It’s not easy to write this kind of post without coming across as obsequious, but sod it! Previous posts on this blog have featured Mike’s heroes in different fields and will continue to do so. I reckon all of us admire skilled practitioners in different areas. From the world of EFL blogging, let’s have a look at the giants and compare the ace bloggers.

Fledgling EFL bloggers like me who are interested in good EFL blogging will probably keep coming up against 2 names - Sandy McManus and Alex Case. So who’s the best?

In my opinion it’s pretty hard to decide. They are both brilliant in their own way. Here’s Mike’s rundown on each - in Boxing parlance - the tale of the tape:

Alex “15 ways to…” Case

For sheer industry and dedication, this guy reigns supreme. While most of us blog from time to time when the mood takes us, Alex has the discipline. You’ll find a new post there with amazing dedication and it’s always informative. Just reading back through that huge back catalogue of posts on almost everything Efl-connected under the sun is invariably must-read stuff for teachers and especially new ones - if you didn’t do proper teacher training (and you know my feelings about that readers…) reading his blog would tide you over until you did.

Alex is a mature and sensible blogger. Kind of like that brother type teacher you wish you had in your staffroom who can bail you out of any troublespot with ideas and activities tried and tested from years of blood, sweat and tears in the field. There is absolutely nowhere better to go to get ideas for classroom activities and insights. This comes from Mike, going into his 13th year in EFL with the cuts and bruises to prove it and who from time to time thought he’d seen it all.

Alex is not as funny as Sandy, but can be hilarious when he wants to be. He is witty, honest and sincere and pretty noble with it, as evidenced by the episodes with one particular crazy individual who launched a mindless attack on his blog without justification. Those of us with shorter fuses could never be so polite. Alex replies to questions too and comes over as a real stand-up bloke. I’m sure I’ll have a pint with him sometime soon and convince ‘im that Arsenal are best …

Sandy McManus

I’ve never laughed out loud more often than when reading this blog. Sandy can be cruel but by ‘eck he’s funny. His searing invective can leave you breathless and desperately trying to stitch your sides back together. This blog is more concerned with exposing TEFL shysters and the ridiculous side of the business. Pretentious DoSs, dictator owners and crap teachers all get both barrels in these posts, but it’s sooooooo funny. The more so for experienced teachers who, like him, have been around the block a few times. Sandy is just as seasoned and qualified as Alex and what he needs to do is somehow import his old posts into the archives of his new one so that new bloggers don’t miss out on the posts of the past. Not to do so would be a great shame.

What made his original blog unique I thought was this weird cast of characters who added their comments. I hope some of them return. With names like Shaun Ryder, Dr Kim and various others, the comments and his retorts were sometimes as funny as the blogs…

So what’s the verdict in the battle of the bloggers. Perhaps you can let me know. From what I can tell, they both admire each other. I’d have it an honourable draw, but to be honest it’s not really comparing like with like. There are some very funny efl blogs out there now - but to pretenders to Sandy’s throne - and perhaps in his words - they can F*** 0ff!

Rock on guys…

The Mikester

In Daegu, and certainly in Suseung-gu, you actually have to beat off taxi drivers trying to get your business! I have to walk across one road to get to my hagwon and the only thing that makes it difficult is having to constantly refuse aggressive taxi drivers. They are also ridiculously cheap. You can get pretty far on 1800 won…

Ok. Back to the business of EFL. I’ve been considering lately what are the key ingredients for a good EFL teacher. When I was a DoS for a year, I was able to put my ideas to the test. Here are my results. I can’t really rank them:

Personality

Almost all the best teachers I’ve observed have been bright, cheerful and funny in the classroom. It’s very difficult to compensate for these attributes if you don’t have them, although I’ve seen it done. It’s common sense really that students respond much better to a big classroom persona than a big dull dud! I’ve even seen a few people who are pretty quiet and reserved outside the classroom but who just morph into someone else when they get in there. At the end of the day, this is the best natural advantage a teacher can have. All my role models tended to be a bit cheeky, brave (i.e. not in awe of the students as paying customers) confident and even a bit in-your-face…

Experience

There’s nothing quite like screwing up to show you what works and what does not. All the more so if it was in front of your DoS, or if you got negative feedback. The best teachers get feedback regularly and aren’t scared of it. Often, the best teachers come from schools where they were obliged to open themselves up for criticism. This is probably why there’s so much snobbery around the CELTA/DELTA qualifications as these folk weren’t scared of being shot down to earn their stripes.

Sensitivity/Adaptability

I reckon a good teacher knows how to tell when students are bored or not. The best teachers are often pretty self-critical and have their radar switched on in the classroom as to whether everyone’s being involved or not and that students are improving and learning new things. They also know how to respond when an activity is not working and are good at monitoring the atmosphere. The worst teachers tend to blame the students all the time. This is not to downplay the reality of difficult, rude, lazy or unmotivated students.

Qualifications

I think the fact that someone has bothered to get trained properly tells you a lot. They have at the very least put time and money into their career. From this you know that they don’t reckon efl teaching is something that just anyone can do because they are a native speaker. Of course there are crap teachers who are well-qualified as we all know, but it will always be a question worth asking why a teacher felt they didn’t need professional training.

I think the first ever Christian music CD I bought was by Steven Curtis Chapman - and played it on my first ever CD player. Great guy, amazing voice! Pretty distraught to read of the death of his little adopted daughter Maria Sue in an accident. Here she is washing up with Steven in one of his video blog entries. What a gorgeous little angel she is and no doubt she’s having fun with her heavenly Father now. God bless her family.

Here’s William Lane Craig:

Here’s Venomfangx on the matter:

Another great hero and role model is Bill Craig. Check out his debates against the champions of atheism on youtube. Here’s an example

The best preachers I’ve heard, in no particular order are

Colin Dye

Derick Bingham

Sam Workman

Ravi Zacharias

Charles Price

James McConnell

Check out the great Colin Dye here! Praise God!!

Here’s the band who will be forever my favourite. Thanks to my mate Fergus who introduced me to them many moons ago…

Here’s one of my all time great singers, second only to the great Paul Rodgers. A little bit tragic here too folks, as Lou got ill, lost his distinctive voice and as a result of his medical treatment is now almost unrecognisable as the handsome bono-look-a-like here, but listen to that voice!!!

Here’s the later version. Me and my friend Mike were spellbound by her beautiful smile..

Today was a sad day for me as I learned of the death of Ofra Haza. She died 8 years ago and I never knew it! Just goes to show something…Apparently she got infected with HIV by the husband she married, but to me she will always be an angel. Check her out on you tube with her famous hit single Im nin alu, both the cute 1978 version here where she looks so happy, and the later fusion smash hit single which I saw once only in my friend Keysey’s house (next post). Her pretty face will never be forgotten. Bye angel!

Eagle eyed readers will note that the tagline at the top of this blog has changed from “Tall TEFL Tales” to, in context, probably one of the funniest lines from Friends.

This signals a change of direction in the blog for a few posts. Reading through all the entries I notice there’s nothing very personal there except at the beginning. It’s all EFL related stuff. How will any readers get any insight then into the Life of Mike? As the young Braveheart was told by his uncle, that is something we’ll have to correct..

Ok, from now on I will upload a few favourite vids on personal heroes etc. This may help me to recapture the sense of wonder at the world which has until recently seemed lost forever…

Having written about kids hagwons in Korea, next up are adult only schools. I’m afraid I can’t recommend them. The biggest problem is the split shifts you have to work - as your students are only really available for study at the top and bottom end of the day, and that can often mean 630am starts! For more on split shifts, see my post entitled Day of the Dead… Read more »

To teach kids or not to. That is the question. Actually I taught kids in Japan about 10 years ago for Shane. More on them in another post. All I could remember was rolling around on a tatami mat up on the 4th floor of some nondescript grey building in Chiba prefecture, surrounded by plastic bananas and flash cards. Ah it’s all coming back. Read more »

It would be good to get a discussion going on this blog about split shifts. In my view they are the pits of the earth…. Read more »

Occurred to me recently that in many ways some of my EFL colleagues down the years can be likened unto footballer types - see if you can recognise any of these:

The David Ginola/Matt Le Tissier

So talented the sod could saw it off in spades. Effortless classroom management skills and has the students rapt in awe. The guys love him, the birds fancy him and mere mortal TEFlers are constantly narked by the squeals of laughter from his classroom. Lazy bugger though, doesn’t do a stick of prep. Everything’s internalised and slick. On form, he’s a dazzler. On an off day, or confronted by a squad of unamused Swiss students, you’d have to wipe him up off the floor when the laughter stops…

The Gary Neville

Completely the opposite of Le Diveur or Le Tiss. CELTA or DELTA hard earned by graft and relentless masochistic dedication. Complete personality bypass compensated for by rigorous prep and has the photocopier burnmarks to prove it. Few complaints from the students though, unless he has the misfortune to follow on from a course delivered by the flair players like those above.

The George Best

Slight variation of Le Ginola when he turns up. Brilliant in the classroom, the life and soul down the pub and chatter-upper of gorgeous women par excellence. Just make sure your cover teacher is on red alert…

The Bryan Robson

DoS’s wet dream. All Gary’s industry and a fair bit of Davide’s charisma. Your school is just a stepping stone to greater things. Enjoy all those positive feedback sheets while you can and hope he’ll give you an honourable mention in the first of his many publications.

The Jean Alain Boumsong

Slipped through the net, this one. Good refs, nice CV and talks a good game but hopelessly crap and must be a friend of a friend of the Boss..

For anybody who read one of my earlier posts about Sandy McManus and tried to click on what are now dead links both to his former site and also his hilarious post on summer schools, I am happy to report that the ace blogger is back and back on form! You can find the address below.

He has reposted the article I mentioned on his new site and does me the honour of inverting my last post on how to do DoS observations (cheeky sod!) to illustrate how these obs sessions are actually performed by many! Having been given a few scorchings in my time, reading this brings back a few painful memories….

Sandy’s New site:

http://tefltradesman.blogspot.com. Or just click on Sandy McManus on the blogroll down a bit and on the right of my blog.

Here are some tips for feeding back to a teacher following an observed lesson. I’ve been on both sides of it down the years! < Read more »

Everyone in EFL wings it from time to time. You didn’t have time to prepare or even think about your lesson, so you go in with the textbook and a cassette or a bunch of photocopies and fly by the seat of yer pants. With experience, you’ll even have some lessons so internalised that you can teach them, and maybe only need the whiteboard and a pen. Maybe not even those…

Be careful not to become a career winger though! In my opinion this is when you keep rolling out activity based lessons day after day.< Read more »

These Korean managers I have at my new school in Daegu are amazing. Got to give them credit as some entries in this blog give the impression that all EFL life in Korea is gruesome. Big flat, nice area, nice students, reasonable managers, decent money and…I’m impressed! So it is possible!< Read more »

One of the funniest EFL blogs out there is Sandy McManus. A really gifted comic with a sharp insight into the murky world of this business. Who knows how long this blog will be available to read now that he’s packed it in, but if you want a laugh, go back through his archives and enjoy. Can’t stop going on there and reading these little gems. Here’s an example of his writing on TEFL Summer schools:

http://tefltrade.blog-city.com/summer_schools__a_masochist_writes.htm

Only fair to mention an employer who offers good pay and reasonable working conditions - have to be balanced, don’t we? Big up to this school in Daegu - you can find it here on Dave’s: http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea/index.cgi?read=30279

I made hay while the sun was shining. Got my boss to buy a good old one-armed bandit paper cutter and a laminator for those supplementary materials you get in the Inside Out /Reward Resource Packs/NEF Teacher’s books etc. Can’t believe they’d survived without these essential pieces of kit!

After I left London and arrived in Daegu, I scoffed at the old one-armed bandit in my first school and demanded a proper rotary paper cutter like we had back home.

Problem was, when I finally got it, it was a small A4 job where you had to lock down every piece of paper with a locking device before you could start swipin’. Read more »

I finally persuaded my Korean boss to invest in an overhead projector which he bought from an online auction. Dunno what you think, but laptop beamers and projectors take a long time to set up and for me, you just can’t beat yer old OHP. Here are the advantages: Read more »

Why can’t the Korean goverment sort out the mess of the teaching of English in this country? First of all, the new president and his team announce a plan for all English classes in high schools to be taught exclusively in English by their Korean English teachers (immersion) by 2010. Then it changes to 2013 and now the idea has been dropped completely. Read more »

Browsing through the foreign community pages on the online Joongang Daily, I got what could be a kind of hint of an answer to a longstanding question I’ve had since someone tried to walk through me as I left a pharmacy in downtown Daegu. Read more »

Here’s a little phrase sheet I made to give to your students Read more »

You don’t need a teaching qualification to be an English Teacher to work in Korea. Not even in the universities! Read more »