5.30.2011

Five Great Twitter Feeds for Students

Even if you don't have a Twitter account, you can still take advantage of the knowledge and experience that the experts share on Twitter. Although there are lots of great people and companies to follow, here are five great feeds for students of English....

@AJEnglish - English language news from the Gulf's Al-Jazeera TV News. Al-Jazeera has a lot of viewers whose first language is not English, so it's easier to follow than CNN.

@GrammarMonkeys - Fun for intermediate-advanced students. Learn how to use use hyphens properly, identify funny mistakes and learn what NOT to do with English.

@phrasemix - I don't know who Aaron is or who he teaches, but...how does he always remember to write down those little things that students get wrong in class...AND provide a short, easy answer in under 140 characters?

@ThisIsSethsBlog - Seth Godin doesn't teach English, but that doesn't mean he isn't helpful. He's a marketing and work psychology guru who, at least once a week, posts something REALLY useful and inspiring about the power of positive thinking - and how to check your attitude so that you don't end up being your biggest problem

@myenglishexam - This is the Twitter feed that goes with the excellent Flo-Joe website- if you're doing First Certificate, Advanced or Proficiency in the next few months, you need to consult both the website and the Twitter feed regularly

5.29.2011

NEW! Book your classes online!

Something new that I'm trying for this summer: to the right, you'll see that there's an online booking form that you can use if you'd like to change or move your classes. Right now, most students have a pretty fixed schedule.

By September, however, I'll be moving all the course booking totally online, so feel free to experiment with the widget, if you like.

5.23.2011

What the academies don't want you to know

Like a lot of teachers, I advertise on the Internet. It's not the most efficient way to find students, but given that it's fairly passive (you do it once and then it's OK), it's another way of advertising. And I think that, generally, I'm pretty good about being professional about contacts. I try to contact people in a respectful way. I try to be respectful when people contact me. But there are some contacts that make me shake my head.

I'm sure that the academy that contacted me thought that €16 an hour is a good deal. And if you've got block hours and very little travelling, sure. It sounds like a lot of money. But I'm about to reveal three bits of information that language academies do not want you to know. I'm not writing this to cause trouble, but I think that if you decide to sign up for academy classes, there are some things you should be aware of.

a) You do not need to be a certified language teacher to be an English teacher in Spain. Why not? Because, technically, private language teaching does NOT come under the control of the Ministry of Education: state schools, such as the Escuelas de Idiomas, yes; Bob's Language Academy, no.

English academies come under the control of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, just as driving schools or dance classes do. In fact, you probably don't even have to be a language teacher IN Spain: more than one academy uses telephone language classes that are done with phone operators in the Philippines. (Or used to, anyway.)

Outstanding language academies will demand that their teachers have some kind of teaching certification (a TEFL/CELTA/Trinity/DELTA accreditation) and some kind of experience. Many others will offer €9 to €13 an hour to backpackers, American university students (who can work up to twenty hours a week to support their studies), which means that "teachers" are making less than a cashier at the local Dia, and probably be as qualified to do it.

b) Working for an academy is very similar to being a prostitute. Yes, that sounds harsh. But think about it: if that academy offers a teacher €16 an hour, they're not charging clients €16 an hour. The client is probably being charged €30 to €35 an hour, and the teacher only sees half the money, even though the teacher does most of the work. (That's exactly the same way that ETTs work.) That €16 an hour does NOT include travel time, by the way. If I'm being paid €16 an hour, my class lasts for one hour, but the class is at the airport and I don't get paid for my travel time, that's basically a THREE HOUR commitment for one hour, which means that I'm getting just over €5 an hour. Would YOU work for €5 an hour? I didn't think so.

c) Your needs as a learner will never be as important as the academy's need to be profitable. How many times have you gone to a language academy and had classes that had NOTHING to do with the English you need? That's because the academies need to pay for those nice, shiny offices and expensive books, and the easiest way to do that is to get as many students into the same class as possible - whether they are working at the same level, or not. Reputable academies will try to help students as much as possible, and there are certainly schools like the British Council that are cultural agencies, as well as academies, so they're not as driven by profit. Many schools, however, will not start a class unless they have three or four students, minimum - especially now that we're in a recession and they're losing a lot of money.

Let me make one thing clear: I work for academies, have worked for academies and will probably work for academies in the future. Not all academies are bad. Not all academies are out to take all your money and give you nothing in return. If you choose to learn with an academy, you need to be a smart consumer and defend your rights, and stand up for what you want.

And remember that academies are NOT your only option. There are a lot of friendly, smart, professional teachers who can help you. It won't be as cheap as paying €200 per year, but you'll be happier with the results.

5.22.2011

Looking for books for independent study?

Summer break is coming up, and it's not too early to start thinking about how you're going to practice once classes finish.

If you're looking for books that will help you develop (or keep) your skills this summer, let me suggest the REAL series of books that have been published by Cambridge University Press. These books focus on one specific goal (for example, reading or listening) and they're broken down into specific units that teach you how to do specific things, like getting a refund in a store or creating a simple presentation. We've used these texts a lot in our Stop Spanglish classes this year, and a couple of students have decided to buy their own copies of the texts because they like them so much.

Here's an example of one of the Real Writing books that we've used.

Most of the English-language bookstores in Madrid, such as Booksellers and Pasajes carry them (though, as always, the best deals can usually be found on Amazon.)

5.16.2011

Some more thoughts about students who don't speak in class....

The Atlantic has an interesting article about silent classrooms - classes where students don't speak, either out of fear or boredom.

The piece focuses on American college and university classrooms, but I suspect that this problem also exists in English-language classes. Teachers are taught that the ideal ratio of communication is about 80/20: students talk eighty per cent of the time, teachers 20%.

Is this true in your language classroom? Who does more talking in your class - the teacher or the students?

If you don't participate in your classes.....why?


5.15.2011

Silence is NOT golden.

Courtesy of Sandy Millin and Unshelved...

Ever wonder what teachers think when students refuse to talk in class? This is one thing. Among others.

It's over for another year...

A confession: I am really glad Eurovision is over for this year. I thought Spain richly deserved the third-to-last place because the song was bland, boring and uninteresting. (See? Why use the word "bad" when you've got so many other adjectives?)

A debate has started up on The Guardian's Eurovision blog. Do you have a better chance of winning the Eurovision Song Contest if your song is in English?

One other thought: I'm not sure why the British always expect to have good results in Eurovision, since they're always talking about how they're not European....

5.14.2011

Looking for listening practice?

Since next week is going to be a little quieter, I thought I'd start looking for different websites for different....well, stuff. And in the course of researching information about Moodle, I found ELLLO, where you can practise with recordings of people from all over the world, speaking in English.

Very cool. Plus it's a Creative Commons website, which means you're free to download and practise however you want.

5.11.2011

A cool (and cheap) new study tool


TIGER stores, that chain of bargain shops that combines Ikea designs and Todo-a-100 prices, has started stocking these fun sticky notes in the shape of speech balloons. They cost €1 a package and are a great way to organize new vocabulary and new collocations.