Blogs

Stephen Louw

The staffroom

Why do so many schools not recognize the importance of a good teachers' room?

It's in the staffroom that teachers grow their own skills, expand the range of the school curriculum, coordinate their efforts, and construct a coherent school culture. School administrators (who don't teach) are not aware of the power of a good staffroom.

Joseph Hunt

Launching a school magazine

What's involved in creating a brand new student publication that everyone will enjoy reading?

Since moving to Thailand, I've often considered creating a simple magazine for students. But with a schedule focused on younger students (P1 to P4).

A better way of delivering business English classes

Mark Beales

How do students learn?

Creating a variety of lessons that will appeal to most of your students

Theory often comes near the bottom of the pile when it comes to teaching, but there are several things worth knowing about how people learn and how best you can teach them.

Laura Thomas

Teaching English really ain't that easy

You have to earn the right to be a decent teacher

I've seen online comments from well-meaning individuals who want to "make a difference." Unfortunately, their primary focus tends to be on how teaching abroad will change their own lives, without considering the impact they might have on their students.

Richard McCully

Thai teacher tourism

Is this a good thing or not?

There is obviously a steady supply of foreigners who are happy to pay for the experience and companies who can make good money from this business.

Mark Newman

Good adverts last a lifetime

A good teacher can have a lifelong impact on their students

Looking back almost fifty years, I can remember what subjects I liked and disliked at school. Most of the subjects I liked was down to the fact that I liked the teacher teaching it.

Bangkok Phil

How's the 'decorate' and the 'supervise'?

The joys of filling in customer feedback forms

Should that be ‘supervision’ or ‘supervisor’? Was I supposed to rate the actual restaurant supervisor? Was I evaluating those that do the supervising as opposed to those who are supervised? Forget it. It doesn’t matter. It makes no sense whatsoever