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 »

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, and perhaps if only to get new teachers started on thinking about the structure of a lesson, the oft derided PPP method is something that all TEFL teachers should try to master. Read more »

At your local bookstore, you’ll find hundreds of them. Some focus on American English and some on British so it’s a good idea to check this out, especially if your school has a preference. What I look for, is as follows: Read more »

Do you use a textbook in your lessons? Read more »

One of the key skills in EFL/ESL teaching is using a textbook effectively - and it’s not easy! Most of the lessons we have to teach are of 45-60 minute duration and relatively few textbooks are designed with this reality in mind. If getting your students to speak well is your goal, then read on… Read more »

Recently I’ve been using some clips from favourite tv shows in the classroom like Friends and The X-Files. Unfortunately parent power has raised its ugly head once more.. Read more »

Hi and thanks for checking out my blog! I’ll do my best to add an entry regularly here in South Korea and hope that I’ll get a response from someone out there!

The name’s Mike Long (from Carrickfergus) and I live here in Daegu. I’ve been in the EFL business for 12 years now and I’d love to hear from anyone out there with thoughts to share on EFL. I used to work for The London School Of English in Kensington, London and then their branch in Daegu. Now I have moved on to enjoy the benefits of a single shift…

I have been an EFL teacher, Course Director, Teacher’s Representative and traveller for over 12 years! I graduated with BA(Hons) in English Lit/Biblical Studies from Queen’s University in Belfast, UK and took the Postgraduate Diploma in TESOL at the University of Ulster at Coleraine in N.Ireland. I have worked in Hungary, Paris, Japan, London and now Korea.