personal experience / professional development / skills development / teacher training / Team-Teaching / technology in the classroom / tips for teaching

Commandment 6 – Make the Language Classes Interesting

I was positively giddy on the first day of my TESOL certificate's Teaching English Grammar class. Although we were all there to learn how to be good language teachers, I was probably the only one who was that thrilled to get into the nitty gritty of English grammar. Most people probably…

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13 January 2022

ALT / professional development / strategies / teacher training / teaching tips / Team-Teaching

Commandment 4 – Develop a good relationship with the learners

One of the most rewarding parts of being an ALT is being able to build relationships with your students. But more than that, developing relationships with your students can lead to better classroom performance and greater motivation for them. Here are a few tips I have picked up over the years.…

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26 October 2021

ALT / skills development / teacher training / teaching tips

Commandment 3 – Present the tasks properly

I used to hate planning lessons. It was my least favorite part of my TESL certification program. My instructors wanted so much detail. Every single moment of the lesson had to be accounted for and justified. Why are you doing this? Why at this point in the lesson? What is this…

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7 September 2021

ALT / personal experience / professional development / strategies / teacher training / teaching tips

Commandment 2 – Create a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere in the classroom

You may not have a lot of control over the physical structures in your classroom - the desks, the whiteboard, the tech (or lack thereof!). You may not be able to have your students sit in groups and do group projects due to Covid-19 precautions. You may not be able to…

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21 July 2021

ALT / personal experience / professional development / strategies / teacher training / teaching tips

Commandment 1 – Set a Personal Example With Your Own Behaviour

I remember getting the impression that one of my elementary school teachers hated children. I think I was about 11 or 12 years old when it happened. I was paired with a younger student for a reading buddy program, and I saw the difference in how this teacher treated their own…

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6 July 2021

ALT / ALTTO / PD / professional development / skills / skills development / strategies / teacher training / teaching tips / Team Teaching

The 10 Commandments of Motivating Language Learners

This week we are going to take a look at a very interesting paper written by Zoltán Dörnyei and Kata Csizér. It’s called “Ten Commandments for motivating Language Learners” and while we will be focusing on the contents published on page 215, do take a look at the abstract: The question…

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22 June 2021

ALT / Community / JTE / teacher training

Cultivating a Community of Practice for ALTs, HRTs, and JTEs

School-based Teacher Education Model in Professional Graduate School For the past 13 years, the M.Ed program at the Graduate School of Professional Development of Teachers at the University of Fukui has been working on cultivating an organizational learning community of teachers. Our aims are clear: to enhance the professional development of…

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18 December 2020

ALT / Elementary School / English in Japan / Japanese Public Schools / Japanese Students / JET / JTE / small talk / teacher training / TEFL / textbooks / tips for teaching / vocabulary

New ES Textbook Features And How To Use Them by Mikayla Govern

by Mikayla GovernBio: Mikayla Govern is from Midwest America. She completed her bachelor's degree in International Studies and has been working in the international sector ever since. She worked at one of the largest banking corporations in the world before finding her passion for teaching. Now, she works in the Saitama and Tokyo area…

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13 February 2019

ALT / ALTTO / English in Japan / Japanese Students / JET / JTE / professional development / teacher training

Communicative Language Teaching by Lina Gordyshevskaya

by Lina GordyshevskayaBio: Lina Gordyshevskaya graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2015 earning an MA with honors in Scandinavian Studies. She obtained a TEFL certificate in 2015 and a CELTA in 2016. Throughout her career, she has taught YL (young learners), teenagers, and adults of various levels in different contexts. Currently,…

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20 August 2018

ALT / ALTTO / Elementary School / English in Japan / Japanese Public Schools / JET / reading / teacher training

(Extensive) Reading in Japanese Elementary Schools by Chris Cooper

by Chris CooperBio: Chris is from Yorkshire in the UK. He has just started working as a lecturer at Himeji Dokkyo University (April 2018), teaching a range of English classes from 1st to 4th year students. Before that, he worked as an ALT in Okayama Prefecture for 8 years for Interac…

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20 July 2018