Minnie Said:

Teaching English as a foreign Language abroad?

We Answered:

There's always China!
tefltips.blogspot.com/2008/11/is-degre…

There ARE places where you can work.

Cynthia Said:

Career in teaching English as a foreign language in Spain?

We Answered:

You could take a TEFL certificate with a company like i-to-i.com they also offer a job hunting service.

Misty Said:

What should I do to begin teaching english as a foreign language?

We Answered:

The best qualification to take would be the CELTA. This is a Uni of Cambridge qualification which is internationally recognised and employers are looking for. Having a CELTA will increase your salary abroad and pay for itself! Additionally, if you wanted to get some paid experience teaching in the UK before you went, it would be difficult without a CELTA.

You do have to have some knowledge of grammar before you start the course, but you do get taught a lot in the course. (I didn't know my present continuous from my present perfect in the interview but I sure did by the end!) It's about 120 hours of study plus homework, and you will be in front of a class from day 1 (or 2) so it gets that first-time feeling out of the way. Half the time is spent teaching or watching others teach, the other half is learning about language and teaching methods. All in all, it's a fantastic course, at the end you will have completed 6 hours of teaching (in 30 min - 1 hr blocks) and have the skills, confidence and qualification to teach anywhere.

Gary Said:

Teaching English as a foreign language in japan?

We Answered:

The best way is to go with a reputable organization, and preferably one that can be arranged through the school. Sometimes when you go on your own with an agency that you aren't 100% sure about you can be kidnapped, robbed, or at the least not paid what they promised to pay you. Another really good way (and possibly the best way) is to fly to Japan and search around by foot so that you see everyone, the places, etc., and that can ensure you that the job is completely legit. In the same way that foreigners get tricked when coming to America for jobs that they have never seen in person Americans can get tricked when going abroad for jobs that they have never seen. Do a lot of research, talk to people who have done the same and do all that you can to make sure that it is done legally and by the book so that you can have good stories to tell when it's all over. Good luck.

Julian Said:

What are THE BEST books for teaching english as a foreign language?

We Answered:

This will depend a lot on what level you're teaching. Personally, I make use of grammar books with pictures - so I can briefly explain (e.g. 'past perfect - action is finished, and use past participle) I can give students a list of verbs (v1,v2,v3 such as 'drive, drove, have driven') and then flash pictures and ask questions.

My favourite for doing this at the moment are Raymond Murphy grammar books - I use the first and second from basic to intermediate. For general conversation, as I'm British I use an American book - Interchange - for which the CD's are expensive, but it's very good for listening skills if you follow the teacher book. Really you have to develop a style (ask questions, play CD - but don't let students answer until you ask them).

For children, I love 'Magic Time' in which every unit has a lexical set, ten good pictures easily scanned and printed as A4 flashcards - simple sentence structures, and three songs per unit on CD.

Now I can use any book with pictures and sentence patterns - teaching children, I make them run and hit pictures with a plastic hammer - for adults, I use a familiar picture group (I have about 15 pictures - a photographer in the bath, a teacher watching TV etc. Questions for you to ask 'what does he do? What is he doing? What did he do last week? What is he doing in the picture? What was he doing when I took the picture?)

Let them take grammar from your questions, and use their brain to apply it in a way that it relates to the pictures.

1. Drill vocab (listen/repeat) 2. elicit with a game 3. practice sentence (q/a structure) 4. don't forget to allow some free talking about the pictures with no restrictions on grammar etc.

hope you can make use of this. I use this basic idea with limousine drivers, working for a businessman in Bangkok who put me on hold after three months, and tried out all of the major language institutes that could put a course together and send out their best teachers.

After that, he called me back - and stopped wasting his money. He pays me roughly double the going rate.

I would like to add (in response to the one other rather offensive answer here) that in the places I worked amongst 'professional teachers' including International schools that recruit very experienced teachers from abroad - these teachers were very impressed, very suprised at my ability to make a group of strangers form a group and learn for a 7 week summer course. They wished to observe and learn.

I am not a qualified teacher, I simply have talent and no degree. I work amongst professionals who admire me for my ability and ask me for my ideas and help.