10 ways to survive #TEFL teaching. Great article at http://bit.ly/i6A8dJ

10 ways to survive TEFL teaching 1. Go in with a plan. Sounds simple, and logical, doesn’t it? Surprising how many people don’t bother, and then wonder why students are getting bored. 2. Prepare Extension activities There are always bright sparks in the class, who finish super quickly! Have a simple extension task to do so your students don’t have a chance to get bored. This doesn’t have to be a worksheet, as long it is a well thought out task. You’ve just had a lesson on adjectives, and your students have written a simple description in two minutes flat (it was supposed to take 10 mins) So give them a picture to write a longer description, get them practising their speaking skills and asking/answering questions about the picture, ask the students to imagine they walked into the picture (it could be a room, or a place); Get the students to describe how they feel and why, not just describe what they see. 3. Always recap knowledge Don’t presume that now your class has ‘learnt’ something that they are going to remember it. No that would be far too easy! Include vocabulary learned in a previous lesson and incorporate the new vocabulary, play a memory game at the beginning of your lesson to warm up. There are lots of ways to reinforce students’ knowledge. 4. Try and tap into the interests of your pupils Again, this can be difficult on a one-to-one basic. Don’t make my mistake and teach Spike Milligan’s ‘Can a Parrott eat a carrot’, if your student is into racing cars. Always tap into your students interests, no matter how boring you may find the subject.  5. Have a ‘bag of tricks’ What do I mean by a bag of tricks? When you begin teaching, sometimes things do ‘go wrong’. No matter how hard you plan, you will inevitably get caught out! This is because you yourself are still learning! So have a game, or a quick activity, break your students into groups and brainstorm a subject. Buy yourself some time to collect your thoughts. Read more about this article here: http://hubpages.com/hub/10-ways-to-survive-TEFL-teaching Curious about teaching English and travelling abroad? Learn more about TESOL certification and get certified!