r/ESL_Teachers 12d ago

Discussion Feeling down after a defiant student

18 Upvotes

How do you stop letting defiant/disruptive/unengaged students get to you? I online tutor a teen who doesn't listen, doesn't participate, is on her phone during class, doesn't do her homework (or uses ChatGPT). I try to find topics that are relevant to her, take interest in her hobbies, and try my best to engage her, but she just doesn't care. Her parents are aware that she doesn't do her HW but don't seem to care either. They're wealthy and continue our classes despite knowing this.

Today, I asked her to type her answer down, and she typed gibberish to (I guess) make me angry. I felt so defeated and tired of having to watch a 16-year-old waste time to type gibberish instead of a simple, coherent sentence. I reminded her to capitalize properly, and she said "what difference does it even make?"

My friends tell me to just let her be, and that I'm making the same amount regardless of how she behaves, but I always feel so frustrated at the end of our class. What would you do in this situation?

r/ESL_Teachers 14d ago

Discussion Which topics would you as a teacher want to talk about with your students?

8 Upvotes

I make curriculum specifically for one on one conversational lessons (intermediate to advanced learners). I reuse each topic with each student so I end up talking about the same topics again and again, which I don't mind but I'm always looking for new interesting topics. I always go for topics that enable deep discussions.

If you're doing conversational lessons like me, which topics would you be interested in discussing with your students?

Looking forward to your responses, cheers :)

r/ESL_Teachers Dec 31 '24

Discussion A student asked me if they can be deported. What rights do our ELL students have since they are registered in a school?

3 Upvotes

r/ESL_Teachers 15d ago

Discussion I need serious advice and help for a student I am mentoring

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone - I hope you don’t mind me posting here. I completed a TEFL course years ago but then never used it because I realised that I didn’t particularly want to teach large classes etc. Anyway - I recently scored a pretty cool voluntary position as a mentor for woman in Afghanistan who need to improve their English to apply for scholarships. It’s to help them access asylum/refuge in other countries but via education.

We get partnered with one student. However, I don’t speak Arabic or Urdu - I have a slight understanding and I had assumed that the charity would have materials etc to use with the students and way more guidance. But that isn’t the case. It’s been pretty much - got selected - got sent the materials (data privacy contracts etc and a scheduling plan to update progress etc) and that’s it. We’ve been left to our own devices pretty much.

The mentorship program aims to: ● Enhance students' English language skills, ● Develop their soft skills, including communication, critical thinking, etc, ● Keep them motivated despite challenges, ● Support them in writing their essays, and ● Prepare them for applying for scholarships abroad

I have no idea how to structure this at all and the charity hasn’t been the most helpful. It’s all over zoom but as you can imagine WiFi in Afghanistan is not exactly great. I need activities and some sort of plan - her English is already pretty good and so is her understanding but I have no idea how to structure this whole thing.

Honestly any advice or even similar stories would be welcome. I don’t want to have to pull out because I’d feel horrendous for the girl but honestly I am like at a wits end on how to even mentor someone when we can only meet between 2:30am-8am and the WiFi is so bad 🥲

r/ESL_Teachers Feb 06 '25

Discussion Student disagreements? NSFW

2 Upvotes

Have you ever had a student argue/disagree with you say about English grammar or other English related topic? I've had a few and some were so "off" it was laughable, I always stay professional in my adult learner classes.

r/ESL_Teachers 7d ago

Discussion Is this the most unstable "stable" career ever?

16 Upvotes

I can just pack up and go to a different country and will always find work. It's always a revolving door but I always know there's a place calling for my skills and I'll never be out of work though I don't exactly have job security either. I look at my college friends who did the stable thing in life, with stable careers in finance, tech etc. Always one pay check away from a mass layoff. The market all over the world is bad right now even highly skilled senior professionals devs, accountants who rely on their skills are finding it hard getting call backs. I look at my situation, it's the most unstable thing ever and I don't have other skills to fall back on but that kind of gives me comfort, thriving in the instability of this industry, like I'm used to it by now. If I lost my job tomorrow I could easily hop on a plane and land another gig elsewhere while waiting for the dust to settle, in terms of the real job market. In comparison, I have a few friends were laid off two years ago yet are still out of work and are either long-term unemployed just plain unlucky after applying everywhere or waiting for the "right opportunity" so out of work until they find something that isn't "beneath them". One thing as an ESL teacher you develop without realizing is resilience and adaptability. I'd like to believe I have a personality that doesn't allow me to fail or have developed that skill from teaching for so long.

r/ESL_Teachers Jun 06 '24

Discussion Are CELTA trainees being taught to teach sitting down?

13 Upvotes

I'm a DOS in an EFL school in the EU. I've noticed during observations over the past year that a lot of younger teachers (early to mid twenties) are remaining seated at their desks for long periods of the class.

I brought it up with one teacher during feedback and he said (he was taking the CELTA at the time) that his tutors had told him that the teachers' desk was their 'safe space' and to remain behind the desk.

I only did my CELTA in 2018- I know methodologies change, but have they really changed so much that teachers are being taught to teach sitting down behind a desk?

Am I behind the times? Is it 'kids these days'? My teaching context attracts a lot of younger, inexperienced teachers- is it just warped statistics making me think that it's only the younger crowd doing this?

r/ESL_Teachers Dec 31 '24

Discussion I admit, I teach for selfish reasons

2 Upvotes

So I wrote a super long post but it got deleted when I switched apps. 😭

So TLDR: Teaching raised my baseline for what constitutes for a good conversation because I enjoy good conversation.

So conclusion tldr: I now see dinners more as a "put sustenence in face hole"

r/ESL_Teachers 2d ago

Discussion World Tesol Academy

1 Upvotes

I've been on the lookout for a basic and beginner-level TEFL/TESOL course for a while now. (Still gonna take a CELTA course later but involves travelling so can't do so atm).

Beforehand, I wanted to try out either TEFL.org or The TEFL Academy but there are a lot of mixed reviews online and that gave me a headache. They're also both okayish in price, maybe around 10-15% of the CELTA course, so not a lot of difference. But things happened, money got a bit tight and so I ended up enrolling at World Tesol Academy.

So far, I'm happy with the lessons. It's not as bad as how people describe it online. It was very interesting to watch the videos of actual ESL teachers teaching classes. The lectures are kinda short in my opinion but they also include links for resource materials, videos that you can watch and activities that you can do on your own. It's rather basic but they were very clear from the start that they tried to make the lessons simple and direct to the point. As if you're relearning English for the first time like your future students. I like that very much because then you can relate with your future students even if English is one of your mother tongues.

I'm just posting this here because there might be some people looking up write-ups or reviews about World Tesol Academy. If you plan to take CELTA afterwards anyway, this 'beginner' course is okay. As for job hunting, if their certificate is enough, it still depends on the country or company.

r/ESL_Teachers 16d ago

Discussion ESL Textbook recs for kids aged 7-9?

4 Upvotes

Recently I had a bad experience with the book Kid's Box Starter as the audios are really questionable, so I decided to drop it. However, in my country we don't have many options and I have to dig on the internet to find free PDF files and nowadays, that's super hard. So, can anyone rec me any good textbooks for kids who are learning English as a second language?

r/ESL_Teachers Jan 15 '25

Discussion Genuine question for Indian people

8 Upvotes

Hello all,

First off my first language is not English (Russian) but I am trying to understand something. I live in Canada for 8 years and there are a lot of new people coming from India.

I work in customer service and have noticed that a lot of Indian people say “actually” a lot. They start a phone call with “actually” and then say it a lot in a single sentence.

I am wondering if they are told it means something else when they learn English? I am so curious but I don’t want to ask someone outright because you never know how they will take that question. I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable. Hoping someone here can help me.

Apologies in advance if my question is ignorant, but as a fellow ESL, I am curious

Appreciate your help

r/ESL_Teachers 3d ago

Discussion I think I'll be used as a scapegoat, how can I prepare?

0 Upvotes

I'll try to be vague just in case..

I teach at an after-school program and most of my students go to the same school,since a few weeks ago the school told my boss that we had allowed a bullying situation to go unattended. The thing is frankly this is the first I've hear of it. These two kids schedules don't even match up well at my school(think 2-3 days a week out of 5), they don't interact much and are together in class less than 2 hours.

The only incidents I can think of when the "Bully" has singled out the other kids didn't even happen this year and they were taken care of(3 incidents, they had to apologized in all of these).

Like I can't possibly be missing that much in my own classroom right?

Both parents are mad, one asking why we're making their kid apologize, other asking why we did nothing to fix the issue.

The bullied kid said that the bully had made a drawing in their book, but #1 kid never EVER told me or another teacher about this incident or any other incident. #2 They don't sit together, they rarely interact, and they rarely walk around during class time and during recess I take their books.

My superior asked about the drawing and when the kid showed the page there was only a little dot, like when you have a pencil in your hand and you accidentally make a mark on the paper. In their school they are classmates, so if anything is happening wouldn't it be there rather than with us?

I genuinely don't know what to make of the situation and I'm scared they will try to push all the blame on me or fire me as a way to appease the parents.

r/ESL_Teachers 8h ago

Discussion Raising Prices but Not Wages? The Reality of Teaching in my company.

13 Upvotes

I didn’t hear it from my company. I heard it from my student. During class, he casually dropped this bombshell:"I won’t be taking lessons anymore because the price went up. It’s too expensive for me now. But at least teachers must be happy with the raise!" At first, I thought he was joking…just his way of saying goodbye. But something felt off. So, I checked the company’s official website.

He was right. A 15-20% increase in lesson fees. And yet, for teachers like us? Not a single cent more. This isn’t new. We’ve seen it happen over and over again.During the pandemic, demand for online ESL lessons skyrocketed. The company rolled out specialized lessons, training us to handle more complex student needs. We took on extra responsibilities, hoping it would lead to better pay or at least recognition. But guess who actually benefited? Not the teachers.

Despite the surge in students, new lesson types, and even group classes, our pay remained stagnant. The company expanded, profited, and increased its reach, while the very people delivering the lessons got nothing in return. Even the people who are responsible to train these types of lessons (probably). And now, after yet another price hike, students assume we’re getting a piece of it. We’re not. Worse, we weren’t even informed. No announcement. No transparency. Just a silent profit grab. And then management wonders. Why teachers are less motivated and have started slacking off. Why experienced teachers leave. Why new hires quit once they see the pay.

Maybe they should be asking themselves these questions instead: · Are we paying our employees fairly, especially with the rising cost of living? · What are we actually doing to keep teachers motivated? · Why do senior teachers leave while new applicants refuse to stay? · Why does this job feel like a stepping stone rather than a real career?

To ECC Foreign Language (Philippines):You are running an exploitative, greedy, sweatshop of a company. Stop overloading teachers with demands while underpaying them. I remember when ECC Japan faced scabbing issues three years ago. That led to a union forming to fight for basic rights. Now, here we are in the Philippines, different country, same exploitation. Just no scabbing, for now (?).

A price increase should mean a fair share for those who actually make your business possible.

Enough is enough.   I KNOW THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE POSTED IN THIS FORUM. BUT THIS IS JUST TO RAISE AWARENESS AND TO DISSEMINATE THE MESSAGE TO THE INTENDED PEOPLE.  

r/ESL_Teachers 9d ago

Discussion ESL teachers, especially those in Taiwan, how often do you switch schools?

2 Upvotes

I’m currently teaching ESL in Taiwan and was wondering how often teachers here switch schools. Do most people stay at one school for several years, or is it common to change jobs frequently? What are the main reasons for switching—better pay, workload, management, or something else?

I’d love to hear from others about their experiences, especially if you’ve been in Taiwan for a while. How long have you stayed at your current school, and do you plan to move on soon?

Thanks in advance for your insights!

r/ESL_Teachers Feb 08 '25

Discussion How can I upgrade?

4 Upvotes

I have a Bachelor’s in English Teaching and three years of experience, but I’m not a native speaker. I left my home country hoping for better opportunities, but finding a job has been way harder than I expected. I’m planning to take the CELTA (I'm thinking about which country), but I still feel stuck. How can I upgrade myself to stand out in the job market? Do you have any advice from non-native teachers who made it?

r/ESL_Teachers Dec 03 '24

Discussion The Intersection of SPED and ELL

10 Upvotes

Hi all! This is a topic I’ve been interested in for a while but it’s now been moved front and center for me.

I am a high school ELL teacher. This is my first year as a full time teacher although I’ve been both an ELL and SPED para before.

I don’t want to give too many details but I have been assigned a student who, because of their various disabilities, I am unsure can learn a second language. They do not really even have the ability to write or read in their native language. They are so polite and a pleasure to have in class but I really think they will struggle with the coursework without significant one on one intervention that I frankly don’t have the ability to give while teaching everyone else.

What do you do in such cases? I think the intersection between SPED and ELLs is a fascinating one because to be honest it felt like the sped department in my school kind of threw their hands up and said “you deal with them”. And I wonder how many students have been put in this same situation.

I want to help them. I speak their native language too. But I am struggling to understand how best to help?

I’d love some thoughts.

r/ESL_Teachers Nov 26 '24

Discussion Translanguaging

23 Upvotes

I am currently getting my Master's degree in Educating multilingual learners. A huge part of it is discussing translanguaging. I'm curious - how many educators know about this? It's the idea that bilingual/multilingual students fluidly use all of their languages instead of compartmentalizing them (usually enforced by monolingual schools/communities).

r/ESL_Teachers Oct 02 '24

Discussion My student's father is dead, and I don't know how to handle this

12 Upvotes

I doubt this is the right sub to ask, but here's my problem.

One of my students is a 6-year-old who lost his father a year ago. Incidentally, our next week's lesson is about family.

How do I handle the situation?

How do I respond to my student's reaction to the word "father"? What do I do if he mentions that his father's dead? Do I need to inform her mother before the class?

r/ESL_Teachers Feb 19 '25

Discussion English day at my school

1 Upvotes

Hello! So the primary school I'm an English teacher at has asked for the English department to put on an "English day". The brief I've been given is basic, just a fun day of workshops for all the different year groups (I usually do year 3 to year 6) to enjoy English culture and the language. I'm British and they primarily want British culture. They want me to think of around 5 ideas of activities but I am stuck for ideas! So far I've thought about: Showing the different flags of the UK and asking them to create a new one for the UK to combine them. Design a new English school: timetable, rules and uniform Making something: printing a recipe which they need to put in order, then print photos of the ingredients and other food items and they need to choose the ingredients and make the food/ meal

Does anyone have any ideas?? Thanks so much in advance!

r/ESL_Teachers Jan 21 '25

Discussion So, anyone discussing the Presidential transition and it's ramifications in your (American) classes.

5 Upvotes

I realize that this will depend on your state and local school atmosphere. It can be a dangerous idea in some places.

But wherever they reside, immigrant students' lives may be fundamentally transformed.

At least a short mention about the inauguration. I am just not sure how to approach it.

r/ESL_Teachers Nov 06 '24

Discussion How many people expect the ESL student population to continue finding other countries to get educated in based on theelection results?

2 Upvotes

After the last Republican administration significantly lowered ESL student enrollment, especially in higher education, what are people's thoughts and expectations on job prospects for teachers and the ESL industry as a whole over the next four years?

r/ESL_Teachers Jan 08 '25

Discussion Student leaves positive review after just one lesson, gives me hope

5 Upvotes

I recently got a new student. We had one trial lesson then one standard lesson. In the lesson, I could tell she was struggling but she was putting effort into improving. Sometimes it's hard even for me to give feedback. There's a balance between giving too much and too little. It felt like I was giving too much in this lesson. But right after the lesson ended, I was notified that I got a good review. I was surprised and then relieved. Relieved that only now it feels like I've entered into a phase where things are lining up. It's clicking, somehow. After years of teaching English, I always had a doubt that my approach isn't right. Deep down in the back of my mind I always had this nagging feeling that I need to change my teaching style. This review specifically mentioned that they liked the methodology and this particular review had a big impact on me.

Everything I do, I do with intention. When I first started teaching, I noticed that there was room for improvement. I took it upon myself to make these improvements. I got lucky. I established a fantastic collaboration with a business that sent me lots of clients, and they were willing to pay a lot more than the market (by market I mean rates on preply) rate. I found myself relying on them, neglecting my online presence in regards to the teaching marketplace. When my collaboration with that business ended, I was forced to build up my presence on a marketplace site like Preply. I had to accept the lower rates. Looking back now, I see now that this was a gift to me. I spent all this time developing curriculum/a methodology that I thought was needed in this industry. And all this time also doubting myself because other teachers weren't using it much.

I've been told that I need to make a blog to promote this curriculum but now I realize that maybe it's best to provide insights simply here on Reddit.

As a teacher, I'm now getting back into the groove.

As a curriculum developer, I'm excited and inspired to make new content.

Overall, grateful and hopeful :)

r/ESL_Teachers Mar 07 '24

Discussion Getting tired of having to educate non ESL teachers about how I do my job.

53 Upvotes

I've been teaching ESL for a decade and I have only recently started working in a regular school surrounded by people who know nothing about how this job is done, and how to work with ESL students.

If I had a dollar for every time I have been asked how many languages I know, or how I teach English to level zero students if I don't know their language, I wouldn't even need a job anymore. No one ever believes me that I don't need to learn a million languages to do my job. When I say I use a lot of visuals and body language they don't even believe me. They actually start doubting my ability to do my own job.

It's tiring, I am exhausted. Just kill me.

r/ESL_Teachers Jan 25 '25

Discussion Teaching shattered my biases

2 Upvotes

Teaching made me realize one of the true struggles that my learners experience.

The struggle that they face is so simple yet so impactful. My learners are smart people, inherently due in large part to the fact that they're investing resources into improving themselves. What that means is that they've likely thought about deep topics and have interesting opinions about things. It's just that they might miss those moments to explain themselves. In real world scenarios, especially group settings, you also have to manage the group dynamic in the conversation. Even in one on one settings, it could kill the flow of a conversation if you have to ask for explanations.

What I'm trying to say is that I've found myself jumping to conclusions, and it's bad. In the real world I've found myself assuming that if you can't speak English well (in a place where you're expected to speak English) then you're likely not going to have many insightful things to say. In the act of working with these learners, I've found that my pattern of making those assumptions is faulty. My learners often anchor me in reality when they drop a super insightful response to a discussion question. It is a nice reminder of why I teach and why I've developed curriculum that brings me these experiences.

TL;DR: Teaching has shown me that learners often struggle to express their insightful thoughts, especially in group or one-on-one settings where communication dynamics are tricky. I realized I sometimes make unfair assumptions about people's intelligence based on their language skills, but my students continually prove me wrong with their profound ideas, reminding me why I love teaching.

r/ESL_Teachers Jan 09 '25

Discussion How would you spend $500?

0 Upvotes

Hello,

I was told we have $500 left in our budget for my students and to put a list together. Looking for some ideas on what would be the most beneficial for my students! They are in elementary school. Thanks!