaching, Science or Humanities- Experience in Teaching at least 3 years Benefits:-Free Lunch-Bonus salary at the end of school year-Travel expenses up to $800-$1000-Full salary during holidays , up to 2200 $ salary per month-School will provide work permit and resident card.

You can start looking and if you get a job you can then organise your sponsorship letter and all the paperwork I talked about before.

Prior preparation prevents poor performance.

At the same time you may want to learn a little Vietnamese. This is something I highly recommend as it can be helpful in the classroom and in everyday life.My favourite app for learning is Mondly. I have written about this before and you can find more information about this on my website. Click on the link below to find out more.

Mondly App | Best App to Learn Languages – Teaching ESL in Vietnam 2021 (vietnamesl.com)

And if you wish to be fully prepared, you can also organise your technology needs. Once more, click on the links below to find out more.

Product review: Blue-tooth headset/Amp. – Teaching ESL in Vietnam 2021 (vietnamesl.com)

Great Teachers Tool – Teaching ESL in Vietnam 2021 (vietnamesl.com)

As my father used to say prior preparation prevents p— poor presentation.

I hope this gives you an update of what is happening in Ho Chi Minh city and how you can use this time to prepare for when classes start again. if you wish to ask me any questions or you would like to leave a comment I am happy to read and reply to all questions or statements.

I wish you all the best in these crazy times and if you need any help when you arrive (Or even if you are here already) please leave a message and I will respond to your request..

The new ipad M1 looks awesome.

The Ipad M1 looks like a great classroom tool. Easy to use and powerful. It is powered by an M1 chip which gives mind blowing performance. It has a liquid retina display that provides an extreme viewing performance.It also has a fast 5g wireless connection.

The M1 chip is the fastest device of it’s kind and is designed for next level performance. but for me the deal breaker is it is thin and light and makes carrying to school very easy. Also the all day battery life is perfect.

The 8 core CPU delivers up to 50 percent faster performance which provides faster graphics so you can show high quality graphics at faster rates.Apple says 40% faster graphics which is bloody amazing. The students will love you.

There is an 11 inch and 12.9 inch XDR display which gives an amazing 1000 nits of full screen brightness and 1600 nits of peak brightness. What that means is a true to life color and tone.There is a 1,000,000 to 1 contrast ratio which means detailed content and visual  perfection for your students. Peak brightness on the 11 inch model is not as high at 600 nits but that is compensated by it’s portability. My choice would be the 11 inch model purely because of ease of carrying and set up. The power of these Ipads and the storage capacity is more than enough for work and play..

The Ipad pro comes with a 12mp wide camera and a 10 mp ultra wide camera and is the same for both. And there is a 2x optical zoom and a 5 x digital zoom.It comes with a 5 element lens and advanced red eye correction. Take photo’s in class and use them to help teach English. I record my students and get them to view what they have said. It is a great way to improve their language skills. At a later date, after I get permission, I will upload an example to my website.

The Apple M1 chip has an 8 core CPU and a 16 core neural engine. The 8GB RAM model comes in 128GB, 256GB or 512GB storage. The 16 GB RAM model comes with 1 TB or 2TB storage. The base model would be enough for most classroom activities but I would want 512GB of storage.

There is a 4 speaker audio system, but you will still want to connect up to a remote blue tooth speaker because of the size of the classrooms in Vietnam. However if you only work in an English center you will get away with the ipad speakers. Smaller classrooms, smaller class sizes. You also have audio and video calling if you want to teach online. ( See my website for online teaching info. www.vietnamesl.com )

All the apps look standard except Music memos, Swift playgrounds and support. And importantly it supports Vietnamese as well.

Why am I so excited. When you sometimes have to take your laptop to school …this is so much easier. Also better than using your phone which I have been doing.But not now.

The cheapest place to buy this that I have found is at Amazon. If you can find it cheaper, let me know. The Apple 11inch Ipad pro starts at $899.00. For me this is well worth the investment as it is only what you should save in 1 month. And the ease of use and portability makes it a sound investment. Click on the Amazon product to find out more.

Thank you for reading. If you wish to comment, please do.

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Starting Out.

When you first start teaching you have a lot of questions rattling around in your head. probably the first and biggest is can I do this? You have done your training and maybe you have even done a demonstration lesson for your employer. But nothing quite prepares you for your first day of teaching. can I do it, will the students like me, will I be a total flop?

It’s like going on stage for the first time and battling those butterflies. There are techniques and methods you can use to make that first day and the days after that easier. The best piece of advice I got was to go our and enjoy myself, have fun.

If the students see you having fun they will be drawn in and enjoy themselves too. I remember the first day and I made a basic grammar mistake. Of course the class pounced on it. What did I do…..I said, good I wonder who was going to pick that up. After that we laughed and now 15 years later I have my own school.

Lesson Plans are a must.

There are some things as a new teacher that will make your life a lot easier. And that is HAVE A LESSON PLAN. It doesn’t have to be written out in all it’s complexity with it’s i’s dotted and it’s t’s crossed. But you do need a general guide as to what you want to achieve and how you are going to do it. ( This should have been covered in depth in your teacher training).

Normally the school where you will teach will have a curriculum and book for you to follow. If they are good they will inform you as to what page /pages you will teach. ( Normally only 1 or 2 pages per lesson)

To start your class you will normally do a warm up. Getting the students relaxed and help them to think in English. It could be a quick game  – ABC food or ABC body parts or Clothes. You go around the class and the students have to name a food or body parts/ clothes in Alphabetical order. For example A – arm, B – Bottom, C – Chest, D – Dress etc.

You need a full retinue of games , you can look on the web or talk with other teachers about what they use.

and then you are into your lesson.

Making a lesson Plan.

Before you start decide what type of lesson you will be doing. A review, a skill based lesson, a book based lesson or one entirely on your own.

If this is your first lesson you will want to do some form of introduction. The depth that you drill down will be dependent on the age of your students. Ideally you should have lesson plans for different ages and different skill levels. At it’s most basic your lesson plan will be for;

1) Kindergarten, quick and fast with lots of changes to keep them interested. Most classes are only 30 minutes long/

2) Children, Fun based activities, lot’s of games but some formal book based learning. Does not need to be quite as fast paced as kindergarten.

3) Teenagers. ( Secondary school) A couple of games, I like to do 1 at the start and 1 at the end of the lesson. More focus on book learning.

4) Adults. Can be a little bit more risque with the comments. More focused on on learning and covering all the skills.

You need to think on your feet in the classroom. If you see something not working , move onto something else. as much as a lesson plan is essential do not be bound by it if it is not working.

The steps I take in designing a lesson plan are;

1) Decide on your objectives., whether it is…

– Leaning new vocabulary.

– Learning new grammar.

– Practising speaking

– listening skills

– Writing skills

2) Outline your lesson Plan..

a) Waiting for your students.

b) Warm up / game.

c) Hand out worksheets or take out books.

d) Group work.

e) Individual work

f) Mark worksheets in class and collect.

g) Wrap up / answer questions or play a quick game like hangman or stop the bus etc. ( Laugh and Learn)

Most classes are 45 minutes long unless you have a double period. Then your class is 11/2 hours long. Also put a time of how long you think each section will last. Have 2 more parts to your lesson plan in reserve in case you need them.

3) Activities.

What activities or games or work sheets ( Or a mix) are you going to use to achieve your goals in section 1 ( Objectives)

4)Materials.

Create or find materials to support the classes learning experience. It could be flash cards for younger children or puzzles or worksheets. To start it is easier to find these on line ( www.englishwsheets.com is a good site) but later you will want to create your own.

5) Have Fun.

The most important part when you get into the class is relax and have fun. You have done the hard work, now enjoy the rewards.

Conclusion.

Once you have done the first 10-20 lessons you will feel much more comfortable and can start practising with different teaching ideas and methods. I remember that I counted my first 100 classes( LOL ) and after year 2 I tried to count how many I had done but I had lost count long ago and was enjoying the classes.

I still enjoy doing a rudimentary lesson plan but I know if you put me in front of any class I can pluck out a lesson that will be relevant and enjoyed by all.

All the best on your journey.

Tell me any stories you may have of your first day in class. Or if you haven’t got there yet, what do you expect.

I love hearing your stories and will reply to any messages left as soon as I can.

Resources for teachers

Who Am I? 

I am a teacher who has lived in Vietnam for 15 years and now have 2 schools. My name is Steve and I love traveling, Teaching and learning about new cultures.

You can see my house in Vietnam below on YouTube.

Any or all links on this site maybe affiliate links, and if you purchase something through those links I will make a small commission on them.

There will be no extra cost to you and at times due to my affiliation you could actually save money.

You can read our full affiliate disclosure here.

Two of the most important things you can have in the classroom to help you are;

1) A Bluetooth headset Amplifier.

You need your blue tooth headset amplifier to make life easier in the classroom by projecting your voice loud enough so that it is heard. In Vietnam it is quite common in public schools to have class sizes of 50 students plus. You want to be heard by every student because as soon as some students don’t hear you, they will start talking. If they start talking then you will get everyone wanting to talk and you have just lost control of your class. Yes you can use your natural voice but over time this puts a strain on your vocal chords and you will start to lose your voice. Who said teaching wasn’t fun. I recommend a headband style headset.. Also I recommend anything that has an output of over 25watts.

Product Review: Blue Tooth Speaker.

2)  Blue tooth speaker

A blue tooth speaker is also a very necessary item for you in the class room. You can connect your phone to the blue tooth speaker and run any audio content directly from your phone to the speaker. You can save your audio files in Google drive then play them when needed. I generally prepare everything the night before and am ready for class in the morning. Once again I prefer anything over 25 watts output and there are some very good speakers on the market at the moment for a fair price.

So there you have it. The two best classroom tools that over the years have saved my voice and saved my sanity. There are a variety of different products on the market and these are but two you can use. I have used them and they are good. But you may wish to use something else, and that is great too. Find something that you like and are comfortable with.

If you wish for further recommendations please don’t hesitate to contact me:-)  Any feedback is also welcome.

English schools in Vietnam are still closed as well as the public schools. Kindergarten, Primary, Secondary schools and Universities are all closed.

It’s June 7th and we are in the middle of a two-week lock down and we are not allowed to go anywhere, except for essential services.

More than thirty cities and provinces have now entered the second week of on-line teaching.

Most of my colleagues have either taken on line teaching jobs, gambling on crypto currency rises and falls or looking at drop shopping or Affiliate Marketing.

Officially as of May 2021, the Ho Chi Minh City peoples’ committee tightened restrictions across H.C.M.C because of rising covid 19 infections. Go Vap district ( Close to the airport ) and Thanh Loc ward are under two weeks lock down with no more than two people being allowed to meet and normal two meter social distancing policy in place along with the compulsory wearing of masks in public.

And the rest of H.C.M.C is limited to the meeting of up to 5 people, 2 meter social distancing and visits to only essential services as well as the mask. Ho Chi Minh City restaurants are limited to only providing take away food and the Airlines have been asked to reduce domestic flights.

However, who would want to go away at the moment. If you go to an area the government has ruled an “affected area of risk” you will need to quarantine or self isolate yourself for 21 days upon your return. And you may also be asked to return up to 2 negative Covid tests during or after that period of isolation.

Districts that are affected by covid are;

District 1; District 3; District 7; District 12; Binh Thanh District; Go Vap District; Hoc Mon District; Nha Be District; Phu Nhuan District; Tan Binh District; Tan Phu District; Thu Duc. ( I live in Go Vap which is one of the 2 Districts under lock down).

The national tally of Covid cases is now 8,747 and the death toll is 53. We received a phone call yesterday saying one of our students had come down with Covid. It sounds terrible but luckily for us it had been over 3 weeks since we had last seen her. I am sure she will be OK as she is 19 years old and falls outside the riskier age groups.

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Vietnam International Flights

Travel Updates and Restrictions.

Vietnam has suspended the entry of all foreigners since March 2nd 2020. This was posted by Dezan Shira and Associates on June 2nd 2021 . This measure will not apply to diplomats, officials, foreign investors, experts and skilled workers.

Vietnam Airlines and Viet jet had resumed some International flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with South Korea, Japan and Australia. So people could go home if they wanted or had to.

What is important for any future teachers traveling to Vietnam? Any foreign employee who wants to enter Vietnam should ensure they have a sponsor who can help in getting the necessary paperwork. And assist with the 14-day mandatory quarantine when arriving in Vietnam.

Vietnamese authorities will charge a quarantine fee for anyone entering Vietnam from September 1. Foreign nationals will be required to pay for their own medical treatment if needed. International arrivals who opt to stay at government quarantine facilities will be required to pay at least VND 120,000 (US$5) per day.

The latest is that inbound flights are suspended until June 14th. Any person coming in is subject to a 21-day quarantine. Outbound flights will continue. This statement was released by the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam 3 minutes ago at 10.50 am 7/06/2021.

Advertised jobs and what do they mean.

Jobs are being advertised on Facebook now. There are a few looking for on line teachers working for companies like Bling ABC and  other on line English schools. You will find more information on Teaching ESL in Vietnam 2021 – Great Teaching jobs in HCMC – (vietnamesl.com) about on line schools. There are also companies looking for teachers to work in China, Thailand and the Philippines.

There are also a few looking for teachers for positions that are supposedly current. I can only think these classroom positions are in areas that are outside of an “affected area of risk”

You will find a list of Facebook groups on my website that show most of the groups addresses. A few of those are Real English Teacher Jobs, Foreign English Teachers in Vietnam and English Teacher Jobs. Below is an example of what is on offer.

Apollo English Junior centers are still hiring!

Apollo are currently looking for energetic, creative and dedicated young learner teachers to join the Apollo team. Classes starting in June & July. Classes are currently online now.

We will transition back to face to face as soon as the situation improves. We always have opportunities available for qualified candidates

Teaching positions are available at the following locations: Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Hai Phong, Bien Hoa, Binh Duo…

Personally I would be very careful about coming to Vietnam at this stage until the schools have reopened. And when you do come make sure you bring enough funds to either survive a downturn in the market or a quick flight out. In the meantime we are all suffering from cabin fever and covid 19 fallout.

This might be the right time to look at an on line business like Affiliate Marketing with Wealthy Affiliates or even drop shipping.

Whatever you decide, things will return to normal. Don’t listen to the nay sayers.

One tool a lot of teachers do not use are English Language Apps. They may be seen as a threat by some teachers and are not offered for that reason. The threat being that the student can study and learn alone and has no need of the teacher. Although I have found most students do not have the self motivation to study alone. And they also prefer to study in a group that is at the same level as them.

But learning English in a class environment doesn’t work for everyone. For different reasons some people enjoy learning a language on their own. And one of the best ways of doing it alone are by using an app.

To understand the use of apps we need to understand why some people like to learn by themselves.

1) Time constraints: You might not have enough time to study formally in the classroom 4 – 6 hours per week. Using an app gives you control of when and how long the lesson is.

2) Disabilities: The student may have a disability that precludes him or her from learning in a classroom. Some classrooms are now using assistive technology to help the impaired. It is still difficult to find these classes in ESL ( English as a Second Language) environments.

3) Shyness: Extreme shyness in any social situation limits the effectiveness of group study and learning. For these people using an app to learn a language is a way around that.

Best Language Learning Apps

Babbel. Babbel looks like a fun app and a very good way to learn from the ground up. It rates highly in teaching English and offers a 7 day free trial. Babbel teaches reading, writing , listening and speaking. It offers courses for fourteen languages including English.

Mondly. Mondly is a very easy app to use and was named app of the year by Facebook and Best new App by Apple. It has over 70 million downloads. Learning is done by a conversation focused curriculum. Its’ focus is on phrases not individual words. Mondly has 41 languages including English. Mondly starts from $4.00 per month.

U Talk. U Talk has 140 plus languages to learn including English. U talk uses a teaching style called dual coding which link both sides of the brain. The left which controls language and the right which handles visual infomation. It does this by linking a word to an image.

Duo Lingo. Duo Ling is an American language learning website and mobile app. It is also a digital language proficiency assessment exam. This is a free app, however they also offer a premium service for a fee. The premium service removes adds and supports free education. The Duolingo English test is reported on a scale of 10 to 160. Overall scores include a general description of what you can do. While the sub-scores measure your proficiency in specific areas. For example Conversation – the ability to listen and speak. Literacy – the ability to read and write. Comprehension –  the ability to read and listen. Production – the ability to write and speak.

Preply. Preply provides online English Tutors and Teachers. The courses cover; English for work, English speaking practice, English for life abroad, English for exams, English for kids, English for business. Preply English is a professional program designed for teams and organizations offering tailor made solutions with on line tutors. They have easy to use video and audio tools and provide English language learning videos via Preply Space.

Using apps to learn English gives you another way in which to study. There is no right way or wrong way, there is just the way that is best for you. Whether you use the immersion method, the classroom method or the dual method ( which is a combination of the immersion method and the classroom method.) , experiment until you find the one method that fits your daily life and learning style the best! My preference is Mondly, it is an intuitive app.

Sometimes as an ESL ( English as a Second Language) Teacher it is nice to add more strings to our bow. Teaching ESL in exotic locations has always appealed to me, but sometimes the lifestyle can take a bump or two. Perhaps the school you were contracted with had its funds re-rallocated by the Government or you just happened to start teaching in the middle of what will turn out to be the worst pandemic in over 50 years. Covid has caught up with a lot of teachers I know, forcing them to rethink their careers. Most of us teachers love our jobs and love helping the students attain their language goals. However when it starts to get tight financially you have to be prepared to do something else. and the majic word in that sentence is “prepared”. Like most things in life you have to prepare for change. Do not expect to walk out of teaching and into another job that pays the same, especially in a foreign (possibly) third world country.

How to get a second income.

There are a number of opportunities around at the moment. we are living in strange times. The U.S.A has a very high unemployment rate currently, yet businesses are complaining that they can not get staff. Restaurants are closing because they can not find waiters and cooks. Small businesses are finding running their business has become impossible because they can not find checkout staff.. However, look on a lot of social media websites and you will always find people advertising for stock brokers and FX traders. Drop shippers and bloggers and crypto currency traders are a dime a dozen. So there are definitely positions out there but you havee to be careful. Blockchain, crypto currency traders scare me, as it looks like gambling to me. Drop shipping seems like more of a safe option. Harder work and not an overnight success story. So that is something I would consider. My only concern is that when someone like Jeff Bozos wants out, it might mean that this form of shopping might be coming to an end. My apologies if you don’t agree, but I just want to keep this in laymans terms. Easy for all of us to understand.

Affiliate marketers build wealth for many reasons – to feel financial secure, to be able to live a meaningful life, Build networks, to help others and to become an expert in what they love to do. The reasons are very individual

Marketing madness, are we all insane.

My favorite form of marketing madness is Affiliate marketing. And especially niche affiliate marketing. Heck, why don’t we make it even harder and develop a super niche and only sell…no..wait..we only offer to sell to those who are interested in our niche. And we are not going to make it more expensive to buy via us. In fact we might put together an incentive package for r patrons to thank them for us making it easier for them to find the product and purchase it. Now, if i could only include some self flaggelation …

SiteContent Editor – Wealthy Affiliate

How to become an affiliate marketer.

Becoming a good and successful affiliate marketer is not done overnight. It takes time like everything else you want to master, but having a commitment, a successful blueprint which the likes of Wealthy Affiliates has laid out, along with training classes that are a priceless help in becoming a good Affiliate marketer.

The most awesome thing with Affiliate marketing is that you can choose any niche you want. You can turn your passion into a business or you can decide to make a business around something you love. There is nothing like the feeling of enjoying your work every day. It is a very smart way of working.

Some people choose to use their time to build wealth and multiple income streams to get the life they feel they deserve.

Jaxxy and productivity.

Teachers use markers and white boards and affiliate marketers use a word or phrase research tool.Thiis tool takes the words and phrases used to find information on the web and uses that to gather in depth research on other websites. This will provide you with a huge quantity of information about other companies. And they can also help uncover low cost domains as well as fast growing businesses in the market place. How much would you pay to find out the next big thing in the financial markets or the next massive thing in the wearable technology market. Would you like to be months, if not years ahead of your competitors.Can your business not afford to have it. Jaxxy is one of these tools. Not the only one, but the only one designed by cutting edge affiliate marketers..While you are deciding on which research tool to use, Jaxxy and its owners, Wealthy Affiliates give you the opportunity to use it up to thirty times on a trial basis. ,

Money and affiliate marketing.

There will be ups and downs in your business, but don’t ever let yourself get beat as a result of lack of effort.That I would say is the #1 contributor to failure that I have seen after working with a lot of people online, many of which have created incredible success. Effort, and sustaining a high level of effort over time will have a profound and very positive impact on your business and success.

Effort alone will take you wherever you want to go within the online business world. Now get out there and be productive! Your business and your success deserves it.

Affiliate marketers build wealth for many reasons – to feel financially secure, to be able to live a meaningful life, Build networks, to help others and to become an expert in what they love to do. The reasons are very individual and drive the success of each affiliate marketer.

Wealthy Affiliates is a wonderful way to provide a second income stream.

We are in the middle of May and the schools are closed and the borders are closed. There are no firm dates ( In Vietnam) as to when everything gets back to normal. Am I going to sit around and moan about life being against me or am I going to take this opportunity to focus on how I can help my students return to the classroom. I want to plan and prepare my classroom lessons and activities for when everything is open again. 

The first thing i want to do is take stock of where I am (professionally and financially), where i want to go and how do i get there as well as how can i help my students achievr their language skill goals. my favorite method is by downloading a swot analysis tool from Microsoft word.   

I can use this tool on any teachers, students or other external factors that affect my work. This will focus me on moving forward as soon as possible and may even uncover any opportunities that I haven’t thought about.

As an example one of the things I could look at would be…

How to use Technology in the classroom.

  Strengths; Technology in the classroom can be used to focus the student by useing video, powerpoint as well as laptops and i-pads for a more inter active learning experience.

 Weaknesses; By useing tech.in the classroom it might be percieved by others that the teacher is relying on external sources and moving away from the base curriculum that needs to be taught.

Opportunities; Can be used to engage students who otherwise find it difficult to follow the spoken voice. Also for those who have different levels of interest in the subject. 

Threats; Could be seen by other teachers as an attempt to hijack the learning processor as an easy teaching option. Could upset the status quo.

 This is an example only, but at this stage you would decide if it was worthwhile in preparing a lesson plan useing technology.

During this period of relative inactivity you can review the different levels of students you have and the approach you use to teach them.

Laugh and Learn.

For the younger learners i am very focused on the laugh and learn approach. Make your lessons exciting with lots of movement ( Especially Kindergarten) as the younger students attention span is not as developed as the older students. Try to change activities every 5 – 10 minutes. Add a lot of visual stimuli ( Pictiures, posters and flashcards) as well as aural input. ( You tube videos and sing alongs). And games. One of the best ways to teach English is by playing games. There are games for every skill . You have.. 

• Listening Games
• Speaking Games
• Reading and Writing Games
• Vocabulary Games
• Grammar Games

You can play hangman, Taboo, Pictionary, slap the board, last man standing and board race just to name a few of the hundreds of games out there. My advice is to try out a few games and see which ones work for you and your students. Happy hunting.

Put your time to good use and get your classroom preparation done. Your emplorers and your students will be impressed and you will be held in high esteem and hopefuly rewarded as a result.

Quite often be bemoan the fact that we don’t have enough time to put together the classroom lessons and activities we wish we had. here is your chance. 

And if finances are starting to whittle away, now is also the time to look at adding other income streams to your ESL Teaching career. I will be covering this in my next post.