"Let`s Take A Walk" by ELF Learning

Grammar Songs - The CD, "Let's Take A Walk" by ELF Learning
Eric Kane and friends have released a children`s CD for the EFL/ESL classroom. He muses it is probably not what you are thinking:
"The songs are all original and have full arrangements and real instruments (for the most part). It's a mix of songs for very young learners through much older students (late elementary school)."
-Kane wrote by Email.
I just listened to the whole CD and it is a very pleasant listen.The music is very well done, and will be pleasant to listen to in the classroom, in your car or wherever. I could see parents of young English speaking children buying it, and of course EFL/ESL teachers for classroom use.



Listen to it!

Finding Out 1 Software

Just started using the Finding Out 1 Software again, after a long while.  I haven`t taught children
for a few years now.   I just took over from another teacher at my school and I want to improve their phonics knowledge and reading skills.    To do this as painlessly as possible, one method I am
using is David Paul`s FO1 Software.

Yesterday, the 7-11 year olds were laughing at the humour and animations of this software.   Though at this point it is old, it is still one of my favourites in the classroom.     I feel there is much solid pedagogy here and less downtime than some of the other titles on offer.


FO1 is still available for download from ELT News.

The Comfort Zone

Introduction/Hook  (Comfort Zone): Comfort is the single most important aspect of a successful lesson. Engaging students with a hook is essential to setting a tone for the rest of the period. A hook can be in the form of a question or short anecdote; it could be related to the student’s profession or interests; it could be a joke; it could be a loud noise! One of the best builders of comfort is a smile and EFET are not only friendly people, but have a sense of humor too!   Read More

(Pictured above, a summer festival in Japan) 

Vocabulary Notebook

Some of our best articles ever!

Read some

Tesol Jobs in France

Tesol Jobs in France,

(Pictured, Bamberg Castle in Europe)



France is an excellent country if you want to become an English teacher, the demand for teachers is high, the salary offered is good and lastly France is one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

Before you move to a new country to find a job, you should do some research online to find out the scope of what you want to do, to see if there are any jobs available for you or not.

The following is a list of websites from which you can find teaching jobs in France:
Read More

1st Grade Vocabulary

1st Grade Vocabulary, what English words should your students know?

by Lyanne Thomas

Some children read by the age of 4 and some by 9, both are within the normal range. Learning how to read involves complex processes. Before a child can read he or she must be able to recognize the letters of the alphabet, identify the sounds of the different letters and likewise comprehend what is being read. Our school system is designed in a way that after first grade the child must be able to read.

MAT Study Group Meeting

MAT Study Group Meeting, Tues, Nov. 23
Nakano Sunplaza 8F, Rm 3 (JR Nakano Station)
2500Yen

ESL Strategies and Personal Construct Psychology

ESL Strategies & Personal Construct Psychology

ESL Strategies and Personal Construct Psychology

Indeed David Paul argues that we try to communicate, SO we learn languages. Many teachers forget this.

Paul argues that The Fundamental Postulate, is a person`s processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which he anticipates events.

Should be a key word in your teaching Paul seems to suggest.

For successful English classes, students need to decide to have their minds working in the same direction with the other students. Let the students notice things rather than explain.

Mystery is much more interesting Paul stated.

Read More:

Small English Schools are Beautiful!

THE ZEIT GIST
Small schools offer hope amid eikaiwa slump
Innovation is the key to resuscitating the ailing English teaching sector, say instructors

By RICHARD SMART

The collapse of the Geos eikaiwa (English conversation school) chain earlier this year came as a cruel blow to an industry still struggling to restore its credibility years after Nova's high-profile implosion.

News photo
Drop in, work out: Patrick Sherriff, co-owner of Tower English School, teaches kids — and mothers — at a recent playgroup drop-in in Abiko, Chiba Prefecture. RICHARD SMART PHOTO

Since the Nova bankruptcy of 2007, the financial situation at the major schools has continued to worsen, with both student numbers and sales dropping, and many teachers are now looking for ways to make money outside the big eikaiwa model.

Read More

David Paul`s Newsletter for English Teachers

Thursday November 4

_______________________________
Japan education news

Click here for the following news items:

Sharp R&D adopts English as official language

General Union files complaint against GABA

Win a free iPad and 50,000 yen for charity
at the Tokyo ETJ Expo on November 6th

ETS launches TOEFL Junior

Read the news every day on ELT News

_______________________________
ELT News now on Facebook

Updates on everything to do with English Language
Teaching in Japan for teachers, authors and publishers.


Please tell your friends and spread the word through
your networks.
_______________________________
A big thank you to Oxford University Press

When David English House went under at the beginning of September,
I was very worried about what would happen to the Expos this year.
The generosity of Oxford University Press has been amazing.
I don't write for OUP and have no business relationship with them,
but they offered to pay for all my travelling and hotel costs so that I
could get to the Expos. They have also paid large amounts for Expo
advertising that David English House has paid for in the past.

I have long known that OUP are a charity and have a charter stating
their mission to support educational initiatives. That's why I was
comfortable with asking them to be a General Sponsor of ETJ.
But, to see this mission carried out in such an unselfish way in
practice, is really quite wonderful.

_______________________________
ETJ Expos for English language teachers
Bringing together all English teachers


Sat/Sun Nov 6/7 - Tokyo
Toyo Gakuen University (Hongo campus)

Sun Nov 28 - Osaka
Seifu High School

Sun Dec 5 - Fukuoka
Seinan Gakuin University

_______________________________
Presentations at the Tokyo Expo this weekend

_______________________________
Saturday presentations
(scroll down for Sunday presentations)
_______________________________
10:00-10:45
Thinking beyond the story: "Expansive Reading" with graded readers
Andrew Archer

Five fabulous favorites
Alan Miesch

Activities for English for academic purposes
Raymond Yasuda

Task-based learning in elementary school contexts
James York

PikiFriends: Safe and easy social Networking for secondary schools
Jeffrey Dionne

11:15-12:00
Motivating teenagers and adults to communicate
David Paul

Offshore investment options available to teachers in Tokyo
Nicholas Webb

Team teaching: This is how we do it.
Aurora Dobashi / Yumiko Matsumoto

Utilizing classroom space
Andy Boon

Introducing the Kids Word Engine!
Guy Cihi

Turnitin - the problem of plagiarism and what you can you do about it
Jason Good

Integrating a free online flashcard site with a university reading course
Dan Ferreira

Motivate your students with 'Let's Chat!'
John Pak

12:30-1:15
The joy of teaching young learners through music and movement
Kathy Kampa

The goal driven class - We can do it with WE CAN!
David White

Podcasting in the EFL classroom
Damon Brewster / Hans von Dietze

Using student essay blogs to elicit student opinions
Walter Kasmer

Get neuro-psyched! Improve memory and learning
Robert Murphy

Story telling with felt boards
Philip Garden

Introducing a negotiated syllabus
Philip Shigeo Brown

Assisting students to arrange study abroad programs
Jim Forsyth

2:15-3:00
Choosing the right extensive reading materials
Rob Waring

From sleepyheads to Involved learners
Andy Boon

Developing critical thinking skills through understanding world politics & global issues
Jennie Roloff

Ways to improve classroom presentations: A systemic functional grammar approach
Peter McDonald

Teaching English conversation to large groups of low-intermediate university students
Stephen Richmond / Jennifer Teeter

Teaching writing online for university students
Abhishek Goel

Are first impressions everything?
Leander Hughes

Is the language school industry dead? Is now an opportunity?
Dean Rogers

3:30-4:15
Business English success for every student
Noriko Ono / Charles Ullman

Personal construct psychology and its implications in the classroom
David Paul

Teaching and using classroom objects
Alex Case

ETJ Tokyo Annual General Meeting
ETJ Tokyo members

Learning through classic stories
Patricia Daly Oe

Task-based narrow reading
Michael Stout

Extensive speaking and writing through extensive reading and listening
Sakai Kunihide

Thematic English learning for elementary school students
Junko Machida

4:45-5:30
ELTNEWS.com Charity English Language Teaching Quiz
Quizmaster: Russell Willis

Successful student-generated newsletter projects
Joyce Cunningham

Highly effective English pronunciation instruction methods
Hajime Nihei

Classroom dynamics: Cohesion
Steven Paydon

Student autonomy; Approaches and activities for language learning
Darrell Wilkinson

_______________________________
Sunday presentations
_______________________________

10:00-10:45
What are the ten most effective vocabulary activities?
Paul Nation

Towards blended learning for Communication Spotlight
Todd Rucynski

Story telling with felt board
Philip Garden

Eigo Note - Adapt, don't adopt
Laura Blefgen-Togashi / Setsuko Terasaki

11:15-12:00
Great activities and techniques for large and small classes
Ritsuko Nakata

Motivating teenagers and adults to communicate
David Paul

Exploring autonomous learning stories
Andy Barfield

How to make a webquest
David Magnusson

Get neuro-psyched! Improve memory and learning
Robert Murphy

Teaching writing online for university students
Abhishek Goel

Student poster sessions: Teacher and learner perspectives
Andy Boon / Simon Stevens

Suggestions for developing task-based curricula
Eric Setoguchi

12:30-1:15
Developing fluency across the four skills
Paul Nation

The goal driven class - We can do it with WE CAN!
Rumiko Kido

English through stories: the Oxford Reading Tree
Ben Shearon

Getting children to notice sounds and letters
Yuco Kikuchi

The business language program: A consolidation of materials, needs and assessment.
Phillip B. Go

Thematic English learning for elementary school students
Junko Machida

Creating nature cards, verb cards, and other materials for classroom use
John Spiri

2:15-3:00
Using the Oxford Reading Tree in shogakko eigo katsudo
Setsuko Toyama

Prepare your students for academic success with Questions in the classroom
Oliver Bayley

Open tasks in the Japanese university classroom
Michael Mondejar

A junior/senior high school oral communication lesson
Terry Yearley / Hiromi Tanada

Choosing the right extensive reading materials
Rob Waring

Assisting students to arrange study abroad programs
Jim Forsyth

A comparison of building vocabulary through listening to lectures versus enhancement activities
Andrea Little / Kaoru Kobayashi

Adding detail and variety to your students' writing
Katherine Tanizawa

3:30-4:15
Essential elements of effective TOEIC prep
Grant Trew

Personal construct psychology and its implications in the classroom
David Paul

ELT in preschool: This is how we teach
Aurora Dobashi / Lori Ligon

A case study of Japanese women: developing independence through self-directed homework.
Teruko Nakajima

Teaching English conversation to large groups of low-intermediate university students
Stephen Richmond / Jennifer Teeter

Fun ideas for using non-fiction material in the EFL classroom
John Spiri

The group journal writing project
Chika Hayashi (in Japanese)

The healing power of mistakes
Ted Quock

4:45-5:30
LET'S PLAYŠ LET'S GO! The secret to a funtastic and successful children's English class
Marco Brazil

Is the language school industry dead? Is now an Opportunity?
Dean Rogers + guests

Student generated self-assessment that helps the teacher too
Stacey Vye

Red Rocket Readers: Launch into literacy
Riaz Donaldson

Turnitin - the problem of plagiarism and what you can you do about it
Jason Good

Simple but great ideas for young learners
Yoko Ishii

MoodleMoot Japan 2011

Submission deadline: November 1, 2010

Event: MoodleMoot Japan 2011 includes presentations and workshops to learn about Moodle, the very popular open-source course management system.

Venue: Kochi University of Technology, Kochi, Japan

Details: Anyone interested in sharing and/or learning about Moodle is welcome to participate. Attendees vary in expertise from newbies to developers and administrators, and represent various academic disciplines and non-academic areas. Presentations will cover a wide range of topics including Moodle course development, Moodle module and plugin development, system administration, and teaching techniques, testing and evaluation using Moodle. Details of the conference are here. (You will need to create an account to submit a presentation or register.)

Learn More

ETJ English Language Teaching Expos

ETJ English Language Teaching Expos

Bringing together All English teachers

Tohoku Expo (Sendai)
Sunday October 3

Aichi Expo (Nagoya)
Sunday October 10

Chugoku Expo (Hiroshima)
Sunday October 24

Tokyo Expo
Tokyo English Language Teaching Book Fair
Saturday/Sunday November 6/7

Kansai Expo (Osaka)
Sunday November 28

Kyushu Expo (Fukuoka)
Sunday December 5

_______________________________

Would you like to give a presentation at one of the Expos?

There are many presentations at each Expo. Some are by famous
writers or academics, and many are by local teachers.
Each presentation is 45 mins.

If you would like to give a presentation, please submit the following in reply to this e-mail:

Name of presenter
Title of presentation
Presentation outline (max 50 words)
Information on the presenter (max 30 words)
Types of teachers aimed at (e.g. university teachers)
Topic area: (e.g. reading)
Please also state if a presentation is in Japanese.
Please state any commercial connection you have which might be relevant*

Local teachers who have no relevant commercial connection are very welcome to give a presentation free of charge. The ETJ group organising each Expo will decide on which presentations to accept.

* Those with a relevant commercial connection need to reserve a display at the Expo.

_______________________________

Would you like to have a display?

Please reply to this e-mail saying what type of display you are interested in, and you will be sent more information. There are three types of displays:

Commercial displays
The fee varies according to the size of the display and the number of Expos attended.

Displays for individuals or small companies
There are cheap one-table displays available at all Expos.

Free displays
For charities, associations for teachers, unions, support groups for foreigners in Japan.....

ESL Teaching - A Wonderful way to see the World

ESL Teaching - A Wonderful Way to See the World
Kevin R Burns

Keen to visit varied lands and be paid for doing so? Then why not consider ESL
teaching? You don't necessarily need to have a university degree, although a
good educational background is desirable and, of course, you'll need to be a
native English speaker, or with a really good knowledge of the language.

You'll discover many affordable courses to help open doors to the multitude of
jobs teaching English which exist Worldwide. Never before have there been so
many people eager to learn English, so let's have a look at the various types of
course available.

ESL

First of all what, exactly, is ESL? The initials stand for "English as a Second
Language". Strictly speaking, ESL applies to teaching non-English speaking
students in an English-speaking country. Whereas EFL - or English as a Foreign
Language - refers to the teaching of non-English speaking students in a
non-English speaking country.

There is also another term - ESOL. This stands for English for Speakers of Other
Languages, and encompasses both ESL and EFL.

TESL/TEFL Courses

Are you a native English speaker, or perhaps you have an excellent knowledge of
English - both written and spoken? Then why not make the most of this ability?
Take one of the numerous TESL or TEFL courses and start teaching!

Courses for Teaching English as a Second Language, or Teaching English as a
Foreign Language can be found both online and offline.

Online courses tend to be cheaper, costing from as little as $150. The drawback
to these is that they don't normally include any teaching practice, so they're
more suited to people with teaching experience. However, some do arrange
teaching practice at local schools and academies... and there's nothing to stop
you offering your services for free in order to gain experience!

A full-time offline course normally lasts around 4 weeks and, although more
expensive, should include a supervised practical teaching component.

CELTA Courses

Whereas TESL/TEFL are certificate courses offered by various institutions, CELTA
is an English Language Training Certificate validated by Cambridge University,
and is available in some 50 countries Worldwide.

Although the abbreviation stands for Certificate in English Language Teaching to
Adults, it does also prepare you for teaching children. Teaching practice is not
only a requirement on the course, but also very much emphasised.

The drawback to CELTA is its price, which can be as much as $2,000 for a 4-week
full-time course. And, the sad fact is that potential employers do not always
fully understand the differences between the various courses, with the
presumable superiority of the CELTA course being lost on them.

Whichever course you finally plump for, it will surely open up a new World for
you, be it in your home country, overseas, or even online. So, do check out EFL
and ESL teaching possibilities. You won't regret it!

Kevin Burns is creator of
[http://www.how-to-teach-english-in-japan.com]how-to-teach-english-in-japan.com
where you also find interesting information about
[http://www.how-to-teach-english-in-japan.com/esl-teaching.html]ESL teaching.

The Homepage

I have been updating the Homepage all over the place. It is now well over 200 pages!
So it is one of the biggest sites about teaching english in Japan. There are many lists of
English schools too, so check it out!

How to Teach English in Japan


(Pictured: The Canadian branch of my
family and I in Hawaii. One of the perks of teaching is having the time and money for travel!)

Results of Japan Living`s Poll on Teaching English in Japan

Japan Living`s Poll on Teaching English in Japan


This poll was from a few years ago. However, I don`t imagine
things have changed so much, even with the Nova fracas a while back.





What`s your opinion about working for English schools here?


What is or was your experience working for English schools in Japan?



Responses



Positive 33.33%



Mostly Positive 28.57%



Average 14.29%



Below Average 19.05%



Poor 4.76%

Quest for a Better Lifestyle

Pictured: Our Canadian home and school, imported from Cloverdale,
British Columbia

Originally published in the Vancouver Sun, 2001

For many readers, children and adults, the brain drain is more than an abstract theory.



Sayonara, Canada:
People laughed at Kevin Burns, when he said he would own his own school. Now he and his wife own three and Burns teaches at a Japanese university. His wife Ikumi is
a junior high school English teacher as well as co-managing Kevin`s
English Schools

Minami Ashigara Shi, Kanagawa Ken, Japan

I am lucky to live in one of the most beautiful places in the world.
At this moment, I am sitting on a hill top, looking out at miles
and miles of trees. It is so green, beautiful and
only 10 minutes from my home.

I don't live in the Great White North anymore.
It is sad that in Canada today, you often have to move
somewhere else to do what you want to do. Yet it also
angers me to hear people complain that there's no work
in their home town and that is why they are on welfare
or employment benefits--as if that explains everything.
I want to scream at the TV: "Move then! Go to where there's work!"
There are many displaced Canadians in this country. They cannot
get a decent job back home.

I decided that I would be a teacher when I was 26.
If I liked it, one day I would own my own school.
People laughed. With a Bachelor of Arts in theatre,
I landed a job at one of the biggest English language conversation
schools in Japan. I learned enough to open my own school
two years later. I now have a small chain of three
schools, an hour and a half south of Tokyo,
and one of them is in my Canadian, Victorian style house.

Teaching English in Japan is a funny business and not
easily defined. It is part entertainment, part modeling
and part education. Studying English week after week
can be incredibly dry and progress slow. But if you
liven up the classes with humour, and make them into
your own David Letterman or Larry King Show, the
students keep coming back for more. I sometimes don
a funny nose and glasses for my class of high-powered
business executives. Sometimes I am not sure if I do it
for them or for me. It keeps me sane.

My first school grew to more than 100 students in the
first eight months. So I hired two part-time
teachers to help, a Canadian from Victoria and an
American from Missouri. I believe in free trade.
After work, I kick back with a Labatt's Blue,
watch Kids in the Hall on TV and , if I get bored,
a Mike Myer's video. Is this Canada or Japan?
Would you like a Canada Dry before we go further?
That Scott Thompson is funny, eh?

My Japanese wife is great. She owns a small boutique and
co-manages our schools. We have three beautiful children.
They all have the blessing of Canadian and Japanese
citizenship.

Although I miss my family in Canada very much and can
never really go back to the home I left, I like it here.
Where I am at this moment is quintessentially Canadian.
What could be more Canadian than sitting among
tall cedar trees, listening to the birds,
on a hot, sunny summer's day?

Kevin Burns is the owner of Kevin`s English Schools,
the Canadian schools in Japan!
http://www.eikaiwa1.com