Blog
Financing your education
It's important to use a student loan calculator to estimate your monthly payments and see how much interest you'll be charged for your loans, even when it comes to student loan refinance programs. If you don't know how much interest your student loans are paying, you...
Teaching English in China Survival Guide
Noise from any English language class is like seasoning a special food dish. Sometimes, it's too much; sometimes, it's not enough. But China's distinctive social and cultural flare makes choosing the best degree of student involvement especially problematic for an...
7 Hints for Success in the Foreign English Teacher’s Class
After receiving a bachelor’s degree, TESOL certification or passing the IELTS Examination after taking an IELTS preparation class, you're probably thinking about teaching English in another country. Teaching English abroad might...
Keeping Kids Engaged in Your English Class
Class rules I could have just jumped straight to the fun an games but first comes rules. It is important to have class rules, otherwise chaos will keep you from teaching and your students from learning. Some teachers like to get the students themselves to make posters...
Teaching: The Hardest Job You’ll Love
Teaching is one of the most challenging jobs in the world, but may also be the single most rewarding career one can pursue. How can a job be insanely difficult - yet amazingly rewarding at the same time? The answer is not quite so straight forward...let's explore it...
20 Things Educators Need To Know about Adolescents
The diversity among adolescents is staggering. In the human lifespan, the period we define as adolescents ( 13-19) is characterized by the widest range of differences between one human being and another. Timing and pacing of adolescent maturation is uneven and...
A Guide to Chinese Etiquette and Customs
Foreign teachers and others interested in the topics of business and social etiquette in China should direct their attention to books dedicated solely to these subjects. Many excellent books are available for you to be prepared for living in China, including Chinese...
African Americans Teaching in China
As a mother to 3 African American grown children and 3 white children, here's the information I'd want my kids to have before they decided if they wanted to live in China or in any Asian country. My Ethiopian son, Allen, and his lovely wife, Laura, did teach English...
Our Teaching Experience in Japan
Introduction Our names are Allen and Laura Thompson. I (Laura) was born in Enid, Oklahoma, and my husband Allen was born in Mito, Ethiopia. Mike and Annette Thompson adopted Allen (Ethiopian name “Hassen”) when he was 14 years old. We are honored that Annette asked us...
An Alien Living in China
Living in China, at least everywhere outside of multicultural Shanghai or Beijing, is often like living on a different planet. Just visiting the supermarket or bank can turn into an adventure. Everybody's China experience is different, but here are some things that...
The Top Ten Traits of Terrific Teachers
Are your teaching capabilities tried, true, and terrific? Here's a check-list. 1. Terrific teachers adore teaching! The most significant quality in a teacher's possession is an undying fire and love for teaching their students. Sadly, some educators don't enjoy their...
A Story of Friendship and Community in the Classroom
Picture it: the first day of class. This is a class of all sorts, but students shamble through the doors, find their clique, and pack closely together forming their own separate groups. You have the non-conformists with outrageous hair and piercings and tattoos, the...
ONLINE PRESENCE
Build your credibility on other social platforms: If you are planning to start in your new field of interest, it is likely that you will be considered as a guest speaker or invited by other professionals to give a presentation on their topic. You can build your brand...