Being a freelance English teacher comes with a lot of freedom. As a freelancer, you are in control of your own schedule, how much or how little to want to work, where you want to work, whom you want to work with, the materials you use, and the type of English you want to teach….
2021, with the world still mostly locked down, looks a lot like 2020. Yes, some economies are opening up more than before, but the majority are still not there yet. These are the times that call for urgency about the values that come from lessons we ought to be living out. Now is the time…
I first started teaching English as a volunteer tutor while studying art history at New College of Florida. Since then, teaching ESL and art history have been intertwined in my life and in my classroom. For me, I can share two passions simultaneously; for the students, fine art helps encourage creativity and critical thinking while…
As someone who just finished reading Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s New York Times Best Seller Antifragile, I’d like to share ways that we can build antifragility in our students. “What’s ‘antifragility’?” you might ask. As Taleb nicely puts it, “Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets…
December is here and so are all the winter holidays! Holidays and traditions are a great way to engage your students and bring some variety and fun to your ESL students. This year, I’ve made a completely digital Christmas scavenger hunt. This activity builds English skills as well as digital literacy and research skills. It…
We’re nine months into this global pandemic now, having nearly 60 million confirmed COVID-19 cases to date. It seems the situation is getting better, but have we become better through it? This new normal has challenged teachers to prepare and conduct their classes in new ways. Education in third world countries like the Philippines especially…
With nearly 400 years of Spanish, Japanese, and American colonial history and hundreds of years of trade and settlements of people from places such as China and the Indian subcontinent, it should come as no surprise that the Philippines today is home to a wide variety of ethnicities, languages and dialects, and religious and spiritual…
Thanksgiving is a popular topic for ESL learners of all ages. The holiday combines so many things learners love talking about: food, family, and the universal feeling of gratitude. This Thanksgiving lesson was made especially for ESL beginners aged 6-11. It is 100% socially distanced and one of the best lessons I have ever taught….
Listening makes up 45% of the time adults spend communicating, so it’s no wonder that it’s ranked as the most sought after skill by English language learners. What is surprising is how little ESL teachers spend on listenings, especially considering learners often rank it as the most difficult skill to master. ESL textbooks provide listenings,…
How do you soldier on in this pandemic? The world still awaits the discovery of a vaccine against COVID-19. Many people are jobless, hopeless, and in despair. That’s the harsh reality that we currently live in. Unfortunately, the situation we’re in isn’t a nightmare we can wake up from all of a sudden. 2020 has…