Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Interviews in London

Interviews in London this summer will be held as usual at the St Giles Hotel.

We're currently scheduling interviews from 7 May, and further dates will be added throughout the summer.

Anyone intending to apply for jobs starting in September, please ensure we receive your application as soon as possible. Applications should be emailed to jobs@anglo-hellenic.com

See the Anglo-Hellenic website for details of the required qualifications.

Anyone taking the TEFL course with us in Corinth this summer will have first priority for job placements.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Eight-week part-time TEFL courses for 2016

If you want to take time to enjoy life in a Greek beach resort while taking your TEFL course this summer, the part-time course might be ideal for you.


 
Instead of the normal four weeks, you can spread the course over eight weeks:

For the first four weeks, take the morning sessions, 10.00 - 1.15.


For the next four weeks, take the afternoon sessions, 2.15 - 8.00.




@ Less pressure to complete the intensive course 
@ You receive all the theoretical training before you start teaching 
@ Plenty of time to absorb all the new information 
@ Spare time to relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings 
@ No extra cost apart from accommodation for the second month
 http://teflcorinth.com/dates_fees.html

Thursday, March 10, 2016

What to look for in a TEFL course



 
There are three essential criteria that a TEFL course must meet in order to be recognised internationally. Firstly, it must have a minimum duration of one hundred hours spread over at least four weeks. Secondly, it must have at least six hours of observed teaching practice with real students. Thirdly, it must be accredited by a university.



The Anglo-Hellenic TEFL course in Corinth meets or exceeds all of these requirements. Our course has a duration of one hundred and twenty hours, normally in four weeks, or in eight weeks in the case of our part-time option. And we provide ten hours of teaching practice, working with groups of children and teenagers in local schools, and with the option also to teach additional one-to-one lessons with adults.


TEFL Greece certification is provided by TEFL International, the largest TEFL training organization in the world, so our certificates are recognized worldwide. All TEFL International certificates are validated by Fort Hays State University, which provides a Quality Assurance report on the course on a regular basis. All our graduates receive a summary of the report from the university, as well as the option of gaining three credits and a transcript from FHSU.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Book review - Creativity in the English language classroom



Creativity in the English language classroom
Edited by Alan Maley and Nik Peachey
British Council 2015 172pp.
Paperback ISBN 978-0-86355-767-5


This book is a collection of eighteen chapters, some by established experts, some by writers not yet widely known, constituting what Chris Kennedy in his foreword (3) describes as “a kaleidoscope of practical case studies to illustrate what practitioners regard as creative”. Each chapter consists of a brief introduction followed by examples of activities. In his overview, Alan Maley notes (7) that “creativity encourages and facilitates divergent thinking, and frees us of the idea that questions always have a single, right answer”, and as Brian Tomlinson points out in his chapter, “fostering creativity […] can help to achieve the affective and cognitive engagement vital for language acquisition”.

The activities described provide a wide range of ideas illustrating exactly how these principles can be put into practice. They show that creativity can take as its starting point activities in the course book, stories from the teacher, or experiences that students draw on. While a variety of media are used in the activities, there is a recognition that teachers working in financially deprived areas may need to use whatever resources are available to them locally.

Activities are provided for leaners of all ages and levels, and for any size of class. Some chapters focus specifically on the primary ELT classroom, while others describe activities designed for secondary and adult learners. While some chapters focus on oral creativity, there are also many ideas for creative activities integrating reading and writing. There are activities for teaching pronunciation and vocabulary, and a chapter devoted to teaching grammar creatively. Story-telling, creative writing, literature and drama are incorporated in several of the chapters.

The detailed descriptions of procedure make it easy for any teacher to implement these specific activities, and more importantly illustrate the approaches and techniques that we can adopt in order to develop our own creativity and design our own activities. This is an excellent collection that will be valuable to teachers at any stage of their careers, and could also be a useful resource for initial training courses and continuing professional development.
 

Peter Beech, Anglo-Hellenic Teacher Training, Corinth, Greece
mail@peterbeech.com

Review first published in IATEFL Voices 249, March - April 2016