Edutainment is all about balance
Postbox letter from James
Having been in the edutainment game for most of the last 17 years, the key, I find, is find a good balance.
Is teaching English the new restaurant job for actors?
Think about what you can do both for your students - and for yourself!
Teaching English is something that many people take for granted because they don’t realize how significant the role of an English teacher is. The point is that you, the teacher, are impacting many people’s lives, and they will remember you for a very long time.
I'm starting to enjoy edutainment
Edutainment is the idea that teachers should entertain and not just teach students. Teachers should be like game show hosts or performers in the classroom.
Chances are that your employer in Thailand will put some pressure on you to add some edutainment to help them keep students and get good reviews. If you can’t do this then you’ll probably be looking for a new job pretty soon.
Education should be entertaining
Postbox letter from Mark
Kids are inspired by fun and imaginative teachers and will usually find interest in most anything in their worlds.
In defence of the edutainers
A young teacher's perspective on teaching in Thailand
Most of the English teachers in Thailand seem to be slightly older so it’s understandable that they would view energy, positive reinforcement and affability in the EFL classroom with disdain and denial.
The teaching game
Games - I love 'em and I use them in my classroom in every way I can.
Don't be dismissive of games or underestimate their value. The resultant effect of these light-hearted activities may have more than just the 'learning' benefits.
Teacher or entertainer or teacher AND entertainer?
Postbox letter from Wes R
"We're not teachers, we're entertainers!" That's a dangerous little meme and it's something I've read countless times on countless websites as it concerns teaching English in another country, especially Thailand.
Happy hour at the ESL bar and grill
Amusing the students to death
Students are being scammed out of their money by an industry that is content to amuse the students to death by turning English language education into a perverted version of happy hour at Joe's Bar. Teachers and students deserve better than that.
Keeping up with this topic
Postbox letter from Donald Patnaude
Primarily, teaching English in Thailand is all about 'edutainment', meaning if you teach English in Thailand you must be an entertainer as well as an educator.
Edutainment is back
Love it or loathe it - we're in the entertainment business
Games are a great way to get student’s brains working in English. And, in the rarity of having any ringleaders who say that they don’t want to play games, have them copy the copyright crap from the inside front cover of their textbooks while the rest of the class enjoy themselves.