Goodbye 2017. It’s time to start a new year fresh! If you’ve been stuck in a teaching slump because of the busyness of the holidays, read on to learn how to become a better teacher in 2018.

Redefine Your Teaching Philosophy

Most teachers have explored their teaching philosophy at one point or another in their career. If it’s been awhile since you’ve done this, I suggest you redefine your philosophy as you may have learned a bit more about your personal teaching style in the time since you last defined your philosophy.

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Many students measure their progress in English through their confidence and ability to speak in English in ‘real-world’ situations. On top of this, 70% of teachers from our Global Teaching Speaking Survey stated that speaking was the most important skill. However, oral fluency practice is not always given the classroom time it needs. Following on from his recent webinar exploring how much time should be given to speaking practice, Philip Kerr returns with these tips for speaking preparation.

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Some years ago I started going to evening classes to learn German. In the early stages of my studies, I frequently thought of two German speakers who I aspired to be like in my language ability. The first, Bettina, is a native German speaker in her fifties whose English level at the time was only elementary. She was always patient and generous in her efforts to converse with me in German, and despite my low level of German, our conversations were largely very rewarding. But I longed to have the language resources that she did as a native speaker. You’d think this might have motivated me to invest more in my German language studies, but sadly not.

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