Getting fired was a lesson learned

Postbox letter from Ricky

I entered the job with big aspirations, but things unraveled quickly, and I soon found myself in over my head.

Experience trumps qualifications every time!

Postbox letter from Mike

Experienced teachers who actually try are worth their weight in gold. You can only learn so much from a book and then you really need to just get your hands dirty.

Does the culture need to change?

Postbox letter from Philip

My teacher friend has seen teachers hit a student and another teacher call a young child 'crazy' because they didn't understand the question and asked for help

The 'unwanted' senior teacher role

Postbox letter from Liam

This agency I worked for thought that not only could they employ anyone without doing their due diligence, but that the good teachers already at the school would do their job for them also.

It takes all sorts

There's nowhere like an ESL staffroom when it comes to a crazy and diverse range of characters

People become ESL teachers for all kinds of reasons. Nowhere else will you find such a mélange of backgrounds, attitudes and beliefs, which is what makes the ESL staffroom like no other you’ll ever work in.

Teachers that make me angry

Postbox letter from Peter

One thing that I find very annoying is listening to teachers who no matter what is expected of them, keep failing to use their common sense and preparing things in advance.

On entering the classroom

On your first day as a teacher, winging it is not an option.

The best way to be confident is to be prepared. Have a broad idea of how your first few lessons are going to go. If you can get hold of a lesson plan or course book beforehand, then wonderful. If not, at least have a ‘getting to know you’ type of lesson up your sleeve.

Different teachers, different styles

Sometimes showing the students tough love doesn't work.

My teaching colleague was just a bully who could only intimidate the younger students. ‘Find something unique that the kids are interested in, then you will be halfway there’ was some of the best advice I ever got.

Those first time teaching nerves

How not to prepare for your very first class

I’ve read about how some of you love this work whilst others almost sneer at the very suggestion that we teach for the love of it. This is just a short recollection of how I really failed to prepare for what was one of the most challenging jobs of my life.