All posts tagged: english teacher

WARM UP & FILLER ACTIVITIES FOR EPIK TEACHERS

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What does an EPIK teacher and a boy scout have in common? THEY ARE ALWAYS PREPARED! The classes I teach are 45 minutes, and sometimes we finish lessons earlier than expected. It would be a nightmare to let students do what they want until the bell rings (chaos will ensue!) so I always have a game or activity on deck to fill in the time. I’ve rounded up my top three filler & warm up activities for the classroom. FYI: I teach middle school so these may be advanced if you teach elementary but, you can adjust according to their level. Let’s get started! 1. A Knock At The Door You know who won’t have fun playing this? NO ONE! It’s an adventure game that can be different each time, depending on where the students want to take the story. Click to download: A Knock At The Door 2. Compound Words For this activity, you show students images and they must guess the word created by the two pictures. Explain briefly what compound words are, start the activity, and they’ll …

EPIK: HOW TO IMPRESS YOUR KOREAN CO-TEACHERS

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Co-teachers are your saving grace when you start teaching in South Korea. They help you to settle into your apartment, make sure you’re taken care of, and are always available to answer questions about lesson planning and classroom management. They do so much for you, and the best way to pay them back is making their job a little easier in the classroom. If you want to make a lasting impression on your co-teachers, here’s what you can do to get a gold star: 1. Create entertaining lessons Play games, get students up and moving, make them laugh! There’s so much creative freedom you have as a Guest English Teacher, and a co-teacher appreciates it when they see you can teach and entertain students simultaneously. 2. Talk about your culture For some students, YOU are the first foreigner or native English speaking person they have EVER talked to. They want to know where you came from, what traditions your country has and how it differs from South Korea. Go ahead, make an entire lesson out of it! 3. …

EPIK TEACHER: WHAT TO PACK & NOT TO PACK

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“How do I put my entire life into this?” A question I pondered to myself five months ago as I stared quizzically at my silver suitcase laid open on my floor, waiting for me to pack. Anything. “This suitcase is massive,” I tilted my head, “would I be able to fit myself inside of it?”A question that was neither here nor there but in case you were wondering, the answer is yes. Yes I could. Eventually I figured out the whole packing situation and since I’ve been in Korea for awhile, I have a few tips for upcoming EPIK teachers. Below are my suggestions on 5 items you should pack and 5 items to leave behind when moving to South Korea. What to pack: 1. Fitted bed sheet In Korea we use a pad that goes over the mattress and I’m constantly pulling at the corners to keep it on. The only problem is that the bed size at your place will vary. I have a double but I know a couple EPIK teachers who have a queen (lucky …

APPS EVERY EPIK TEACHER SHOULD DOWNLOAD

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When living abroad, your phone is your safety blanket. It’s how you stay connected, keep organized, and it can help you look busy in awkward social situations you don’t want to be a part of (just me?). There are thousands of apps to help with your transition to South Korea (a translating app for starters) and as an EPIK teacher myself, I’ve narrowed down my favourite (FREE!) apps I use religiously and hopefully they will help make life easier for you too. 1. Kakao Talk When I first arrived to Korea I thought, “I don’t need Kakao, I have WhatsApp and it’s basically the same thing.” I was wrong, so wrong. EVERYONE IN KOREA USES KAKAO! When you meet someone they won’t say, “what’s your phone number?” They’ll say, “What’s your Kakao?” Kakao is an app where you can make free calls and texts as long as you have data or wifi. I personally love the animated Kakao emoticons and use them in my teaching materials because my students get a kick out of it and anything that makes …

EFFECTIVE INTRODUCTORY LESSON FOR FIRST TIME TEACHERS

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I’ve been featured in the EPIK newsletter and wanted to share my article with you! I wrote about the introductory English lesson I taught at my school (seems like this happened forever ago). My hope is that upcoming EPIK teachers stumble upon this article and can get a few ideas and inspiration for their own first class. 🙂 EFFECTIVE INTRODUCTORY LESSON FOR FIRST TIME TEACHERS Put up your hand if you’ve never written a lesson plan in your life *raises own hand* now, put up your hand up if you’ve never formally taught in front of a classroom of students *raises other hand*. That was me, with both hands raised, one month ago. The thought of preparing my first lesson was daunting because my own mother barely listens when I talk so who says 35 students will keep their attention on me for 45 consecutive minutes. I panicked. Do I simply write my name on the board, do a dance, and then play charades? Can’t say that didn’t cross my mind. When I went to the EPIK …

WHAT TO EXPECT DURING AN EPIK INTERVIEW

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You finally did it. You have snail mailed your resume, references, lesson plan, passport pictures and all the rest of your paperwork in a pretty package and sent it to EPIK. Now, you wait. The waiting game is tough because for the next two weeks you’ll be constantly refreshing your email, waiting for someone to confirm your interview date and time. Cue: ALL THE SWEATS! If you applied for a position with EPIK, your interview will come soon enough and I’m here to tell you what to expect and my own experience of going through the process. How do I get an interview? Apply for a position with EPIK! Think about when you want to start working in South Korea. The first semester starts in March and second in September. I’d recommend starting your application process 3-6 months in advance of when you want to go. I had massive help from my recruiters at Hands Korea. I got in touch with them through Oxford Seminars, where I completed my TESOL certificate. Hands Korea was my LIFELINE. They set up my EPIK …

EPIK TEACHER: FOLLOW ME AROUND

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Ever wanted to follow me around? Wait, that sounded creepy. Let me rephrase. Ever wanted to know what I do at my job as an EPIK teacher? You’re in luck! In this post I take you through *inhales* my morning routine, introduce to you my co-teachers, lesson plans, lesson prep, how I teach, what I ate for lunch, what I do after school, when I get home and all the other super fantastic things I do in a day. *exhales* Being a teacher means you are constantly developing, learning and growing with your students. I never thought of myself teaching at a middle school (I was counting on elementary when I first got to South Korea) but now I couldn’t see myself teaching at any other level. I have been an English teacher in Busan, South Korea for a little over a month and have established a workday routine that works for me. That being said, the first week of being a teacher here was the hardest, I constantly asked myself, WHAT AM I DOING?! / WHAT …

SMELLS LIKE HOME

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What do you do when you start having Canada withdraw? Hack open a can of maple syrup and make french toast. Mmmmm it was so good, and just what I needed to feel at home again. This week wasn’t too exciting, other than making my apartment smell maple goodness, nothing eventful happened. Oh, I did spend 15 minutes hacking at the maple syrup can. Should probably put “can opener” on my shopping list, as well as “spatula” since I used a rice scooper to flip my french toast. #singlelife #ilivealone #dontjudge Last weekend I went to Caffe Bene near my house to catch up on emails and finish up with some work. I had an iced coffee, and the entire upstairs floor to myself. Nothing like peace, serenity and caffeine to make you feel productive (aka Facebook stalk my friends from home pretending I was with them at all their outings and parties). Moving onto my work week, for one of my classes I taught a lesson on “mottos” and had students come up with a class motto. …

MY FIRST APARTMENT

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IS THIS HOW YOU ADULT?! I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since I moved into my first apartment. I’ve been feeling ecstatic and overwhelmed but incredibly happy to live in a place that is comfortable, spacious, and has way too many beauty products in the bathroom. I don’t have a shower mat nor proper plates to eat from, but I do have two cleansers, three face masks, and five moisturizers cluttering the bathroom cabinet. #priorities Speaking of beauty products, South Korea is the EPICENTRE of beauty. Every third store on any main street is either The Face Shop, Etude, Skinfood, The Body Shop, etc. It’s beauty heaven. The day after I moved in I went into The Face Shop and bought Chia Seed Hydrating Emulsion. The store employee (bless her soul) did not speak a word of English but knew by looking at my face that I had extremely dry skin. She threw what I needed in a bag, took a hand full of free samples, chucked those in and smiled as I left. Love her. …