Last night, we were walking back home from work, we passed a group of five tourists, probably out for a rambling walk in the city after dark. The usual characteristic chaos of Saigon had wound up for the day. Shutters had been downed, and gates fastened. There was little activity on the streets.. a couple of motorbikes, security guards playing traditional Vietnamese board games in preparation of a long night ahead.
It was 9.45 p.m. Pratik and I were on Ton That Tung Street, going towards Pham Ngu Lao; the tourists, probably in their early twenties, smiled as they walked past in the opposite direction.
Seconds later, there was a shout, and we heard someone flying past us. One of the boys was running frantically after a speeding motorbike.
Having lived in Saigon long enough, I knew the motorbike thieves were on the prowl. Read More →
Vietnam can stun you – but not if you grew up in India, like me. To me, Vietnam feels like home, and more home than India sometimes. But Vietnam has so much in common with India, at least superficially, that on my very first evening here, I forgot I was in another country!
Until my first morning, when roosters woke me up to a cacophonous crowing match at 5 a.m. Now that does not happen in Indian urbania.
That’s how a typical day in Saigon begins for me. You’d think it was an unearthly hour for roosters to be crowing, but look out the windows, you’ll see old men already sitting down for a game of backgammon, women sweeping the alley, men grooming their roosters (yes, the same dreaded roosters that wake me up every morning), teens heading to the park for a game of badminton or ‘shuttlecock’, and school kids sipping pho and chanting trigonometric theorems.
Earplugs in, curtains drawn tight to block out the warmth of the sun, back to sleep. Read More →
So I did my CELTYL a few months ago, and collected a mineful of useful information that has been lying around in a discarded Brodard Bakery mooncake box. Now, there’s always an excuse for being lazy. Here’s mine.
November – Did the CELTYL, or the YL extension to CELTA
December – P was in India, so I worked extra hours to keep myself busy, very busy.
January – P came back, and we prepared for our upcoming vacation
February – Traveled in Malaysia, more about that in another post
March – Languished in India
April – Returned to Vietnam for a second year at ILA
May – Here I am.
Since I’ve moved to Vietnam, I get a few emails every few months, mostly from CELTA trainees at St. Giles San Francisco (my alma mater) asking about the job, the move to Vietnam, and the kinds of questions to expect in an ESL interview.
So I thought I’ll list some questions I remember being asked, and some my trainers at St. Giles had warned me about. Hopefully, if you think about these questions before your big interview, you’ll be a little more prepared, a little more confident, and that much closer to getting that job.
- Why do you want to teach?
- Why do you want to teach in Vietnam/Prague/Istanbul?
- What ages and levels have you taught before?
- What was the size of classes you have taught?
- Have you taught one-to-one?
- How do you think teaching a group may differ from teaching one-to-one?
- Have you taught any exam classes?
- Which books did you use during your CELTA/TESOL?
- Did you enjoy the CELTA/TESOL course?
- What was the most important thing you learned during the CELTA/TESOL?
- What are your strong points, and what do you need to work on in your teaching?
- What languages do you speak?
- Do you think ESL teachers should try and learn their students’ first language to be able to communicate better with them?
- Which teaching methods do you prefer while teaching?
- Are you ready to deal with the madness of a third-world country?
Make sure you read the post on things to do before you accept an ESL job offer
It is such an endlessly tiring task to send pitches to editors. And such a thankless one. I’m sure most freelancers start out in similar situations, but freelance writers must be the most ignored of all workers.
Few publications even think it worthwhile to pay for writing, and many offer pennies. It’s enraging to see the list of qualifications required by almost everyone in the writing gigs category on craigslist.org – rockstar writer, knowledge of several different style sheets, experience and published samples – and then, more often than not, all they offer is ‘A byline and the chance to be part of a growing magazine’. Read More →
Harsh, one would think, for a normally outwardly calm person. But hey, this blog isn’t called Volatyle without a darned good reason.
First it was Delhi, where I just shut myself up for the most part, hanging out with a closed group of friends, not venturing anywhere beyond was absolutely necessary. I know it was a knee-jerk reaction to the events of early 2004… wow, six years ago. But that’s what I did with my life. Pined for one boy, spent all day in the company of books and bookish girls, and I’m not saying it was a bad thing at all.. it’s just that I was letting go of myself, bit by bit… letting go of the girl I used to be. Read More →
There’s so much to do, so much to think, so much to write, but so often I feel oppressed and unable to do whatever it is I want to.
I need to start living my life again, on my terms. It’s not gonna be easy but it’ll kill a lot slower than suffocating in this sludge.
This is a great ESL classroom game for a first lesson. Basically, it is a GTKY game, or a Getting To Know You game, but also helps SS review question words such as Who, What, Why, Where, When, How etc.
It’s really simple too and does not need any resources. I hate using games which can’t do without soft balls, or baskets, or blindfolds. Well, this one needs no prep at all.
Walk into class. Draw a grid (3×3 or 4×4 or 5×5) on the board. Elicit question words and fill them into the grid randomly.
Divide the class into 2 teams. Give each team a symbol (e.g. 
, * , $ )
The team to go first chooses any square and uses the question word in it (e.g. how) to form a question. For e.g. How old is the teacher? or How old is Tracy (a student)? Read More →
When I started out teaching, I used to spend hours searching for useful ESL websites, practical games, free resources and information on the internet.
There are a few lists of useful ESL websites but as time went on, I had my own growing list of sites I referred to almost on a daily basis. There is such a wealth of information out there, but it’s frustrating how many websites need registration, or worse, contribution!
Heavens.. if I were an experienced teacher with worksheets and games to contribute to the ESL world, I wouldn’t be trolling the internet desperately searching for the same.
So here’s my list of the most useful ESL websites. Most of these don’t require registration and NONE of them require your contribution, thank goodness for that. Plus, I hate lists that go on for 43 pages, so this one is short and sweet. In all probability, whatever you need – be it games, grammar clarifications, worksheets, or ESL songs – you can find it at one of these addresses. But of course, if you wanna just troll.. that can go on forever.
Anyway, here goes -
Read More →
Sunset from our apartment in SJ
As I was growing up, and it wasn’t THAT long ago.. As I was growing up in the 90s in India, I always saw the sky studded with stars. I took them for granted. I never thought, then, of an eventuality where the stars would not sparkle any more.
In Guwahati, Patna, Ahmednagar, Dehradoon, Pune and Ferozepur.. the stars always shone.
And I missed them only when they were gone. I first noticed the starless skies in California, in San Jose, where the only thing in the sky is the moon. A bigass moon it used to be too. But strangely enough, no stars.
Of course it was the pollution in the SUV-ridden valley. The pollution made for glorious sunsets – pink, green, purple hues in the skies. And from our beautiful 9th floor apartment, we watched those sunsets every evening, marveling at myriad hues of light.
Read More →
I’ve tried so hard to integrate some sort of online experience into my ESL classes – creating blogs, creating websites, even trying online diaries. Even tried to have my students make websites based on Jurassic Park, a book they all love. But two weekends later, only 3 out of 15 students were actively working on it.
Nothing has really worked enough to excite my students. Has anyone had more success using the internet as a viable teaching tool to produce language in ESL classrooms?
Any suggestions will be welcome.
And, if anyone wants to use http://www.wix.com/ to have students create websites, I’ve got a whole tutorial written up. Just ping me.
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