What's changed? Let's do stuff!


Three years of writing this bloody blog and what’s changed, really? I have, but that’s not what I’m talking about. How has the profession changed? It hasn’t. Not a bloody single thing as far as I can tell. Glacial. Maybe a few people have cottoned on to the learning styles myth. That’s it.
So, am I going to just continue glowering at the internet or do something about it? Well, there has to be a balance between working for nothing for a worthy project or cause and getting compensated fairly. So what can I (we?) do?
We can complain about how shit things are (like in Jeremy Slagowski’s great post about a listening syllabus here) and/or put forward an alternative.
We can moan about stuff that doesn’t work and/or see about fixing it. Now, my name is not Answer Man. It’s not even my alter ego. Sometimes, when you find something doesn’t do what you think it’s supposed to do, you ask an expert. Sometimes it’s somebody who works in a shop. Sometimes it’s a book. Sometimes it’s your friends. By talking about stuff, we surely get closer to an answer, at least one more step forward on the path to enlightenment.
Doing stuff, though. This is what I think I need to do. It doesn’t always come off right, but it’s going to be, usually, only as bad as inaction, especially if you think hard about potential risks before acting.

Ten Freelance Teacher Essentials

Since I began teaching freelance and for agencies about five years ago I haven’t had the benefit of an office in the same building I work in except for two of the regular gigs I have. With this in mind, here are my essentials.

  1. Cheap Pens
  2. You will lend pens out and forget to take them back in at the end of the lesson. The cost mounts up,

  3. Earphones
  4. With these you can prep listening exercises on public transport or find supplementary/alternative materials.

  5. Authentic materials/Realia
  6. Menus, transport maps, leaflets, etc. can be exploited in lessons.

  7. USB Drive
  8. Not all convenience store printers will print directly from smartphones/tablets. Carry your materials on one of these. Periodically copy stuff back and forth. Cloud storage is a handy backup, too.

  9. Plastic folders
  10. Can keep documents inside without massive creases. May also work as a desk when on the train.

  11. Scissors/Swiss Army Knife
  12. For cutting paper into strips or bits.

  13. Envelopes
  14. For keeping tiny bits of paper inside.

  15. Dice
  16. Useful for ad-hoc games or random selection of student/task type/anything else that has six options.

  17. Notebook
  18. Monitor stuff students say. It can and will be a goldmine. You can use it for examples of common errors, more authentic gap fills and even just for reflection on task performance.

  19. Post-its/Index cards
  20. These work as bookmarks, vocabulary cards, cue cards and more.

Also, it’s useful to have a big bag to keep them in!