Teaching English Overseas - or to incoming travellers - idioms and other idiocies

 Teaching English

I was listening to other speakers of English and I heard the idiom, by a country mile. I'm sure that would perplex speakers of Chinese (Mandarin). I have taught English for many years to O level and A level  pupils in schools, first in the UK and later in Singapore.

Cats and Dogs

I remember looking out of the window in Singapore with my English Language For Foreigners class pupils, after a lesson ended. Rain was pouring down. I said, 'it's raining cats and dogs'. 

A puzzled pupil replied, "I see cats. I don't see any dogs.'

The phrase comes from the old days of thatch roofs, when cats and dogs would sleep in the rafters or on rooftops. When it rained the thatch became slippery so the cats and dogs slipped off. To protect those underneath, large family beds had a canopy supported by four posts, called a four-poster bed. You can stay in hotels with four-poster beds in many UK hotels, especially in The Lake District, where people did and still do go for honeymoons and wedding anniversaries, and Stratford Upon Avon where people go to see buildings relating to Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway.

For the benefit of one of my pupils, whose first language is Mandarin, I have been noting down and compiling a list of idioms. Here are some of my favourites.

When you are travelling, you may have to simplify your English when speaking to those who appear to be speaking English fluenty - until you use an idiom. Most idioms were originally metaphors from the mutual acitivites of speakers and listeners. But over the course of a century or more the original context has been forgotten.

Country Mile

by a country mile - a lot (distance or time - like a winding country road which is long in both distance and time)

Tenterhooks

on tenterhooks - in suspense, anxiously waiting for a decision or result (hooks used to suspend drying fabric)

  

Hot To Learn Italian Quickly, Free, Reguarly

 I am learning Italian on Duolingo. I do it on my laptop at home. I do it on my mobile phone on the train and while waiting at stations. 

I am now in the Obsidian league. I am in the top five of 30 local learners. The Duolingo system tells you how you rate in a set of 30 people. The top five are promoted to the next league.

It is an incentive to keep doing another exercise when you see you need only a dozen points to overtake the person above you in the league.

My husband is travelling to Italy on separate trips at different times of  year. He also wants to learn Italian. 

So, at lunch time, I read to him from my ooozu card. It is credit card size. It is small enough to go in the pocket of a jacket, or a mobile phone.

Side one starts with easy words. I read the English and he says the Italian.

I also have the trilingual English Spanish Italian book.

If I wear teaching English to somebody who spoke Spanish or Italian, I could do the reverse, using the same three sources. 

Useful Websites

amazon.com

duolingo.com

lulu.com

ooozu.com

You might also be interested in one or more of my 20 books which you can read about and order through amazon.com and lulu.com

Please share links to your favourite posts.

How to learn English, Hebrew, Greek, alphabets, numbers, body parts and other languages through songs

 People who don't speak English struggle with English, but we have songs for children which could help them. For example, Heads and shoulders, knees and toes.

If you know somebody who is starting to learn English, or you are teaching and want a fun filler for the last part of a lesson, or for the start, that is one of several possibilities.

I have been struggling for years to learn the Greek, Hebrew and Russian (Cyrillic) alphabets. This week I discovered that you can find Heads and shoulders, knees and toes in Hebrew. 

Type in the words of a nursery rhyme or type of word or exercise (alphabet, numbers, days of the week) and your chosen language. you tube will show other similar types of song in the column on the left and when your chosen video ends another will start on a similar them in the same language.

So, I got three songs in Hebrew.

Useful Websites

Heads and shoulders knees and toes sung by cute cartoon characters on YouTube

also teaches: heads, shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, march

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4eueDYPTIg

You tube alphabet songs

h for hat, jfor juice, j for jug and so on, k for king, k for kite etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdS5XMX2Aq8

Heads and shoulder, knees and toes with adults and children performing and subtitles in Hebrew and English

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJVE8TMUzk8

Hebrew alphabet song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHqjNHxmB7c

Counting one to ten in Greek

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr24jKgwdQc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head,_Shoulders,_Knees_and_Toes

About the Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of Harrovian Speakers Toastmasters International club in NW London; also VP PR for Braddell Heights advanced club in Singapore.

See my other posts on Hatch End, restaurants, and destinations worldwide. Please share with family and friends and colleagues links to your favourite posts.

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

How To Teach Children At Home & Home School During Coronavirus

Teaching children at home is the dream of some parents and children. For others, a challenge. I see it as an opportunity.

UK flag.

In the UK, schools will close from Friday March 20 because of Coronavirus, COVID19. Everybody is aghast.

However, it is not that difficult, if you get organized. Let's look at the options.

US flag.

In the USA and UK home schooling is well established. You can join a group of parents and share information on resources. The pupils can keep in contact with each other.

French flag.

French Textbooks
In France it is easier for schools and teachers to organize. I heard that a set textbook is issued for every subject for the year. So you start on page one and work through the book at the required page.

School Teaching Pupils Online
In the UK some of the teachers are running classes at school for the children of hospital and health workers and families of those working in other essential services. The simplest thing for teachers to do is to carry on as normal, but online so the pupils at home can watch the lesson. And maybe participate.

You follow the same syllabus. You stick to the same timetable.
You take the register. The video I watched showed the teacher saying the pupils all sent her emails.



Singapore online Toastmasters.

We are practising giving speeches. We are logging in from Singapore and China in Asia, England and Greece in Europe, the USA, all over the world.

Here we are all adults, but ending every session with a photo pf us showing soft toys

Video Conferencing from Singapore
In Singapore I belong to Singapore online toastmasters. I have just started doing video conferencing using Zoom. We have members in Singapore, Hong Kong, Greece, and the UK, and the USA.

Everybody logs in and you can see their face on the screen like a chequer board. Everybody can see everybody else's face. You have a chat box which appears in the column on the side of the screen.

The host of the meeting can see everybody. So you could set up in the morning 30 minutes before the lesson. like a school assembly.

You could ask each pupil to say their name and their favourite school subject.

Assign one person to read a quotation. Other say their name and comment on the motivational quotation.

What about a morning prayer or grace before meals or a weekend session on Hebrew or Greek or Arabic or Aramaic (the language of Jesus).



You can learn Greek, Hebrew and Arabic from Duolingo and other online free language learning systems.

Religious Lessons For All Religions And None
In the case of a religious school you could have the life story or an incident of a saint, rabbi, or other noted person. In a secular group, any non-religious person and their achievements.

Obviously relevant examples would be those who have achieved academic success or education despite handicaps, such as Helen Keller.

Set Up The Desk
In the UK schools go to go home, and learn at home from tomorrow afternoon, Friday 20 th. Set up a clear desk and a laptop or mobile home. For those homes without, ask the school and everybody in the street if they can lend you an old phone or laptop or screen.  Some schools or teachers might have spare equipment.

Borrowing Laptops
If you have younger children without equipment, they can watch the lessons of the older pupils, and use the equipment at staggered times, during the lunch break. Or the older pupil can act as a teacher, and teach the younger brother or sister.

Parents working from home could also lend a laptop to children during the lunch hour. Anything is better than nothing.

If all else fails, a parent can structure the day and teach subjects thought the day.

Time
Somebody has to keep time. At the end of each session you ring a bell. A bell is surprisingly cheap. I bought one for 2 Singapore dollars from Daeso, the Japanese all one price store.

Teaching Languages
For example, you can teach languages using the multi-lingual labels on food and clothes and household products.

Inexpensive DIY Notebooks & Stationery
You can create notebooks using the backs of envelopes. Or the white backs of advertising leaflets sent through the post.

Borrow laptops, if needed, on a temporary basis, no commitment on the part of the donor. Give receipts. Get the children started with sitting learning straight away.

PE and breaks
I was interested to hear that all classes could be taught at home, including physical education. You could do exercised, or on the spot zumba, or the sort of exercises for people in wheelchairs or office workers at desks. You could also have 5 minute breaks every hour to have a glass of water and stretch and go to the toilet and wash your hands.


English
I suggest everybody doing an hour on English to start the day.

 30 minutes on computer skills, video conferencing, contests online. For non-English speakers, their own language comes next for an hour. For English speakers a foreign language lesson.

Homework
Homework could be what the Americans call Show And Tell. Each person in the class picks a topic. It could be simple cooking.
Or growing plants from seeds in a flower pot.
It could be the maths of coronavirus statistics from various countries.

If you have a computer, and internet access you don't need books.
You can download language lessons. And watch free Youtube lessons.

You can watch cookery online.

You can get exercise videos online.

You can research English classic books and authors from Wikipedia. Classic books are available from wikibooks. For younger pupils and those who speak other languages, you can use Simple Wikipedia.



Science, biology, maths - it's all online.

When I was looking for instructions on making puppets, I discovered that many schools in America put up games and lesson online free for their own school pupils and parents, and other schools, and educators worldwide.

As for getting children to sit still, it depends on the determination of either the parent or the pupil.

The tiniest tots will mostly happily watch the screen. Especially if they are teaching teddy or dolly. (Or even a cat or dog or parrot.)

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling
duolingo.com


About the author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Teacher of English and English as a foreign language and beginner's French. Semi-retired home tutor.

Tips On The Challenges And Choices When Teaching English As A Foreign Language\; Beatles sites in the USA and UK

UK flag.

The words of many English language songs sound like nonsense, especially written by songwriters who are on ..., er, whatever.


Singapore flag.

I was teaching English as a foreign language to Chinese and other students in Singapore. I thought I would make homework more fun by allowing the pupils to transcribe the words of songs.

One girl brought in, 'We all live in a yellow submarine.'

Yellow Submarine by The Beatles.

She asked, 'What does this mean?'

I explained, 'Yellow is one of the colours of the rainbow. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Um, nobody uses indigo any more. It would be more useful to learn brown and black and grey.'

They looked at me suspiciously. 'Yellow - submarine?'

'A submarine is like a ship, but under water. In wartime they can hide.'

'So why is it yellow?'

'Um - has everybody translated submarine?'

They translated submarine into Chinese, Malay, Indonesian, Hokkien.

'Please miss. Is this word likely to come up in our exams?'

Maybe not.

My postgraduate student in her twenties was interested. My other pupils regarded me warily as if I were some lunatic waiting to be certified.

I received puzzled looks and incredulity. I explained, brightly, 'It was written by one of the Beatles. What is your problem?'

A pupil responded suspiciously, 'I thought you told us the Beatles lived in Liverpool'.

Now, things are easier.

The internet answers every question.

The yellow submarine was apparently originally written as a nonsense children's song about colours, with bath time sounds. It was a huge hit.

Strawberry Fields Forever was about a place called Strawberry Fields in Liverpool, where you can follow a Beatles trail and see famous places such as the Cavern where the Beatles played.




The Beatles were as popular in the USA as they were in the UK. John Lennon was killed in the USA.


US flag.


A memorial to him is Strawberry Fields in Central Park.



Two other ideas for teachers:
Ask pupils to research tourist sites connected with famous singers or other characters.
Ask pupils to research making a national flag cake, and the terms using in cooking.
For a show and tell session:
Ask pupils to bring in records or books or other memorabiliia featuring their favourite singers and authors and other characters.
Ask pupils to bring in foods from the USA or UK and translate the ingredients (which are often listed in multi-languages on the packs.

Useful Websites
https://www.wikihow.com/Make-an-American-Flag-Cake
visittheusa.co.uk
visitbritain.com
visitengland.com
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Submarine_(song)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_Story
https://www.beatlesstory.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry_Field
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beatles_-_Abbey_Road.jpg

In London
https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/the-beatles-london-walking-tour-t23780/
https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/the-beatles-magical-history-tour-t30586/

To Liverpool from London
https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/liverpool-the-beatles-t2271/?partner=true

Website background Information
UK
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7458873/Strawberry-Fields-finally-opens-Beatles-fans-70-years-inspiring-John-Lennon.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ico=taboola_feed
USA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry_Fields_(memorial)

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

How To Get A Job Teaching English In Singapore - and practise your demo lesson

What you need depends on which age you wish to teach.

I wanted a teaching job with flexible hours.
1 I wanted to be free evenings and weekends. That meant I could not teach at Berlitz which wanted me to be free to do a one to one lesson any time.
2 I wanted to be able to travel with my family and go back to the UK from Singapore to see my parents and inlaws and son at Christmas and in the Easter and summer.

I found the solution was to teach a short course in a private school. The courses would be four to eight weeks all day, 9-5 Monday to Friday.

Time Spent Marking
However, I also needed to mark homework books and essays in my own time, and correct exams done on Friday afternoon to be given back to the pupils first thing on Monday. That meant three hours of (unpaid) time over a weekend.

One solution to the homework marking problem is to read out the answers in class and get pupils to mark their own work. If you don't trust them, and want an accurate assessment of what they have understood and learned, you can ask them to swap books with the person sitting in front or behind.

Another solution is to set them working on exercise two silently, whilst you mark exercise one. They might need two exercise books, so that you can mark book 1 whilst they write in book 2. Alternatively, to share the work intruction and test books and ask them to write asnwers on loose leaf sheets with their name and class and date at the top.

The school might provide books, or work sheets which can be copied on their copier. If there are many copies avialable you can quickly choose and pick up the batch.
However, you may need to arrive early, wait for others to finish their long  to print out materials for the class.

How to get experience as a teacher to establish my credentials when seeking work as a business trainer? You can start giving workshops at Toastmasters. I would suggest join a club or two dlubs, even four or six, go through their pathways programme which includes interactive sessions.

When I wanted a work permit for a private school I had to provide my university degree certificate, the orignal, not a photocopy.

Before starting work I had to take an x-ray to show that I was clear of TB which is catching. You can't have teachers with TB talking and shouting, breathing and spitting over pupils.

The school typed out a simple short letter saying they needed a teacher urgently for a class starting that day. They sent me by taxi to the work permit department. Half an hour later I cought that taxi back to the school with my work permit. Half an hour later I was teaching my first class.

This year another teacher, a neighbour in Singapore, suggested I might like to work in state schools as a relief teacher, which he had done after retiring.

You apply through the MOE, Ministry of  Education.

Another friend of mine has applied four times to be a teacher of music and English.

When she was placed on the shortlist and called for an interview, her interview was in three parts. The first part was a five minutes demo lesson. One one occasion the adult judges acted like children in the audience being obstreporous to test classroom control.

Next a question about how she would react to challenges.

Finally the general interview on why you want to teach and your short term and long term goals.

I suggested that she should do a demo lesson at Toastmasters and get feedback. This would be useful for both teaching and interviews.

Toastmasters international clubs providing training in public speaking and a chance for you to rehearse a presentation you are doing elsewhere.

Useful Websites
https://www.moe.gov.sg/careers/teach/how-to-apply/teaching-schemes/relief-teaching
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Two Handy English Language Spelling Rules For Learners and Teachers

When teaching English, you always want to be that mythical teacher who everybody will remember in years to come as the one who transformed their lives. I have the perfect English accent. yet somethimes teaching English to others baffles me.

However, I have two simple rules I can use to amuse.

Sometimesa complicated problem has a simple solution.

Just solving s small problem gives you the courage to set off on the road to solving all the other problems.

My two favourite Engish spelling rules are:
Rule 1

1 i before e except after c
or when sounded like ay as in neighbour and weigh.

I tried turning this around to weigh and neighbour because it is easier to remember wighing your neighbour than your neighbour weighing something. However, the rhythm of the sentence makes it easier to remember the standard version.

Rule 2

How to spell necessary?
Remember a shirt or blouse or dress has one collar and two sleeves.
c ss
necessary

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker, teacher of languages.

The Mirror Effect: The Difference between a Chiasmus & an Antimetabol...

I am busy teaching English and visiting Toastmasters clubs, often in demand for explaining English. Many times my chief job seems to be teaching the basics, articles a and the, adjectives and adverbs, Americanisms and British English.

In Singapore half a dozen of us go around the clubs doing this. I and an American friend are in demand because we speak with correct intonation and accents.

Oddly enough, the others who don't speak as well, compensate by extremely detailed learning, even when they were not keen on English and academic studies as schoolchildren.

One such example is Terence, the dedicated student and teacher of English whose post I refer you to below.

The Mirror Effect: The Difference between a Chiasmus & an Antimetabol...: The following is a technical explanation, concerning rhetorical devices, on the difference between an ordinary chiasmus, and an antimetabo...

Do take a look. Even if the technical explanations pass you by, the quotations are a delight.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Revelation! Why English spelling does not match the sounds you hear and should say

If you want to write a language the way you hear it, try learning Malay-Indonesian or Esperanto. Apparently Russian is pretty consisten as well.

A lot of jokes are made about English spelling, in fact whole humorous poems are written about English spelling, challenging anybody who does not speak English.

When I used to consider this question of irregular English spelling, and how it fails to match what is said, especially after I was asked by pupils, I used to condiser the cause was the variety of languages which ae the source.

Now I have a different theory to include in my repertoire of reasons. The Wikipedia explanation goes on for ages and is very complicated. To sum it up in no more than a sentence or two: In the Middle ages pronounciation changed, possibly after French influence declined. Wards caused anti-French feeling and words were given Anglicised pronounciation. Howere, the old spelling was retained. Look at it another way, pronunciation changed but spelling did not change.

Now you know. if you are trying to understand others, or to teach English in an overseas country, here are your points of reference.

Simple Wiki is too simple. Just a couple of setnences. It gives the authors who are the source of this theory, and the time period when the change allegedly occurred, but does not give any examples.

More Information From
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker, teacher and trainer, specilist in the English language, aspiring polyglot (speaker of many languages).

Futurelearn's English Teaching Course is Great For Travellers

Problem
I travel a lot so I find it difficult to commit to being in one place and teaching English to pupils who want ongoing lessons.

Answer
I now have the answer. Online teaching.

I signed up for two of Futurelearn's free courses, Italian and teaching English.

Teaching English is a revelation. The course shows you interactive classrooms. Pupils can raise their hands if you have several pupils.

I have found using Skype challenging so I would welcome a video on how you set up a video classroom. How long does it take?

I might try working for a company before going it alone.

Recording lessons is wonderful. A student who is late or sick can catch up.

I have been a member of bilingual Toastmasters speakers' clubs. I would like to create a demo lesson on public speaking, with a Chinese speaker and the English translation as subtitles and vice versa, so you can watch it in real time and replay it later.

It's great for people learning to translate simultaneous translation.

I love the idea of having the lesson recorded.

Video lessons are a great idea for homeschooling.

Children in hospital would benefit. So would refugee camps.

Teaching English to immigrants would be cheap and widely available.

In the past, I have been asked by pupils to help them create a c.v. (Americans call it a resume) for jobs such as being a waiter in a local restaurant. Instead of scrappy notes on bits of paper in handwriting they cannot read, the pupil would end up with a recorded lesson and be able to take a screenshot or maybe print out their c.v.

Is anybody else in Singapore doing this? I'd like to get together and practise it.

Useful Websites in alphabetical order

Adobe classroom

Future learn
futurelearn.com

Google hangouts
iTalk
Kahoot
Skype
Vedama
Zoom

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Students Need Jobs, Teachers need jobs, Schools need teachers. How to work and permits at home and overseas.

You speak English. Can you teach English? At what level?  At what level are you either qualified, competent, and confident? What about your family, friends and colleagues and those you teach or advise?

Problem
The problem for students is how to get money. Should it be from the bank of Mum and Dad/ The problem for Mum and Dad is when can I stop paying.

Answer
The newspapers today, May 18 2017, report that a judge in Spain has told a woman who was demanding parental support that she should go and find work to support herself. Your first move when finding a job is to take any job, whatever the hours and pay.

That way you network, find out from somebody if another company pays better, if a friend of theirs is leaving a job which you could take.

You might find that at your new place of employment you find another job. You might even be upgraded at the interview. I went for a job as a simple typist in an advertising agency. At the interview I was immediately offered a higher ranking, higher paid job as secretary / Personal Assistant to the late author Eric Webster (who wrote How To Win The Business Battle). I worked for him until he died.

When I left university I found it hard to find a job in teaching in London. Luckily, there was an agency, alas, now gone, called Graduate Girls. They could not find me a job teaching, However, they found me a series of temporary jobs.

Agency Jobs
The last work from the agency was in publishing, at Marshall Cavendish in London, working on editing articles in part works, shortening and simplifying science article adapted from an adult artwork to one suitable for German seven year olds.

I had to find, or reposition and expand any German scientists and inventors, instead of making the English one the focus of the article with the German as the footnote. Articles on WWII had to be changed so Germany was - well, you get the idea. An interesting challenge.

The other hurdle was trying to understand articles on relativity, the engine of motor cars, a suspension bridge, or a sewing machine, and then simplifying the language and concepts so that they could be understood by small children. I was taken on for two days and this extended for weeks.

The work at this company only ended when I went into hospital to give birth.

Home Tutor
Some weeks later I switched to teaching English conversation as a home tutor. My first pupil was a Japanese lady.

American students needing money to finance their period studying famously go to work in McDonalds.

When I was in America, I did not take a job because I did not have a work permit. The same happened when I went to Singapore.

Then a miracle happened. I was talking a lady at a dinner party and her husband joined us and told me he worked as a teacher of English to foreign students in a school for adults. I said that I didn't have a work permit and he told me that the school would get one for me. He said he knew a teacher was leaving, so phone up.

Having a British accent was a great advantage. Not that it was necessary. Several teachers at that school and others spoke with Australian, New Zealand, American or other accents.

When I told a Singaporean friend that I was teaching English, she introduced me to her old school. I went to run a course in the local school. My English, with an authentic English accent, and perfect grammar, was way ahead of the local teachers who spoke Singlish.

I have taught English in Singapore for many years and I am active in Toastmasters International. I have met hundreds of people, including several who gave excellent slide shows on English grammar, but inevitably had one or two mistakes of their own. I hesitated to tell them, fearing they would be upset with themselves and crestfallen or angry and resentful towards me. But people who go to Toastmasters International are there to improve and are grateful for the free proofreading and instruction. Most were delighted that I was able to correct their slides.

I have also worked at translating packing for a beauty company, and on websites. If you speak English, you will be in demand in the countries as a teacher.

You can buy textbooks and workbooks for various levels in big bookshops. Some of the workbooks have answers at the back.

Tips
My tips are:
1 Children and Adults, take a first job, any job.
Encourage your children to take any job, just to network. The same applies to you. It gives you the confidence to say you are in work. You can find your way around town on the bus or train network, or drive in rush hour. You get in the habit of going to bed by midnight and being up in time for breakfast.

The determination to get a better job will overcome your fear of approaching an agency or potential employer. Perks may include free meals. You will have friends who are working, rather than friends who are unemployed.

You will have a little money to get better clothes, text books.  Your new colleagues, or employer, may advise you on suitable clothing, cheap clothing, smart clothing and shoes.

Your new boss may be willing to give you a reference. If your boss leaves to work for another company, he may find you a better job at the new company. The same goes for colleagues.

The same goes for the Personnel manager. Even if he is not allowed to recruit you, he might hand you a newspaper containing an ad placed by the new company (whose name he can't mention). You apply for three jobs. Lo and behold, one is your ex boss!

2 Go into any and every employment agency.
Even if they have nothing available or you are totally unsuitable they may be able to direct you to an agency or a company which might employ you.

3 If you don't have a work permit, tell the agency / employer.
Ask the boss how to get one. (If they can't help, speak to other teachers in the staff room or even on the stairwell. Swap phone numbers and phone them for advice.)

In Singapore I was amazed by how soon the boss got me a work permit. I did not need a teaching qualification. All I needed was a university degree and to speak English as a native language. My fellow teachers included a gym teacher, an art teacher, a science teacher. After a year or two teaching English, they were pretty good at it. They were also good at the reassurance they offered routinely to pupils and therefore automatically offered me.

The school had been paid money in advance by twenty pupils and needed a teacher. All my school did was give me twenty Singapore dollars from petty cash for the taxi trip to and from the government office supplying work permits and send me off with a letter on school headed notepaper.

In one minute the school head had dictated a one line letter to the agency on headed notepaper. It said simply, "We have a class starting today, thirty pupils learning English, and this teacher needs a work permit."

The government office was empty. I was called forward straight away. The whole process took ten minutes.

The interviewer could tell the moment that I opened my mouth that I was well qualified! ("Speak better than local, lah? Correct." That's Singlish from a Chinese speaker, direct translation from Chinese, all present tense and no present continuous, in common with German and other languages. "You are teaching English, isn't it?" That would be an Indian, perfect present continuous until you reach the last two words, asking a question, where the verbs don't match.)

The official was bored. He was not hostile and suspicious, which I had feared. He was pleased to see me and happy to chat.

His job was routine. All he needed to do was fill out the form with my name and address, the school address, and passport details. He stapled on the school's letter. I was downstairs and looking for a taxi.

Then I was back in a school, signing receipts for a pile of textbooks to teach my class. I had no idea what to teach. Never mind. The school did not want me interfering with their plans. I started with lesson one on page one.

Was I nervous. Yes. I walked into a class. The pupils crept in anxiously. The pupils were more nervous than I was. English was so difficult for them! I was too busy reassuring them to worry about what they thought of me.

Ask the dictionary, a friend, a teacher, the internet
 The pupils weren't interested in me. Their problem was, 'Please, Miss, what is a subjunctive?" If you don't know the answer, look confident, tell a pupil to open their dictionary (or the answer at the back of the workbook) and read the definition to the class. Ask who understands. Out of twenty, one person does. Ask them to explain to the others.

No time to correct homework? Get the pupils to swap books and correct each other's work. You don't know the answers on day one, but you do by day ten.

If you don't know, ask the internet. The same applies in any job. I went into an Apple Store for a one to one lesson. The teacher kept going into the store room at the back. I was worried. Did I smell bad? Did he hate teaching? Eventually I had the courage to ask why he had gone to the back room. He said that Apple had their own FAQ for teachers which was better than what we would find on the internet.

The same applies to other jobs. Firstly, you can sneak off to the toilet, or in the break, look up the answers on the internet. Secondly, in addition to public forums, every profession has forums for those in the business.

Electricians, Plumbers, White Goods Repairs
Your electrician can go back to his van, ostensibly for tools. He can look up the website of the brand he is installing. Another website is a forum for others in his business telling him answer to problems.

Primary School Teachers
Teachers in the USA have all sorts of free material to share with their colleagues, pupils and fellow teachers worldwide. Arts, crafts, science and seasonal activities. Everything from how to make a Valentine's Day card, Mother's day card, or Christmas Card, with templates showing folds and pop-ups, to how to explain the life cycle of a snail, frog, robin, or oak tree, with pictures, animations and a checklist for a field tip.

What if you fail and get the sack? Never mind. Immediately apply for ten more jobs. You now have much more experience than you did in your first job.

You might even fail twice. But it's highly likely that by the time you get to your third job you will be teaching other newcomers how to succeed.

Author
Angela Lansbury

Explaining the English Language to Others - Phrases

Problem
How do you explain English terms you take for granted to people who seem to have a basic or good grasp of English and want to know more? I get asked questions like, Can you explain the subjunctive? What's the difference between subjunctive and subjective?

Answer
If you are teaching English as a foreign language overseas, or at home, even if you are not, start a card index with terms you need to explain. Or a file, containing photocopies of pages from grammar books or workbooks so you don't have to spend hours hunting. When teaching, you can use a workbook and go through everything logically, starting with the present tense, then the past, simple past, then the future. Instead of missing your lunch, tea-time drink, or your toilet break, tell the pupil where to find the answer in the class work book and then ask the pupil to explain to the class after the break. You repeat, correct, clarify, and tell the pupils to write down the answer in their language, or to write down the reference to the page in their workbook, or add the reference at the end of their class book's index.

Stories
At the end of the day's English class I was teaching in Singapore I was standing with some pupils looking out at the driving rain in Singapore and we all hesitated to go home because of the weather.
I commented, "It's raining cats and dogs." Everybody was silent for a moment. My pupils were contemplating the weather, I thought.
Then one boy replied, "I see the cats, but I don't see any dogs. Where are the dogs?"
I had a fit of giggles, unbecoming for a teacher, who is supposed to be authoritative, and said, "It's an English phrase."
My pupil stared at me suspiciously. "Really? What does it mean? Why cats and dogs?"

Two thoughts ran through my head. The first was, "It's an old medieval phrase, something to do with cats on thatched rooftops jumping down when it rains, especially cats and dogs coming indoors in thunderstorms."

My second thought was, "The French have a rather rude version something like - how can I put this politely? Water gushing as forcibly as a cow or bull urinating.

Later I looked it up in a dictionary of phrases and a dictionary of proverbs and the huge dictionary in the library. The origin is not important. It's one of those phrases whose original meaning is not known to most people, who just use the phrase, which is a metaphor.

The real origin is important to scholars and those studying language at university in order to write a thesis. But for pupils trying to learn to speak, it is more useful to have a visual image reminding them of the phrase to use in conversation, or to recognise and understand the meaning when they hear it, as happened when I spoke to them.

Similes and Metaphors
A simile says this is similar to that, this is like that.

A metaphor says this is that. In a metaphor one thing stands for another.

For example, a simile would be: "The bride in her voluminous skirt looked like / similar to a ship in full sail."

A metaphor would be: "The bride in her voluminous skirt was a ship in full sail." The word similar is dropped so it is not a simile but a metaphor.

Angela Lansbury, author, English teacher. I teach individuals and groups and businesses in private lessons in written and spoken English, giving presentations and speeches and reading English books and newspapers and technical journals.
My books are on Amazon and Lulu.com
You can read more about spelling, grammar and language in my other blogs, also see me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and twitter.
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