How do I build rapport with students?

Learning a new language, especially as an adult, is a unique experience. There aren’t too many other instances in life that can reduce your ability to communicate to that of an infant. The language learning process is, in reality, rife with anxiety, frustration, and never-ending opportunities to humble yourself. So how do we create a […]



Follow these instructions

Have you ever had that cringe-worthy moment in front of your students where you gave instructions to an activity, expecting them to get started with it, and then right before your eyes, NOTHING HAPPENS?! There’s complete silence and your students are looking around for clues about what they should be doing. The problem, like most […]



Encouragement in the EFL Classroom

What type of encouragement works best in the EFL classroom?  The truth is there’s no standard answer. In and of itself, encouragement is essential to the learning process, but there are tons of factors that go into choosing how, when, and why you cheer students on or praise them.  Let’s look at some of the […]



Why “repeat after me” never works

Pronunciation might not seem like a vital part of learning English, but to your students, it’ll be the thing that determines if they are understood by others when they’re using English outside the classroom. As teachers, we often focus on making sure our students are using proper sentence structure, verb forms, and the right vocabulary […]



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