Teaching English at Homeless Charity

Hello I’m Jagtar and I teach English at IH London. I am currently working on a special IH project teaching ESOL at a homeless charity called Crisis.

What is ESOL? It is an acronym for ‘English for Speakers of Other Languages’ and it is what we teach foreign students who live in an English-speaking country.

Teaching at Crisis
The students who I teach at Crisis are either homeless, have been homeless within the past five years, or are at risk of being homeless. Many of the students are economic and political refugees so teaching them is very interesting as well as challenging.

During the past term I have taught classes at Elementary, Intermediate and Upper-intermediate levels and each class has changed slightly during our term as sometimes students come and go, and we need to change our courses to accommodate the changing students.

Raising Money for Classroom Materials
This year at IH we put on an event called IH The Musical (which I was a part of) and the money raised went to Crisis and the Pakistan Flood Appeal. With the money, I have managed to buy the necessary items to make the Interactive White Board in our classroom work. The effect this has had on our students has been phenomenal, and it’s great seeing students respond well to the fabulous technology.

Teaching English with Music
I am currently working on a short ESOL and Music course which is based on the popular musical called The Sound of Music. Students will learn language through the songs and explore the themes raised. Hopefully this will end with the students recording new versions of the songs, although I will have to see how much they respond to the course first!

In my next post I will tell you how the course is going and also give you a more in-depth report on what we do at Crisis.

Bye for now,

Jagtar Behal

IH London Business English teacher talks about the benefits of 'Systemic Functional Grammar'

Congratulations to IH London Executive Centre teacher Chia Chong who gave a hugely successful talk at this year's prestigious BESIG Conference!

Chia's talk - Systemic Functional Grammar - Why have most business teachers never heard of it? - was extremely well received at the annual Business English event in Germany.

You can watch Chia in action on You Tube, as she discusses her opinions on archaic grammar rules that can actually make learning business English harder.

Chia suggests that better knowledge of Systemic Functional Grammar might help students understand the way English is organised, and dispell the myth that English is simply a language full of exceptions.

Chia's English teaching experience:

Chia is a Communication Studies graduate and has taught English as a foreign language since 2002, including Cambridge Exam Classes, Business English, and English for Specific and Academic Purposes.

She currently runs General English and Business English classes, and teacher training (CELTA) courses at IH London, as well as also doing a part-time Masters in Applied Linguistics!

Chia speaks English and Mandarin as her first language, and Japanese, Italian and Spanish as her second.

Mat & Rosella on the Road in Germany

Rosella and I are two of IH London's Sales Managers and last week we took to the road to attend the 2010 ICEF Workshop in Berlin.

ICEF stands for the International Consultants for Education and Fairs and the Berlin Workshop it is one of the biggest gatherings of educational agents and schools in the world. Around 1,800 agents and school go to the Workshop, making it the biggest English as a Foreign Language (EFL) event of the year.

It's an exhausting few days, but a brilliant opportunity for us to meet the agents and schools we work with regularly (but who are based in countries thousands of miles away!). The workshop is also a good opportunity to make new contacts with agents who might be interested in sending student s to IH London in the future.

The International House World Organisation was well represented, with 20 IH schools from around the world there!

On the last evening the International House World Organisation organised a big party for the IH schools. We took a three hour boat tour of the canals of Berlin while eating, dancing and of course doing a little business!