|
|
|
TESOL NEWSLETTER
December 2011 - January 2012
FROM JAMES STAKENBURG
Winter is well and truly here, and with it time to think about warmer climes. A popular teaching country is Mexico - our featured country of the month. As always, we share a teaching idea with you this newsletter, but you can also visit our Facebook page for weekly tips and ideas. We look at how one of our alum ended up living and teaching in Mexico.
 | |
Me at Monte Alban, Mexico
|
We also look at some ideas for teaching pronunciation to use with your (current or future) students. Meanwhile, delve into the world of TESOL - gain some new ideas and some inspiration. Enjoy. 212-867 8700
If you are no longer interested in receiving this newsletter, please unsubscribe at the bottom of this email. |
|
Where are they now?
This month's feature on previous participants is Kassa, who took the TESOL course in September - December, 2010.
After getting certified he ended up in Mexico. He took a few months to travel around and enjoy the culture, food, people and food (and recover from the intensity of t he course, no doubt!). After this he settled down in Tehuacan (a small city about 4 hours from Mexico City) to teach English at the *HELP Heslington Language Institute. He taught for 4 months and really enjoyed it, but then his hard work paid off and he was promoted to Regional Program Director. He has been working there since (and is currently looking for SIT graduates to join him there next year). |
TESOL Jobs
Mexico
The Inside Scoop
(information from people who have taught there)
Mexico is a fun, friendly country that is conveniently near the U.S. English is commonly needed or work here, so there is a lot of ESOL teaching work available.
Wendy lived there for 12 months:
"I absolutely enjoyed it. The people are very friendly. They really value friends and family a lot. It's really cool - weekly meeting with their friends is very common. And the food's fantastic and cheap.
The Mexican work week is 45 hours and in most places you will teach Saturdays. Businesses in general expect you to work Sat mornings. I had random schedules with lots of privates. Classes were paid by the hour. A class is most often 2 hours, but ..." (click here for the rest of Wendy's information)
Michelle has also lived in Mexico and gives advice on finding work:
"You should not plan on being hired before you arrive. Although in other countries you can often find a job before you head over, this is not common in Mexico. Your best bet is to research possible employment before you leave, and then get ready to interview once you arrive in Mexico.
In order to teach English in Mexico, you must be certified in TESOL. You will also be required to ..." (click here for the rest of Michelle's information)
|
ESOL Teaching Ideas
It's impossible to cover every type of activity in the course, so this is a (hopefully helpful) forum for sharing additional ideas. If you have any great ideas/ activities etc that you would like to share, please email me Teaching Pronunciation: Word Stress There are many aspects to pronunciation, but wrong word stress is the main pronunciation cause of a breakdown in communication. Some ideas to help with teaching word stress: - When teaching new vocabulary, point out stressed and unstressed syllables - Lengthen the vowel and raise pitch slightly to show stress. This is good for choral repetition: - Can use rubber bands to indicate stressed syllables
 - Can also use wide arm gestures
- Can also use closed/ opened hand
- Card match: A fun way to pair students at beginning of a lesson: Half the class has a word and the other half of the class has a stress pattern Half say the word. The other half gesture (arms wide/ open-closed hands etc) their stress pattern > students mingle to find partner for the lesson - You can have the students find the stressed vowels in the dictionary - We can generalize word stress to conversational speech. Longer words can be a template for prosodic phrases. For example: repuTAtion = See you LAter. = Nice to MEET you. = How's your SISter? = Where's your FAMily? For more tips on teaching word stress, click here.
|
|
 | |
Palenque, Mexico
|
|
|
|
|
Explore Rennert on Facebook
Rennert's TESOL program now has its own Facebook page. "Friend" us and you can see course photos, join discussions, read interesting articles on TESOL, get teaching tips, meet new friends and more.
We also have a blog, YouTube channel with fun teaching tips and we're on Twitter with more teaching tips, inspirational quotes and more.
====================
|
|
Free
Professional Development Workshops
at Rennert
=
WL-SIT TESOL Certificate Alumni in New York can attend Rennert's free in-house professional development workshops for for the rest of their career.
Professional Development sessions are held each month.
Last month's topic was "How to Teach Reading Exercises" . ll SIT @ Rennert alumni will be emailed with the course details for this month.
|
|
Observing ESL
It's very common for people to wonder exactly what happens in an ESL classroom.
"How can you teach English without also speaking the students' language?"
"How is a communicative language class similar to, or different from, my own language learning experiences?"
"Will I enjoy teaching as much as I think I will?"
To take some of the mystery out of this, we welcome those interested in becoming teachers to come and observe classes at Rennert. Participants on the course as well as alumni of the course also have standing invitations to observe classes any time. This is a really great opportunity for new or experienced teachers to gather extra ideas and techniques. And if you are thinking about becoming an ESL teacher but aren't quite sure if it's the right thing for you, this is a great chance to see what it's all about.
If you are interested in coming in and watching a class, just give me a call or send me an email.
|
Practicum Intensive course
 | | Teaching tip #4:a fun video activity to make your students talk |
This month we an our Practicum intensive course. Jae Woun, who was on this course observed Rennert teachers for a couple of hours in the morning, then prepared her afternoon lessons. She taught Advanced Beginner students and she did really well, especially in providing support and scaffolding for her students. She did a video activity that is a fun (and finny) way to make videos a communicative tool. Check out her video above.
|
Where are they now?
Quick updates on some past participants:
1. Jessica - teaching at EF in Tarry Town
3. Ruth - still working in Korea
4. Carl - heading back to Morocco for a few months
5. Ralph - busy teaching here in NYC and looking for a volunteer teacher to replace him at the Hopeline Foundaiton
6. Peggy - working at a conversation school in Tokyo
7. Bryn - heading off to Korea in February after completing our TEYL course in December. |
|
