Essay:Advice for new teachers

Are you a new teacher needing advice or thinking of starting out in the profession? We attempt to give you some pointers to web resources here.

Qualifications

A number of TEFL Qualifications are available, albeit at some cost, but obtaining one is highly recommended. If you want to get some idea of the sort of things you will have to learn then TEFL Boot Camp will probably give you some idea.

Moving to another country

Many people will wish to move to another country to work - indeed this may be their primary motive. Justlanded provides a wealth of information which will be invaluable to new residents.

For those wanting to get a feel for the life of an English teacher, Thepaininspain is an amusing and informative blog.

Getting advice

You are most welcome to ask for advice here, but other resources include the very helpful ESL HQ and Tefldaddy.

Acronyms

The TEFL world is rife with damn Acronyms and you will need to learn quite a few. Our list is here.

Other useful sites

We can also recommend: Spokenskills, Englishraven and, for your students, English-online and Manythings.

Clearly you should also take a look at Dave's ESL Cafe - the granddaddy of them all along with its associated job discussion forum; and also sign up for the free TEFL newspaper at English language gazette.

If you want something quick and easy for a class then our article on conversation questions for TEFL classes has some good advice and links.

Placement tests

Once you have new students you will want to know their level. Languagesystems claims to be able to help with this.

Creating your own classes

If you feel really adventurous then you could follow our guidelines about creating your own topical class.