Bringing the World Closer

First Assignment

Hello everyone! Congratulations on completing your first task: successfully logging in to the MyTeachingHouse.com site!

We are presently developing Generation 2 of the MyTeachingHouse site. It’s a great resource both on the course and after the course (in finding work and keeping up with friends you’ve made during the course). As this site is under development, we’d appreciate any feedback or suggestions that you have.

I have a few more tasks for you to complete—it may take about an hour or two. Please read the instructions below and complete it before next Monday.

Directions: All written answers must be posted on this thread (First Assignment) within the discussion forum in your course group. Since there are manyof you, it's important to post only on this thread (click "Reply toThis" at the bottom) so that we can keep the forum from getting full and messy-looking. However, if you have any other comments or questions you are welcome to start a new thread.

1. If you haven’t already, edit your profile with your current location, status and photo

2. Browse through our international directory of English language schools (hoverover "RESOURCES" in the toolbar at the top of the page and click"SCHOOL DIRECTORY" ). Post the name of a school that you think you might be interested in applying to after the course, and (briefly) why you liked that school.

3. Go to Course Forms and find a word from one of the glossaries that you do not know.

4. Post one idea or recommendation for MyTeachingHouse.com.

5. Post a personal goal related to taking our Teaching House CELTA course.

6. Post acomment about someone else’s comments, for example, “Lizzy, I agree with your comment about the job listings section…” or “Abby, I saw that you wanted to work in Paris. I was thinking about that myself—is it hard to find work in France?” If you're one of the first people to post, come back later with a comment after your peers have caught up.

Good luck and keep coming back to our site! You can email me at christen@teachinghouse.com with any questions.

All the best,

Christen

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nyr Indictor on January 10, 2011 at 6:15pm

A school I am interested in applying to:

ILA (Vietnam) - I liked this school because (1) Vietnam is one of the countries my family is interested in going to and (2) ILA has offices in smaller cities than Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Permalink Reply by Thomas Cain on January 10, 2011 at 9:18pm

1. I would like to work in Brazil (Direct English) the Linguaphone Group seems like an organization that takes pride in working with people of all ages and professions.

Permalink Reply by Rachel Sampson on January 10, 2011 at 10:07pm

2. I would like to work for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in New York, New York. I think it would be amazing to be part of helping refugees--who have come here to seek safety and freedom--by teaching them English during their integration.

4. One idea for the site would be a couple of straightforward FAQs in one place giving new graduates information on what qualfications/paperwork (if any) we need to work in other countries/what best qualifies us for various teaching settings/what we should be asking/need to be prepared for if interviewing abroad.

5. My personal goal is to become better versed in grammar/the building blocks of English in order to be able to teach my native language. Of course as a native speaker, I feel that I am a good writer and speaker, but I would like to go back and re-learn and understand the rules of our language, all of the "why."

6. Nyr: ILA in Vietnam looks interesting, I like your idea of working for a school that has other branches that would give you further mobility.

Permalink Reply by Kristina on January 10, 2011 at 11:38pm

2. There are a lot of options available, but inlingua seems to be a worthy choice for a school in the US. I do have interest in working in a foreign country, but ultimately, I
believe that I will work in the United
States, so this would be a good option for
me.

3. Back-chaining, breaking down a large sentence by starting with the last word and working back.

4. There are some broken links on the school listing page.

5. I hope to be able to improve my presentational skills, as well as the ability to consistently produce engaging, useful lessons.

6. Rachel, I think that's probably something we could all improve. There are so many grammatical concepts that perhaps we have an understanding of, but do not necessarily know
the name, or the specifics of how it is used.

Permalink Reply by Nyr Indictor on January 11, 2011 at 7:19am

Personal Goals: to become qualified to teach English at a Community College; to become involved in teaching English in the Chinese Community in New York

Permalink Reply by Nyr Indictor on January 11, 2011 at 7:30am

3. Assessor - U of C rep who will come to check the course during the last two weeks. [Will assessor assess the students too?]

4. I would love for Teaching House to add a "downloads" section where we could find articles on Eng. Lang. Teaching and other related topics. Or this could be part of the "resources" section.

6.. I really like everyones idea of numbering their answers to correspond to the questions. Sorry I didn't do that on my earlier posts. I will do this from now on.

Nyr

Permalink Reply by Thomas Cain on January 11, 2011 at 9:59am

2. Substitution Drill: A type of oral controlled practice. The teacher gives a model sentence and, after drilling this chorally and individually, prompts students to change specific words in it.

3. A nice feature that the site could have is more of the graduates telling their stories. Specifically about where they work and how they have made a difference to the community they reside in.

4. I hope that as the course progresses I become better versed in being able to get my ideas across without people guessing at what I am trying to tell them.

5.Kristina: I totally agree with you about having lessons that are engaging. We have all probably had classes in which the teachers just talked on and on and we didn't really learn anything.

Permalink Reply by Caroline Tobias on January 11, 2011 at 10:35am

2. I was really interested in the Berlitz Language Center Istanbul - since Berlitz is everywhere, it opens doors to a lot of different places. I am also really interested in going to Istanbul (or anywhere in Turkey) so this job looks amazing.

3. lexical set: a group of words or fixed expressions connected by a meaning or form.

4. It would be great if the jobs page could be divided by country or continent. I saw that you can see a list of schools in each continent, but the actual job postings could be more organized as well.

5. My personal goal is to really focus on how best to explain topics as clearly as possible.

6. Rachel, I really liked your suggestion about a FAQ's page. Going abroad can have so many different issues regarding paperwork and taxes and it seems fairly daunting at first. Somewhere that might break down the process would be really helpful.

Permalink Reply by Josh Maldonado on January 11, 2011 at 3:15pm

2. While I plan on tutoring in New York before teaching abroad, I'm interested in applying to the Howdy Language School in Hirakata, Osaka, Japan; I find its location, staff and website strangely compelling!

3. Metalanguage – The language used to talk about language. For example, the word ‘verb’ is an item of metalanguage. [Would this make talking about talking about ‘verbs’ metametalanguage? –Ed.]

4. It would be helpful if the School Directory could divide job listings into categories based on your preferred learning/teaching context (e.g. lessons in groups, evening classes, one-on-one, etc.).

5. My personal goal is to become more confident in my use of grammar, and to always keep learner’s thoughts and aspirations in mind when teaching.

6. Nyr, I admire your sincerity and ability to agree with progressive ideas outside of your own (i.e. numbering our answers).

Permalink Reply by Francey Yarborough on January 11, 2011 at 4:55pm

I am interested in the American Language Center in Moldova because I am curious about Eastern European countries particularly those not usually well known by most Americans. I also like their philosophy of working hard on making students good with conversations as the main goal and how they state that they like to be encouraging.

Fluency Practice: Free speaking or writing to practice those skills in of themselves. Students use all the language they have at their disposal to communicate, rather than consciously practicing specific grammatical structures recently studied in class.

It would be great if myteachinghouse.com was compatible with internet explorer. I could only reach the site with firefox.

It would be great to be able to go to a different country and communicate without knowing their language.

Josh and Rachel, I agree with both of you that it would feel good to relearn and be more confident when it comes to grammar

Permalink Reply by Hana Kim on January 11, 2011 at 5:21pm

2. In August I may be moving to Germany, specifically near the city of Stuttgart. So I'm looking for schools in that area. The ones that jumped out at me are the International School of Stuttgart and the Deutsch-Amerikanisches Zentrum. I know the point of being in a new country is to absorb the local culture and flavor, but I know that I will get a little homesick, and these schools offer programs that will help me feel in touch with what's going on back at home.

3. Lexis: Vocabulary, i.e. words and phrases.

4. I would love a compendium of peoples' blogs/travelogues/experiences teaching in different countries and recommendations for people about to do just that.

5. One of my goals is to be able to explain why something said/written in English is incorrect, and not just rely on a gut feeling.

6. Rachel, what you want to do with your certification is so commendable. I would also like to volunteer to teach adults -- there are many opportunities to do this in New York, but hearing about the IRC is great.

Permalink Reply by Maria Denzer on January 12, 2011 at 7:55pm

I currently work at Embassy CES in New York and would like to continue to work there after I receive my CELTA certification. I am really fond of my colleagues (they are some of the most fun people I've ever worked with). The students come from all over the world and expect a lot from their classes so we work hard to give a good class.