The TEFL News Network

TEFLWatch is becoming a great resource for teachers, not only to report bad schools, but also a great resource for lessons. Thanks to the work of the moderator Wangsuda, they have developed an impressive collection of resources for teachers. You can find lesson plans, lesson ideas and lesson resources you need to become a better teacher. Here you’ll find a rundown of the resources they have available, but remember, the resources are growing so check back often because there will be more resources added on a regular basis.

The Resources, Activities and Games Room is a general collection of resources that might be very helpful to teachers, including a few general games and information on teaching books. The good stuff you will find in the sub-rooms.

The Math Resources, Activities and Games Room has a growing collection of Math labs and Math resources. You can even find a link to our math graphing application here on TEFL News.

The Science Resources, Activities and Games Room has some great science labs and even a Science game. It can be difficult to find Science resources for EFL students, but together we can create a great resource.

The English Resources, Activities and Games Room is a real treasure trove of information. If you are a new teacher, you need to be checking it out because everything you need to put together a great lesson is right there waiting for you.

Of course, all of these resources mean nothing unless you are using them, so get on over to the TEFLWatch Forums and start using what is going to become one of the premier free TEFL teaching resource areas.

I have decided to experiment putting a Math Graphing Applet up as a resource for teachers to use. I will eventually replace this post with a link to the permanent location of the Math Graphing function, but for a week it will remain here for your experimentation.
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This week’s TEFL Game of the Week comes from My Camp Resources, a great camp games sites by a former TEFL teacher turned Camp Director. It’s modified slightly from his rules to reflect realities of the TEFL teaching environment. It’s called “What the King wants.” We all know that what the King wants, the King gets.

Description:
This is a offshoot of indoor scavenger hunt (30-100+ people)

Time:
15-20 min

Material:
Nothing

Objective:
Get the object to the King first

How to play:
Split the group into smaller groups of about 10-12 people. The leader is the “king”. Then get the “king” to stand at the front and say: “The King wants ….” and the first group to get it to the “king” gets the point. Some ideas of what the king would want are:
-1 sock
-a size 12 shoe
-something that smells pretty
-belly button lint
-toe jam
-ear wax
-a retainer
-a pink rock

Remember that if they do not have it they need to get and get it.

Rules:
First group to get the right item wins the round

Keep score and run it through several rounds until you have a winner of some sort.

TEFL Good: It teaches students new and interesting vocabulary words in a fun and energetic way

Why ask Why? Wasn’t that a commercial for some beer product several years back? This games has nothing to do with beer and everything to do with having fun with the English language. It is the perfect game for classes of between 5 and 15 intermediate students.
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How many times have you had a 1 on 1 class where the student tells you. “I just want to learn conversation.” It can frustrating experience for teacher and student alike. In that first class, you need to find their level, their objectives, and even a little about their personality. Never fear, this activity helps you get all three.

When I run into these 1 on 1 nightmares, I pull into my reserve. I have made up a set of special 5 x8 inch laminated cards, but you can use anything from index cards up to A4 Letter size sheets laminated, it is up to you. You need conversation ideas to get your student speaking and interacting so on these cards, you need to have images. You can animal images, celebrity images, sports images, travel images, basically anything that might interest your target student age group. I keep about 20 to 30 cards on hand.
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