There¡¯s the saying, ¡°There are two types of teachers with 20 years of teaching experience: the first are those with 20 years of experience and the second are those with one year¡¯s experience repeated 20 times.¡±
Some believe most teachers want to be the first kind of teacher ¨C constantly evolving throughout their careers ¨C rather than repeating the same classes. Additionally, taking professional development courses can help us reach these new heights.
Doctors, engineers, lawyers and other professionals regularly have to seek training opportunities. This enables them to keep up to date with the latest technologies, innovations and changes in the wider world. It could be argued that teachers are no different.
There are several benefits to continued professional training for teachers. For instance, there¡¯s always something new to learn as developments are happening regularly in the world of ELT. Whether it¡¯s innovations in ed-tech, new research into how we learn languages or a new pedagogy, certain courses can help bring you up to speed with these!
Undertaking further training will help you to deepen your knowledge and widen your expertise. So rather than simply repeating the same method of teaching a grammar point over again, you¡¯ll learn new approaches. In turn, you¡¯ll be better equipped to find the tools that work to help your students reach their learning goals.
Another great thing about professional development is that it can lead to career progression and promotion. There are a number of courses that you can take to develop not only skills for teaching, but other roles in the ELT industry.
For example, you can train to become a director of studies, specialize in business or academic English, or enter ELT publishing or management. There are many options to explore through further education!
To be the best teachers we can be, it's important to be aware of new trends in the field of ELT. Some of the latest ones include:
Gaining popularity in recent years, hybrid learning is an approach to teaching. Specifically, it involves some students attending class in person, while others join the class virtually from home. This means that teachers must be prepared to simultaneously teach both students in person and online.
A flipped classroom means students are introduced to content at home. Often teachers introduce this via videos and then practice working through the new knowledge in class. This is the opposite of the more traditional method where they are given new content at school, and complete assignments independently at home.
One method of teaching that has become more common is bite-sized learning. For example, breaking down information into smaller chunks instead of having learners listen to long, uninterrupted sessions, and this helps students absorb information and keeps them engaged.
If you¡¯re not already familiar with these, there are lots of professional development courses that teach you how to use them in your classroom.
So what courses can you take? Here are some of the most common courses you can take for English language teaching.
If you¡¯re unable to take a formal course, sharing ideas with colleagues is a great way to create professional development opportunities. You could exchange lesson plans and ask for feedback or input. There are plenty of podcasts, webinars and social media groups for teachers where you can find great tips and ideas from fellow teachers worldwide.
Whichever route you decide, remember that learning is a lifelong journey ¨C not only for your students but for yourself too! There are always new things to discover that will help you develop as a teacher.
Learning English with music can enhance learning and create a more engaging and dynamic classroom environment. In a previous post, we discussed if music can help you learn a language; this post looks at how music can be incorporated into the classroom.
Using music in your classroom can help improve student motivation, focus, and retention of information. Here are some ways you can use music to enhance your classroom teaching:
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Have you considered studying abroad? Moving to Canada to study? With more than 100 world-class universities across the country, there¡¯s good reason to. From coast to coast to coast, it offers many international students a safe and supportive learning environment and the opportunity to work after graduation.
Want to learn more? In this guide, we cover ten things you should know about studying in Canada:
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There are lots of resources available to English teachers today: from textbooks to online teaching tools, they can all aid and enrich English lessons. Many ESL teachers also introduce authentic English material into their lessons to expose learners to the language as it is spoken in the real world.
Authentic material is any material written in English that was not created for intentional use in the English classroom. Using this content for teaching English can make the teaching experience even more engaging, imaginative and motivating for students. It can also be useful to elicit genuine responses from English language learners.
The great thing about using authentic material is that it is everywhere, which makes it easy to find, and simple for learners to practice English in their own time. Remember that it isn¡¯t limited to articles from newspapers and magazines. Songs, TV programs and films, radio and podcasts, leaflets, menus ¨C anything written in English constitutes authentic material.
The best content to select depends on the learners, their level of English and the course content the English teacher wishes to focus on. It¡¯s also a good idea to find out the learners¡¯ interests ¨C after all, there¡¯s no point trying to get students fascinated by a text on the latest sci-fi movie if they¡¯re all fans of action films.
The materials should reflect a situation that a student may face in an English-speaking environment ¨C this will help them transition into a world where English is the norm. In this world, people use abbreviations, body language is important and they¡¯ll use 'filler' sounds ¨C such as 'ummm' ¨C when they are speaking English ¨C and learners will encounter these in authentic material.
It¡¯s important not to overwhelm learners with the first piece of authentic material. So, choose articles, songs or sections of TV programs or movies that aren¡¯t too difficult to understand or take too long to get through.
