Classroom Websites

Browsing the internet I found another very good tool for teachers who want to implement computer based activities. The website is called Webster's Classroom and it is basically a tool to create student-friendly websites.

It's very similar to the Google Pages websites I use with my students. The biggest difference between the two platforms is the domain name (ie the name of the website). While in Google Pages you have schoolname.googlepages.com with the Webster's Classroom, your link will look something like this: http://webstersclassroom.com/teacher/mr-takeshita/91 (it's an actual website). Such a link takes way to long time to type in the address bar of your internet browser, and the chances of missing a letter or symbol are quite high.

Features offered by Webster's Websites:
- News - Post your classroom news so parents know what's happening in your classroom
- Homework - Parents and student will benefit from knowing daily what homework is due the following day
- Spelling words - Easily show what spelling words the students should be remembering
- Pictures - Personalize your classroom webpage by uploading pictures

Learn Thai

A new language course is now available at ITS4Thai. This introductory course contains 60 online lessons with topics such as: making conversation, eating, traveling by bus and train, staying in hotels, counting, telling time, and more.

Each of the 60 lessons contain:
- At least 10 words (that’s more than 600 words total)
- 3-5 sentences and phrases using those words
- Grammar explanations to help you understand the sentences
- Fun, interactive games to help you remember what you are studying
- Score tracking to help you keep track of your progress as you learn
- More control over the sound effects to keep you motivated to practice

Find out more here!

Free Teaching Resources

David from the UK started a blog with Free Teaching Resources - Free PDF worksheets to download.

"I have been frustrated when surfing the net looking for worksheets for KS1. There are loads of sites with free downloads, but the scope is very limited and you only get a few for free. You need to start getting your credit card out for the juicy bits" David in his introductory post.

Until now, he has posted Key Stage 1 (KS1) worksheets for Maths, Science and English. He welcomes comments and "if you see any errors please leave a comment".

Keep up the good work, David! You make our job easier! Thanks!

Oxford Student's Dictionary

Are you using English to teach other subjects?

The Oxford Student's Dictionary (new edition) brings together the words and support your students need to study other subjects in English:
- 52,000 words, phrases, and meanings
- Oxford 3000™ - the most important words English speakers need to know
- Averil Coxhead's Academic Word List - the academic words students need to study in English at tertiary level

Thousands more curricular words — over 8,000 curricular words from a wide range of subjects, clearly labelled (e.g. CHEMISTRY for acid) so students know which ones will be most useful to them.

NEW CD-ROM — search for words by subject area in the Topic Dictionary and use the My Topics Dictionary to create personal word lists.

48 Study Pages — special focus on different aspects of language, such as improving academic writing, understanding collocations and interpreting graphs.

Source: http://elt-marketing.oup.com/

Life as a teacher in Thailand

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	7.4
Mind:	7.3
Body:	8.2
Spirit:	6.4
Friends/Family:	3.5
Love:	7.3
Finance:	7.8
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Language Learning Software

Valdos has dictionaries available for download or you can create own dictionary.

It is obvious that the website is just as its beginnings: the help page is empty and the forum has no contributions at all.

It's not clear what the site really wants to achieve, what their mission is, but let's hope Valdos will transform it into an interesting learning tool.

New English Teacher

THE NEW ENGLISH TEACHER presents information and ideas on theories, research, methods and materials related to language learning and teaching. Within this framework the Journal welcomes contributions in such areas of current enquiry as first and second language learning and teaching, language and culture, discourse analysis, language planning, language testing, multilingual education, stylistics, translation and information technology. The journal, therefore, is concerned with linguistics applied to education and contributions that have in mind the common professional concerns of both the practitioner and the researcher.

The journal is published twice per year in January and August by Assumption University Press, Assumption University, Ramkhamhaeng Rd., Soi 24, Hua Mak Campus, 10240 Bangkok, Thailand.

Related posts: Asian Ways , Asian Journal

To submitt papers contact

Joseph Foley
Graduate School of English, Assumption University
Tel: +66 (0) 2300 4543 – 62 Ext. 1348
Fax: + 66 (0) 2318 7159
Website: http://www.gse.au.edu/

Going to Taiwan?

ESL teachers, who want to be legally hired by Taiwanese employers, need to go through health checks.

In Thailand, teachers also need a medical certificate when schools apply for their work permit. This can be easily obtained from any soi clinic for less than 100 baht. All you need to do is declare that you don’t have any health problems. Easy, isn't it?

An ideal classroom

In an ideal classroom, I would like to have the following 10 items. At the moment I have the ones in bold.

1. Whiteboard - Definitely not chalkboard!
2. Computer with internet connection
3. Dictionaries for all students – My students have their own dictionaries.
4. Overhead projector
5. Ready-made posters
6. CD player – The Chinese teacher left hers in one of my classrooms so…
7. DVD player
8. Video camera
9. Clock
10. Air-conditioning unit

What about you? Copy and paste the list on your blog and leave a comment here so we can all read the post!

Image source: here

University Fair

US University Fair – study in the USA

Linden Educational Services, Inc. assists regionally accredited U.S. universities in their efforts to recruit, enroll, and serve international students. Now they’re in Bangkok! The fair is free of charge and open to the public.

Date: Sunday, February 24, 2008

Location
The Four Seasons Hotel (Montathip Court Rooms)
155 Rajadamri Road

Fair Time
1:00 - 4:00 pm University Fair (Montathip Court)

Presentation Times
12:00 Choosing the Right University
12:30 Insider tips from the Pros

Participating universities

Local Contact
Institute of International Education
Tel: (02) 652-0653

Previous Fair Statistics
Of the 225 registered students at the Linden Spring 2007 fair:
- 39% are male; 56% are female.
- 55% want graduate study, 25% wanted Bachelor's degrees.
- The average TOEFL Score given was 556
- Business, Management & Marketing was the major most mentioned (37%)

Source: http://www.lindentours.com/

Online PGCE Accept Offer

More good news:

"Dear

Thank you for your email.

Please be informed that you have now been enrolled into EDU8415 Multi-Modal Txt & New Literacy WEB for semester 1, 2008. The payment has also been finalised.

Kind regards
Ka Wing Ka
Wing LEUNG (Ms)
International Education Service Officer USQ
InternationalUniversity of Southern Queensland (Toowoomba Campus)
Toowoomba Qld 4350 Australia
email: ioacceptoffer@usq.edu.au (IO Accept Offer)"

Now I only have to get my password for the USQConnect website and then I have everything!

Online PGCE study package

At the beginning of this month I went to the bank to pay the deposit fees (3250 AUD) for the online PGCE course that I’m taking with the University of Southern Queensland. Including the transfer commission, I had to pay 98.800 baht. It was more than I had expected, but I guess the exchange rate on http://www.xe.com/ was not correct or updated. I also spent 500 baht for EMS to send the Letter of Acceptance and the payment detail to Australia.

Not long after I did all these, I received a couple of confusing e-mails from USQ Prospective Students. I think they have so many departments and e-mail accounts that sometimes keeping track of students’ enrollment is a bit difficulty!

Anyway, I’m sure they received my letter because this week I got by TNT the General Study Pack from the uni. It included:
- the USQ calendar
- the distant education study guide
- 4 blank assessment folders
- the residential school flyer (which I won’t need as I’m an online student!)
- an off-campus library card
- student toolkit 2008 CD

The CD is the most useful at the moment as it introduces USQConnect and USQStudyDesk, the online student information tools.

Tesol updates

"Teaching English is a professional skill that teachers need to update with the latest English language teaching developments, says Asst Prof Akara Akaranithi, president of Thailand Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (Thailand Tesol).

Thailand Tesol is a non-profit organization established under the patronage of HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana Krom Luang Naradhiwas Rajanagarindra and also an affiliate of Tesol Inc, which has its headquarters in Washington DC, USA. It operates through the annual membership fees and is run by volunteers.

Its purpose is to support English language teaching through academic conferences and workshops, as well as through academic journals to keep teachers updated with new developments in teaching English.

The 28th Thailand Tesol International Conference was held in Khon Kaen from January 24 to 26, under the theme "English Language Teaching: Progress in Practice and Policy".

The conference brings speakers who are specialists in English language teaching from the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia and participants from many neighboring countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, and China." Read more!

Source: Learning Post edition of Bangkok Post

Do you want to teach in Thailand?

Here are a few tips:

- Many schools are looking for specific accents. The "fashionable" accents vary over time, and from region to region. Schools may also want all their foreign teachers to have a common accent.

-It may seem obvious, but being a foreigner is not a free pass to contravene local customs and/or dress codes. This basic rule applies doubly for people in "authority roles" like that of teacher. Be prepared to conform to local norms.

- Do you need to speak the local language? In most cases, it can be helpful but is rarely a requirement.

- Each city in each country has different rates and costs of living. Schools in large cities typically offer higher wages, but the cost of living must be taken into account. In most developing countries, the cost of living in a rural area is substantially less than the cost of living in a big city.

- Private schools offer more money, but also may require a lot more "out of hours" interaction with students.

- Having a tertiary degree is useful but not imperative.

- Having a basic "Teaching English as a Second Language" certification will, in most cases, substantially increase your chances and/or wages.

- Investigate the company you are about to work for thoroughly! There have been incidents of people going overseas to teach only to find the company or school bankrupt when they get there!

Source: http://www.wikihow.com/

I am disappointed

From a student's point of view:

"Today my teacher said to me, “I am disappointed” If I am not wrong, it was the first time that I got negative comment from my teacher since I have studied in my school. The feeling was not good at all. He is a very good teacher. I like his class very much, and I always try my best for this subject. I think that I have never disappointed him except today.

Well, at the beginning of the class, he returned our assignments. We had assignment for interpreting cartoon. My assignment couldn’t satisfy my teacher. I know that he has high expectation of me, so that is why I felt so bad when he said that I disappointed him. Later on when he looked at me and asked, “who finished assignment that I assigned for your weekend?, I kept quiet. Then I answered,” Sorry, I haven’t finish yet” once again, I immediately feel that it is a big shame ."

Fragment taken from 123456's blog. Read the entire entry here!

Online test

Take an online test. Select your level to practise your reading, writing, and listening – and get useful downloads to use with the Oxford Practice Grammar books.

* Basic

* Intermediate

* Advanced

Source: OUP Studnet Website

Oxford Learner's Pocket Grammar

Oxford Learner's Pocket Grammar
Intermediate to Advanced (B2 to C2)

A convenient, pocket-sized reference grammar that makes learning and checking the key points of English quick and easy.

- 180 two-page units, each covering one grammar point
- Thousands of examples of correct usage and common mistakes
- Tips on increasing fluency and sounding more natural
- Ideal for revision

Source: http://elt-marketing.oup.com/

Online practice tests

What is oxfordenglishtesting.com?

oxfordenglishtesting.com is a website where students can buy online practice tests for English language exams.

- They can buy practice tests via the website - or -

- They can buy a new OUP Workbook Resource Pack*, that has access to online practice test(s) via its accompanying MultiROM.The test(s) are included in the price of the pack. They can buy more practice tests online if they wish.

- The website will become a gateway for all sorts of English tests.

* Student's Book Pack for the IELTS Masterclass course.

Why online?

Students need lots of exam practice. Doing this online turns that experience into a learning rather than a testing one. The test's interactive help features are designed to build students' confidence and help them learn from their mistakes. Take a look at the Students tab.Teachers will find the online marking most useful. Take a look at how this works on the Teachers tab.

A range of exams

- Online practice tests for PET, FCE, CAE, and IELTS will be available in March 2008.
- From Autumn 2008 this will increase to include TOEFL, TOEIC, and KET.
- The practice tests reflect what happens in the real exam, and cover every paper of the exam.

Learn more about the online practice tests by clicking the tabs. You will be able to access tests at this address http://www.oxfordenglishtesting.com/ in March 2008

www.teacherinthailand.com

I have bought domain names for this blog and Stories from Thailand. Do you want to know how I did it? Then click here!

Cartoonist / illustrator needed

Two soon-to-be-published books for children need illustrations. If you're a cartoonist / illustrator or if you’re good at drawing, send an e-mail with one or two of your illustrations at ... and you might see your name on the covers of the two books. It doesn't matter where you're from! All e-mails will be answered! Good luck!

Later edit: I'm no longer looking for an illustrator.

A different kind of student...

Can you think of a place in Thailand where "it’s just not safe to be a teacher"?

California Teacher Guy, a teacher who's trying to make peace with the desert within and without has encountered some problems:

"[...] One of my students (... I think it’s “Len”) apparently has decided to avenge himself for the F he earned in my class. He earned F’s in at least two other classes besides mine, but because the other teachers at the Jewel School live out of town, the suspect can’t target their cars. My car alone receives the fullness of his wrath.

Dawn hasn’t broken over Dirty Little Desert Town yet, so I can’t assess last night’s damage. If I’m lucky, the missile missed my car. If not, I’ll have to clean up the mess—assuming it can be cleaned up. [...]

Sadly, there are some places where it’s just not safe to be a teacher. I’m beginning to think that Dirty Little Desert town is one of them." Read more here!

Learn with Free Rice

Free Rice provides a very good online activity that helps students (and teachers) learn new vocabulary. Why should anyone want to improve his/her vocabulary? Here are some of the benefits:

- Formulate your ideas better
- Write better papers, emails and business letters
- Speak more precisely and persuasively
- Comprehend more of what you read
- Read faster because you comprehend better
- Get better grades in high school, college and graduate school
- Score higher on tests like the SAT, GRE, LSAT and GMAT
- Perform better at job interviews and conferences
- Sell yourself, your services, and your products better
- Be more effective and successful at your job

For its first seven weeks, FreeRice gave 10 grains of rice for each correct answer. On November 28, 2007, they were able to increase this to 20 grains. They hope to be able to increase this again in the future.

Your part is to play and donate the rice.

Source: http://www.freerice.com/

Thai-Lander

The Thai-Lander - a blog by Marius who came to Thailand to do the last internship of his life. He is an assistant teacher at RMUTL Technology University of Chiang-Mai. He will be here for 3 months, and afterwards he plans to spend some time travelling around the country and the region. Welcome to Thai-Land.

BBC Languages

Chinese New Year
Time to celebrate New Year all over again! Try a lively introduction to Mandarin in ten short parts with video clips, useful phrases, tips on pronunciation, grammar and cultural notes to get you speaking in no time. Also this month on BBC TWO. Try it now!

Valentine's phrases
On the pull? Impress your intended with downloadable chat-up lines in French, Italian or German.

Tubeabroad

Tubeabroad.com is a good resource if you are interested in going abroad. Organizations that offer study, teaching, volunteer, and interning abroad programs have posted videos outlining what they have to offer you.

Another link exchange

PINAYSMILE'S JOURNEY - a Filipina who married an American; now living with her husband in Kauai, Hawaii.

Later edit:

Funky Mommy - a blog about ramblings in words about photography, parenting, food, world news, gossips, and online business.

Scholarship request sent

I finally finished putting together the scholarship forms. I sent everything back home, including my original MA degree and CELTA certficate. My parents will have to translate them and after that send my application to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (In the meantime I have to pay the deposit tuition fees from my own money.) Let's hope it won't take them too long to assess my request and they'll give me 75% of the tuition fees.