Tag: global educators

Every teacher has, at some point in their career, experienced that deer-in-the-headlights moment when you realize that you’re completely out of lesson material with twenty minutes left in class. For those of us who aren’t improvisational geniuses, having a solid repertoire of “filler” activities is crucial for those moments.

The education system in South Korea is changing, and the thing about change is that it takes time to perfect. I learned this the hard way and it’s greatly impacted my year as an English teacher in The Land of The Morning Calm in many positive (and sometimes not so positive) ways.

As scary as it was though when I moved to Taiwan, I didn’t know a single person in the country. A couple years later, I had a group of some of the closest friends I’d ever met in my life. I don’t regret for an instant deciding to teach abroad alone.

Because classroom management is such a complicated balancing act between being fun and nice, and being strict enough to give kids the structure they need, many teachers find that it’s one of the hardest aspects of teaching to master.

We all know those teachers who are absolutely loved by everyone. As soon as they walk into class, the kids light up. Other teachers regularly turn to them for advice. Their students always seem to be ahead of the curve, and they just seem happy to step into the classroom every day. What exactly is it that they’re doing that works so well?

Last Saturday we hosted our third shrimping event in Taiwan. Shrimp fishing is a very Taiwanese thing to do, so we thought we would treat all of our teachers to a taste of the traditional here in Taiwan.

Teaching abroad is a fun and enriching experience for both you the teacher and the students, there is such a huge amount to be gained from the experience in aspects of teaching and being in your host country. However, there seems to be a lot of bad information out there as to the reality of teaching English abroad. Slogans such as “Teach English abroad, it’s a fun and easy way to travel” are misguiding.

Just about everyone is shy sometimes. Especially in a new classroom, with a new teacher, a lot of kids need time to break the ice and get comfortable speaking up.