Articles for Teachers
Teaching ESL/EFL is a lot of fun. I love it. I have been teaching different types of subjects for over 20 some years, and I have to admit that teaching ESL/EFL has the been most rewarding experience in my life, emotionally and financially. Some background of myself first, I have been teaching English as a Foreign Language in Japan for over 12 years. I own two schools in a city where one English school is somewhat hard to maintain, let alone, stay profitable, but I have done it, year after year - even when my competitors are closing their schools or their number of students are decreasing, my schools goes the opposite direction.
And I have managed to do this with advertisements that are published one time, every two years. So, I think I have some knowledge in this field to make me a little qualified in what I am talking about. I will give you a teacher's point of view, not a lot of theories that usually are said and remain in the classrooms at universities. I don't want to be too wordy, so let's just get to the tips that I am suppose to give you in this article:
Tip #1: You have to love teaching! If you think you are going to make a lot of money in this field,
at least from the beginning, then you better just stop reading this article. Your enthusiasm in anything, your passion in anything will always show externally. Who is it for? For your students.
Tip #2: You must constantly be learning new methods of teaching ESL/EFL. You have to read the latest publications, books, and also attend seminars in this field to stay inform. And why do you do this? For the sake of your students.
Tip#3: Expect to spend a lot of time and money (Actually this should be a subheading of tip#2). You will spend a lot of time making copies of materials. You will spend a lot of time (and money) at bookstores looking for the latest texts to use, or books to supplement your main text.
Tip#4: If you are teaching privately on your own, teach only 2-5 students for the first year. This will give you enough time to create a better curriculum. If you are teaching for a public school system, then pray you teach no more than 15 students per class.
Tip#5: Stay within your spending budget. In the beginning use a few materials, if possible have your students pay for them. If you work for a public school system, still stay within your budget, because your public school will not reimburse any supplementary materials for your classes, at least the public school I used to work for. If your school does reimburse your money, then LUCKY YOU!
These tips should help you get started and stay motivated for a long time. If they don't then there is no hope for you, and sadly, no hope for your students. If you have read this far then I think you will do just GREAT! Happy teaching and Aloha.
Rick Taitano
ESL/EFL Teacher-Owner