Teacher training, ESL & EFL
I am collecting evaluations of various teacher training programs for this section of my site. If you'd like to share your expereince in a teacher training program, please email jtrotta@gmail.com.
I've completed two teacher training programs, my CELTA in 2001 and my Master of Applied Linguistics in 2004. While I learned something during each program, I was not satisfied with either. Currently, I am a teacher trainer in the TESOL certificate program at Sookmyung Women's University.
I hope to collect articles in this section of my site to help teachers make informed decisions about enrolling in teacher training programs and to help teacher trainers improve their programs.
Since I hate saying only a little, why not see if the latest entries on my Teaching English in Korea blog are of any interest to you?
Discussion / debate topic for ESL studentsInteresting article here arguing that the International Olympics Committee should "make sure that some of this money can go directly to the athletes." In other words, athletes from the USA have an advantage thanks to a $25,000 cash prize for...Lower Merion school spying on students inside their homesApparently one school is facing a lawsuit for spying on students and their families. The school issued laptops to each high school student and allegedly remote activated web cams to see what each student was up to. It seems a...Business English discussion questionThis question was posted on a message board I like for football fans so it is authentic in the sense that it was asked by an American to other Americans he felt some kind of bond with: Let me preface...Informal English vocabulary in the context of public speaking adviceThis is authentic language from an English message board. It was a football message board for New York Giants fans. Chances are good that all posters were American males. Original poster: Have to do a 30 min presentation for work...Teaching English in English online?I recently got an email from myoxfordenglish.es, an online English Course for Spanish speakers offered by Oxford University. I got the impression that the course relies heavily on Spanish to teach English although the virtual tour didn't work for me...Gotta be a discussion class idea in here somewhere: things you don't say to your wife music videoLyrics: Hey honey have you gained some weight in your rear-end? That dress you wear reminds me of my old girlfriend And where'd you get those shoes? I think they're pretty lame Would you stop talking 'cause I'm trying...@ examples of a conversational tone in public speaking / debate: Sarah Palin & Joe Biden vice presidential debateNow how good of an example are these two? Good article here. What 2 styles are represented?"They both sound conversational in totally different styles," Goman tells WebMD. "Palin's style says, 'I'm just like you.' Her colloquialisms, such as 'doggone-it,'...Another sopranos scene to use in advanced conversationThis scene contains lots of curses but the idea is for students to watch without sound. First they describe what's happening and then they create their own dialogue (3 characters = Chris the angry guy, Gino the guy who almost...Teacher picking on a 4th grader unfairly?I think it's kind of funny, but then again, it's not my 4th grade kid that cried after getting made fun of in school because the teacher made him turn his shirt inside out. Students in my high school had...3 hours less to chill with friends after school? Ouch!Interesting article here on Obama's desire to add hours to the school day. One issue that's not addressed here is how this would impact school sports. When I was in high school, we finished school around 2:30 and then had...ESL listening exercise - cultural differences found by exchange students in AmericaHere's a little listening / conversation activity I designed. Student 1 (boy from Spain) Student 2 (boy from Germany) Student 3 (girl from New Zealand) Student 4 (boy from Norway) Student 2 again (boy from Germany) There's a lot of...Cultural differences roleplay: An American eating in JapanHere's a good scene from Mr. Baseball to introduce the topic of cultural differences: Students can describe the cultural differences evident in this scene from the movie Mr. Basbeball and can then move on to other activities like listing more...Tough to get fired in US schoolsWe have a California teacher who accidentally sent a sex tape to 5th graders and their parents. We have NYC school teachers being paid to do nothing. What else have we got?...Raiders of the Lost Ark opening action sequenceHere's the video that goes with this lesson: Raiders of the Lost Ark passive voice They cut out the first few minutes and you miss the donkey being tied up and Indy whipping the gun out of the guy's hand....Slowmo shopping in Home DepotSlow motion shopping in Home Depot (in Manhattan). Kind of funny but I want to show my students what these big DIY stores look like because they don't exist in Korea: Just a little extra just in case... Tony beats...
