A teacher and a confidant

It depends on the kind of school you teach at but there is something very particular about one to one lessons. For various timetable and student level reasons I've had the privilege to teach a lot of individual students for the last six months or so.

People sometimes ask me if it's better to teach groups or individuals and the answer is, inevitably, that it varies. The great thing about individuals is that you can develop their language skills so much more in the same number of lessons simply by dint of having them be the only other person speaking. If we take a simple 70% student talking time (the less wasted teacher talking time the better) from a 60 minute lesson then an individual student will get to speak for 42 minutes where one in a group of 6 will only get 7 minutes of private time on average.  Of course, these are just averages and teachers use a lot of techniques to increase language production time for all (pair work, team games, group conversation, writing etc.). Still, it's among the individual students that you often see the most progress.

On the flip side it can be really hard as teacher because you are forced to focus on the students for such an extended time. In a group, you can start a lot of activities and then sit back and focus on the students, perhaps listening for corrections. One of the toughest parts is when you are engaging in role plays with individual students because you have to listen to what they are saying so you can formulate an appropriate response, listen for their mistakes and correct language use, and sometimes even write down the errors so you can discuss that afterwards. It's tiring and makes the one to one lessons that much more of a challenge from a focus perspective. Then again, when you have someone who you genuinely like and enjoy spending time with, it can be like meeting with friends where you get paid for it ;-)

One very special thing is how much you are exposed to when you spend time alone with people. Perhaps because I'm a relative stranger to them, my students often feel comfortable opening up to me. I've come to know things that are very personal and challenging including relationship problems, births, deaths, illness, drug problems, financial worries and work issues.

It can be hard to listen to these stories at times and I've had to do my best to comfort people without sounding trite. I'm also asked for advice in some situations and that brings the next big challenge...what kind of grounds do I have to offer advice to people on life problems that I may have never faced before? I'm not a psychologist (though I lived with one for some time) and have very little education or knowledge on the specifics of these cases so I have to be very careful what I say. Likewise when people ask me about what they should do in a work context with an annoying or difficult boss/colleague/situation. In each case I try to offer my best advice from my work experience while at all times trying not to make their decision for them. Usually I focus on what they could do and what some of the advantages and disadvantages of each choice may be. With any luck we get to work on expressing feelings, worries and using modals (should, could, might etc.)

I know that a lot of other teachers tend to stay away from topics like this because they prefer to keep their and students private lives away from the classroom. I can respect and understand that completely  It's not how I teach and I hope that my individual students enjoy having someone who is willing to be part of more personal and complex issues, as well as working on their language skills.

I knew in an intellectual way that teaching would be a lot about experience but as they say, there is nothing like actually getting out there and doing it. The more time I spend in classrooms and with students the more comfortable I feel, even in tough situations.

As far as this particular challenge goes I'll just say this. To all of my students who have talked about problems or challenges with me, I hope that I have helped you feel better, or given you some good advice, or been a good listener or just not annoyed you ;-)

Take care everyone,

Pete

Two words for the price of one...

Today I'd like to talk about something that can be really annoying for me as an English teacher and as a student of Slovak.

When you get two words for the price of one.

Or when you get two or more meanings from a single word.

My current pair of words to worry about in Slovak are pre and za. These two little gems are fairly common even in the low level language that I use and they get me a lot because they translate into the same word in English...FOR.

Let's take some example Slovak phrases with their English equivalents.

• WC pre mužov            - WC for men
• Ďakujem za info          - Thank you for the info.

It drives me crazy because when it comes to these words, I'm really stuck as to which one I should use. I do my best but it's not unusual for me to run into the wrong one and end up butchering a sentence. Thankfully my listeners tend to be kind enough to smile and nod indulgently as I mess up their language. Some of them are even good enough to correct me and tell me what I should be using and when.

This isn't exclusive to me and Slovak though. As a teacher you should be aware of the words in English that cause problems for your students because they double up on what their mother language has. There are some words that almost directly translate from one language to another and when you find them....great :-) Then again, there are others that will cause repeated problems in your classroom and it's your job to find those words, identify them and figure out what the problem is for the learners. That will help you identify them ahead of time what might be problems in future lessons.

Now you don't have to do this alone. In fact, if you can avoid that, all the better. Another example that comes to mind for Slovaks learning English is the word nervous. 

As I understand it, the translation of nervous into Slovak can lead to two English word meanings tied up in one - nervous....and stressed.

Stressed!

Nervous.

Knowing that these are problem words for my students and knowing that I've got a phone call lesson planned means that I can anticipate the problem words. There will be times when discussing workload where my students might say nervous and mean stressed. Then again, I need to be aware that they might actually mean nervous when they say nervous. I mean, who likes to go on conference calls in a language that they are learning? It's hard enough to understand when you're a native speaker dealing with the weak microphones and speakers that every conference call system seems to suffer from (especially when it's my turn to use it), but when you have someone who is still picking up English then it's a real hurdle. 

So by giving them the confidence that they are choosing the right word will let their English flow more fluently, hopefully reduce their stress and nervousness, and leave them more comfortable in what they have to do. I know it takes time to break down the old habits or first language interference but step by step you get there and make things better for your students. If you don't want to do that, then you probably shouldn't be teaching ;-)

What's the best way to get rid of these kinds of problems and trouble words then?

What I'm learning more and more as I teach (and learn) is that it's not so useful to memorise a big list of rules about when to use each word and when to avoid it. I've done that kind of thing when teaching articles, which many Slovaks struggle to use, and it's not that helpful because the students struggle to remember all of the rules as they are talking and using English.

Instead, I try to give as many examples as I can of how the word can be used. Simple sentences, even those with similar meanings and different subjects/objects, are a good start. Give the students time to practise, put them in situations to draw out those problems words and be fairly ruthless with corrections (though always with good humour and a smile) until they start to get it locked in.



Now all I need to do is find a Slovak teacher with the time to do this to me so I can finally figure out which word I am looking za/pre when it comes to Slovak. I mean, if I can't do that then what are these lessons za/pre that I'm paying za/pre ;-)

Take care,

Pete

LGBT rights: The line between what's right to me and what's right professionally...

"Since many of you will get to participate in the decision in a few weeks whether or not to allow me the privilege to get married, I'll just leave this here. Needless to say, if you're reading this, I sincerely hope you believe I'm worthy of the same rights and privileges as the rest of the country, if for no other reason than the 14th Amendment."


My American friend wrote these words on Facebook yesterday (October 15th 2012) and they struck a serious chord with me. I've long been a supported of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (hereafter LGBT) rights but by and large it has been in a passive role. In debates or conversations I've stood up for the LGBT side but have only been active in limited ways. 

That's something I want to change now. Both my friend's words and the recent news my girlfriend read in the paper that the Slovak State doesn't allow LGBT couples to inherit or have civil union rights really frustrated me. I've done a little more digging and while same sex relationships are legal and accepted by a majority (68% according to Wikipedia. I've not located the original study yet) the support for marriage and adoption rights is much lower.

In many ways Slovakia is a conservative nation and the religious background tends to be Catholic (~65% in a 2011 study). I have no intentions of disparaging that faith but it's no secret that it tends not to support LGBT couples or LGBT rights (a common theme in some religions). This is a long way from saying that Catholics hate LGBT people but there does seem to be an undercurrent of distrust or possible dislike at what a few of my students have described as 'unnatural'.

My problem at the moment is that I need to find the line between what I think is right (morally, ethically and humanistically) and what is professionally appropriate. As an English teacher I am encouraged to engage my students and provide conversation/discussion that pushes them. The problem arises in that when this kind of issue is discussed I am not just an observer/teacher. I want to step in, break down the opposing arguments through their weak points (from my perspective of course), educate and convince them that my position is a better one.

But it's not fair to do that.

I'm not debating with my peers. I'm a native speaker of English with a strong education and a relatively extensive discussion and debating background. While many of my students are as (or more!) educated than me and have comparable experience, it's still unbalanced. None of them can match me in the English language which, on a side note, ensures that I retain a job ;-), but it can allow me to sound more comfortable, eloquent and convincing. Are my points necessarily more valid because I can express them better?

No, that would be crossing the line.

Of course, I still stand by my points as being better and more worthwhile but that is because of their content, not because of how well I can deliver them.

Ultimately what I'm searching for is a way to make a difference in the minds of people who've not really considered this social and cultural issue fully. I don't expect to convert a significant population overnight but I would like to generate dialogue, thought and start to change opinions. Even if I influence just a few people to think about the other side of the debate I can hope that that will spread as they start to talk with family and friends about their new perspectives. Social change comes in small steps after all.

What I need to be careful with is crossing the line professionally. My job brings me into contact with a great many people and gives me the chance to talk/discuss things with them. It does not give me carte blanche to start preaching or forcing people to agree with me because I'm the teacher and can argue in English better than they can. I have classroom power to a degree, but it's not my place to use that to support an agenda beyond that of educating students. 

I still bring this issue up from time to time with my higher level students but I do my best to stay out of the debate as much as possible and just interject points in the manner of "what some people say is...", which seems to keep things less heated as I can be the neutral moderator. If students then ask me what I think, I put in my personal opinion but keep it out of the debate. If someone wants to talk to me afterwards then that's fine but the lesson time isn't taken up with my views.

I'm not trying to make people change everything about themselves either. If you don't like or agree with something then there's nothing wrong with that, but controlling the legal system to prevent others from doing that thing does not strike me as right. In this case, the argument is about trying to stop people in love from choosing to share their lives together and make a public commitment to each other. 

In the pictures above I see three couples who are happy and in love. To me, marriage is a wonderful thing that shows love and willingness to make a commitment. The more happy couples there are in the world providing stable families for children, the better off we will be.

Getting rich - a.k.a How much money does an EFL teacher make?

Hi everyone,

So to follow up with my end of year reflections list it's time to talk about something that makes the world go around and keeps us all occupied (perhaps too much).

I'm talking, of course, about money. How much money does an EFL teacher make?

This is an actual, genuine, in no way faked, perfectly normal

 monthly pay packet for an EFL teacher. I make this much money every month ;-)

Now in the interests of privacy for my colleagues and the school I work for, I'll not be discussing exact details of contracts and hourly rates etc. This is more a post to let people know roughly how much money you can expect to make as an EFL teacher, at least here in Slovakia.

Basically I make between 700 and 900 Euros per month after tax when teaching. It's hard to give an exact figure because I have two contracts, one fixed and one which pays me for each lesson I teach more than the fixed amount. Because of this, my exact income is variable, though almost always falls into the numbers outlined above.

Many other EFL teachers I know work on a kind of business license where they are essentially freelancers who can work for many different companies. Generally they get a higher hourly rate and so come out with a bit more outright cash. On the other hand, because they are not guaranteed any work by companies they can face less certainty in what they do. In addition they don't tend to get other benefits offered and must pay for their own health insurance etc.

So how much will I make as an EFL teacher in Bratislava? Well, about what I outlined above as long as you have a good school and are flexible. I like to teach business English and one to one students at high level, but I also teach adult and children's groups in our school, as well as some lessons at primary schools that Class works with. I sometimes start early in the morning and sometimes work late into the evening....it comes with the job.

The more flexible, skilled and versatile you can be as a teacher, the more work you will get. The more work you get, the more you will earn as an ESL teacher. The more limited you make yourself to a school (no kids/only high level/not too much travelling etc. etc.) the harder they might find it to give you enough lessons.

Of course, from a personal development standpoint, teaching different levels is great too, but let's keep it focused on the moolah for now ;-)

One question that I recall from the last day of my CELTA training course in England was during a final meeting with the director of the school. We were all proud of having completed the course, what we'd learned, what we needed to work on and so on, and he took an hour or so to give us some advice on the more practical side of finding a job, what he looks for in teachers and answered our questions. The question that hit me was:

"Where can I go to make a lot of money as an EFL teacher?"

To the director's credit he answered it effectively, pointing out that Saudi Arabia tends to pay well (though life can be quite restricted there, for women in particularl), South Korea has a good reputation for paying well and so do other Asian countries. The response I was secretly hoping for though, was something like.

"Where can I go to make a lot of money as an EFL teacher?"
"To the admissions section of the medical/law/finance school up the road."

It's no secret that teachers don't make a huge amount of money, EFL teachers included. That said, you get to meet interesting people, do a job that makes a real difference to individuals, get challenged and have good opportunities for travel.

As far as my experiences living in Slovakia go, I think I do alright for my money. My current annual salary is approximately 50% that of what I was earning at my job in the US as a radio station sales coordinator where, while the colleagues were great, the work was often dull, repetitive, didn't challenge me and I was quite poorly paid.

So how is it living with half as much money? Well if we compare the costs, it starts to look really good. I have a bus pass from my school so I can travel for work, largely eliminating transport costs, certainly commuting ones, I get food vouchers every month as part of the government program for employees in Slovakia and my rent is much much lower ($200 a month including all bills and internet sound good?).

I am not a heavy drinker and I have few expensive hobbies (wargaming aside) so I can happily report that in the last year I have managed to save about 50% of my annual salary, which is a really good feeling.

I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination but I'm happy with what I do, I'm interested to go to work and I am building savings much more consistently than I have done in the past. It must be that getting old and responsible thing people keep telling me about ;-)

So that's all from me on this point. If you have any questions about being an EFL teacher or how much money you can make doing this, then please get in touch via the comments section or email.

Best wishes,

Pete :-)

EFL teachers....LEARN ANOTHER LANGUAGE!

So...teachers...go and learn another language. If you are teaching English to students, you WILL learn more about it, about how they feel and about better ways to teach from learning a foreign language.

I'm learning Slovak at the moment.

The first reason for that is, of course, that I'm living in Slovakia. While a great many people here in the capital Bratislava do speak some English, it would be rudeness of the highest order for me to expect them to do so here. The English do hold a certain reputation for politeness and since I'm not in England, I'm in Slovakia, it is only polite for me to learn the language, if only to get by and exchange the necessary words for living here. Knowing some Slovak makes it fairly easy for me to get around the city, go to the shops, order food, have some conversations with those who don't speak English and more.

That said, it makes me do this a little bit at times.

The Slovak language is renowned as being very hard to learn. There is some contention as to what the most difficult language to learn is but most of the Slovaks that I meet tell me firmly that theirs is language number one for challenge (much as the Hungarians say about Hungarian ;-) ). I can attest to its difficulty and the frustration that I have with how much things change when you start conjugating and making sentences. Still, it's made me understand how my students feel when you start to realise what is missing (or added) from the language compared to English.

I used to hate the ending of Slovak words with a passion. In English, we have Bratislava. It's Bratislava whether I want it, have it, need it, like it, am on it, live in it, am going to it etc. etc. Not so in Slovak.


To je BratislavA                - It is Bratislava
Byvam v BratislavE           - I live in Bratislava
Idem do BratislavY            - I go to Bratislava
Mam rad BratislavU           - I like Bratislava
Vrtul'nik nad BratislavOU   - A helicopter over Bratislava

How's that for a change from English? When I started getting into this and frequently making mistakes in conversation it drove me up the wall. I remember raging and complaining about how annoying it is to deal with, how silly it is to have this in the language and how much better it would be without.........until it hit me that this is EXACTLY how Slovak's tend to feel about the perfect tenses. They don't exist in a tense form in Slovak, the students often struggle to use them and they are quite resistant at first because to them, it has the same illogicality as the endings did for me. It was such a revelation for me and I was surprised at how quickly my annoyance and frustration evaporated.

Then my attitude towards learning Slovak was more like this...

Other reasons that learning a language is a great thing, particularly when you primarily teach one nationality of student:

• Sometimes it's easier to just translate a word, especially when you're tired. My school doesn't like us doing this but hey, if it helps the student (or teacher) then who needs to know ;-)
• You understand why people make certain mistakes. Slovaks tend to use the preposition 'on' a lot more than we do in English, so it's good to be able to catch that and understand why they're doing it.
• You get to feel where the differences are and how they can impact on the learning. I couldn't understand why Slovaks so frequently said 'How is it called?' 'How does it look like?' until I learned and translated their frequent greetings 'Ake je tvoje meno/Ako sa volaš?' as basically the same as the English 'What is your name/What are you called?' with how in the place of what. It's a Slovak thing :-)
• You can share frustration and amusing stories with students so you get a better bond with them. When I have students confusing two similar sounding words e.g. thought, though, and they get frustrated I always point out how many times I've asked people around for yesterday (včera) instead of dinner (večere) when I speak Slovak. It's really helped my students and I get along better, which makes my life a whole lot easier when I'm teaching. You really do benefit from people skills in this line of work.
• If nothing else, you put yourself back in the shoes of a student and understand more fully what your students go through when you're teaching them.

Well that's all I have for now. I hope you enjoyed this little insight into why I'm learning another language and why all teachers should do it if they can.

Take care and feel free to drop a question in the comments section if you have one.

Pete

Reflections after a year of teaching.

So here I am after a year of being an EFL teacher.

My apologies for the lengthy delay between posting. I could make all sorts of excuses about being very busy, having lots of lessons, travelling around, focusing my writing energy on a sci-fi competition and generally being tired, but it wouldn't really be that interesting, though it is true ;-)

I feel like I've run through a full year's worth of EFL teaching now since we just got back from the school's summer camp. I started here in Slovakia with the summer camp last year, jumping in a bit at the deep end, got my training from the school, taught lessons all year long for business, kids and adults, got a few private students and traded some of them for better private students, planned some great lessons and some crappy ones, winged it when I forgot to prepare and got away with it, winged it and had the lesson flop, dealt with great students, uncreative students, tired teenagers, noisy kids, grammar monsters and found where I work well in teaching and where I'm not so good. The year finished with a trip back to the same summer camp as before (Camp Wonderland for those who are interested).

This rather charming picture is me one year prior to the beach party disco at camp. The facial hair has largely been ditched (except when I'm feeling too lazy to shave), my muscles have also taken a bit of break since I'm not a regularly training martial artist any more and there might be a hint more of a tan now as the summer here was pretty warm and bright. When it comes to teaching though, there have been huge steps, learning points and more that came from just getting a lot of hours in the classroom. 

Here is a tired but happy me a year later at the same camp, on the same stage and near enough in the same spot. As before, there is a funky costume going on but that's the way of summer camp. What's really changed is the confidence and experience of the teacher, something that I hope, and think, is reflected in what my students gain from each lesson I teach now.

So, in a nutshell, what have I learned from one year of teaching. I intend to expand on these points in future posts.

• You get to meet a lot of really interesting people. You owe it to them to be genuinely interested in who they are and what they do. It can bring remarkable dividends too ;-)
• Lesson preparation is key, though not in the way that I expected when I started. Micromanagement generally comes unstuck, but without a framework a lesson can be very hit and miss. 
• Go and learn another language, seriously. You will learn a lot about how students think, feel and will come up against the stupidly illogical (to your mind) things that others feel about English. 
• Sharing and working with your colleagues will make your job a LOT easier. Build that team up and all of your lessons will benefit from it. 
• EFL textbooks can be fantastic to work from and will save your butt when you're short of ideas, but should be expanded upon to cover certain areas more or less. 
• You'll learn a lot about the English language.
• It makes it really easy to travel when you're an EFL teacher and a native speaker can be in quite heavy demand. As a side note of travelling, you'll see more of the city in a year than many people who live there do in five years.
• Teaching English is not going to make you rich, though you can save a surprising amount depending on where you live, but you'll have a really fun and interesting job.
• You will get tired as a teacher, you'll often end up working funny hours, starting early, finishing late, having dinner at 9.30pm or snarfing sandwiches on the tram.
• You'll realise that despite the annoyances, if you really enjoy teaching and languages, you will be doing a job that keeps you interested, challenged and excited. 

All the best to everyone and look out for more thoughts on the above coming soon.

Pete

When a song encapsulates a time in your life.

Hi everyone, I was listening to some music recently when I came across a song that I like, but that really resonated with me. As I listened, it seemed like the song was telling the story of my life as I came to the end of my life in America.Have you ever had something like this where you really feel as though the song is telling your life as you listen?

The song in question is called Chances and it's by an Australian folk artist called Xavier Rudd. I highly recommend that you have a listen to his work if you have time.

Sometimes this video is finicky on Blogger so you can enjoy it on Youtube here:-)

The lyrics that I thought I heard (which I later found to be slightly different) were:

At times in life,

You'll connect with someone's soul,

And have to move on.

At times in you'll feel

The need to fly and fly

Though you may hurt someone

You were there

Your chances were clear

Choices were made in spite

Of times that were spent

Feelings were mixed

Amongst your support base

A heart was lost

But a heart found its place

This is a recipe of life

Made up of five months of people's peace

And people's vibes

Well now it's each now to their own

Well your heart will know.

I had been going through a lot of different things at the beginning of 2011 when I was gearing up to leave America. One major point that struck me with respect to this song is that I almost entered into a relationship with someone. We felt a strong connection with each other at the time but it didn't become anything. In hindsight was very much the better result for both of us, but she instilled in me the spark for travelling again.

I made the choice to leave America and come to Europe to live in a country I'd never been to before. I made that choice despite my friends in America being mixed about whether they wanted me to go.I'd spent something around five months living a non-married life after separating from my ex-wife. I felt like it was a new phase of life for me, but also something of a holding pattern. I was enjoying things but I wasn't moving forwards towards anything that I really wanted. I took a chance and took myself away from the familiar, into the unknown and it felt right, despite the fear. I know that I 'hurt' some friends with the sadness of parting and I felt the same too. In fact I recently found a notebook containing a worried note written as I sat in Washington Dulles waiting for my flight. I remember sitting there, wondering why I was doing it, why I was leaving what I'd become familiar with, what was going to come, whether I would find what I needed and if my heart would find something or someone that could make me truly happy.

A heart was lost....that heart then found its place.

It's often said that home is where the heart is.

I'm home again.


Thank you for reading my little tale. I hope that you enjoyed the song and perhaps I've made you remember a time that a song represented a moment or time in your life. Music is great :-)

Pete