English Toolbox Tips

We extend our sympathies to any of our many customers in Japan who have lost their jobs, apartments and/or visas due to this disaster:

http://education.guardian.co.uk/tefl/story/0,,2199979,00.html

In our last contest, we asked you to tell us about the most startling example of culture shock you've experienced in your overseas postings. Several of you wrote about your experiences in Asia, including Donna M., currently in California. While teaching in South Korea, Donna was often surprised to find out at the end of a teaching day that she was expected to join the school's director and the other teachers for dinner and karaoke that evening. "They never gave me any advance notice, nor did they care if I had already made other plans for the evening: I was just supposed to drop everything and go out on the town with them in order to bond better as a team. I finally told them that I wouldn't go unless I had at least 24 hours of notice." Nice way to stand your ground, Donna: you get five free English Toolbox credits!

For our next contest, tell us how and why you are (or are not) using CALL in your classroom. Have you set up a blog or web page that the students can access outside of class? Do you use the internet in your class sessions? Or do you think this is all a diversion of resources and energy that distracts from, rather than enhances, learning? The most persuasive argument will earn the sender five free English Toolbox credits, even if s/he isn't a subscriber. Send your thoughts to info@englishtoolbox.com by 5 November to qualify.

A sad fact, but also an opportunity?

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/education/2007/10/749913/

We asked how you kept track of in-class work, homework and other assignments in a previous posting. We received responses that ranged from "in a notebook in my pocket" to "on my Palm Pilot/iPod/laptop/(insert gadget name here)." However, our favorite entry came from Brandy R. in Taipei, who lets her students do the work for her! After each class, one of the students must send an e-mail to all of the students in the class, plus Brandy (their teacher). This student must write one activity or lesson point that was covered in the class in this e-mail, then send it. The next student must "Reply All" to this e-mail, and list another activity or topic, and so on until all of the students have contributed to the e-mail and the final e-mail has the complete list of classroom and homework activities included. Brandy saves this final e-mail, and can use it to show administrators at her school what the students have been doing (in their own words!). Plus, she says, it's nice for the students to recall what they learned and see it in a list, since it reminds them of how much has been accomplished over the week or month or term. Very clever, Brandy: you get five free credits from English Toolbox!

For our next contest, tell us about the most startling example of culture shock you've experienced in your overseas postings. Send your anecdotes via e-mail to info@englishtoolbox.com by 25 October, and we'll pick the most interesting one and post it here. The winner will receive five free English Toolbox exercises, even if s/he isn't a subscriber!

We've added several exercises on the vocabulary of procurement for an advanced business level. Use the Search tab above to go to our search page, and type PROCUREMENT into the Exercise Name field to see them.

We've reviewed our tracking data for the past seven months, and have found that our top five countries in terms of visits are (in descending order):

China
The United Kingdom
The USA
South Korea
The United Arab Emirates

Many thanks to our visitors (and customers) from these countries: we appreciate your interest!

Last time, we asked if you thought it was a good idea to socialize with your students. No one who wrote in objected, and most said that they often got together outside of class for drinks, meals, language exchange or sports. However, Henry W. in São Paulo, Brazil, said that he had a firm rule against joining his students in the cafeteria where he works as an in-company trainer: "I need a bit of time alone to collect my thoughts, and I believe that they need to have the freedom to chat together in their own language without feeling the need to include me and limiting themselves to only what they can express in English. Lunchtime with your co-workers is a time to gossip, talk about sports, bitch about work, etc., and I don’t want to take that period of relaxation away from them." Nicely put, Henry: you get five free credits from English Toolbox!

For our next contest, tell us how you track your classwork and homework assignments. Do you use any special software, a written journal, or just keep a list on your PC? Send your methods via e-mail to info@englishtoolbox.com by 10 October, and we’ll pick the most interesting one and post it here. The winner will receive five free English Toolbox exercises, even if s/he isn’t a subscriber!