Show 475 Tuesday 21 August

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.


Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.

I got an email from someone a while ago. And they are thinking of going to Japan and they asked me a couple of questions.
Some of you might have similar questions, so I thought I’d answer them in a video.

OK, so here’s the first question – I think I’ll answer the other one another day.

I have a MA and most of a Ph.D. in Communication (although not language teaching) but I was thinking of doing an online accredited TESOL certification. Do you think it would be worth the money?

Well, before I went to Japan ... I had done a BA and then post-grad journalism. And then I decided to do a teaching course before I came to Japan. So I did a CLTA - Certificate in Language Teaching to Adults. And I’m glad I did because I learnt a lot during that course. But you don’t need to do a certificate like that to get a job teaching English in Japan.
Basically you just need a degree to teach English in Japan. So, whether or not you also do the teaching certificate ... I guess it kind of depends on how seriously you take your job and also how interested you are in teaching.
Like in any profession ... there are some people who teach English in Japan who don’t take their job seriously and they get away with it ... but if you’re serious about teaching – then I would recommend doing the teaching course. Not because you have to to get a job, but just because you’ll learn a lot doing the course and then you’ll probably become a better teacher.

I’m not so sure about an online course though. Because one of the best things about my course was that I got to practice teaching. I did team teaching with a really good teacher – this was at AUT in Auckland, New Zealand. And she watched me teaching a class and gave me some feedback about my teaching which was really helpful.

I still remember how nervous I was before doing that. And just having that experience was really useful for when I went to Japan I think. So in my first interview when they said: OK, here are some students, now teach them this ... then I could draw from my teaching experience.

So I would recommend doing a course. But, having said that, if you really don’t want to spend the money on the course, then I think the next best thing is just to teach yourself. So there are a lot of good books out there about teaching. And ... read the books. And also try and get some teaching experience. So, do some volunteer teaching, get a language exchange partner. Maybe do that and try and get some feedback, if you can.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, in Stick News today, American Airlines has sued Google.

American Airlines is the world's largest airline. Google is an American public corporation, specializing in Internet search and online advertising.
American Airlines isn’t happy with Google at the moment.
According to Reuters American Airlines says Google has been selling the right to use American Airlines' trademarks and service marks or "words, phrases, or terms confusingly similar to those marks" to competitors who then direct searchers to their own web pages.
Google doesn’t seem too worried about the lawsuit.
They said in a statement:
"We are confident that our trademark policy strikes a proper balance between trademark owners' interests and consumer choice, and that our position has been validated by decisions in previous trademark cases."

And that was Stick News for Tuesday the 21st of August.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#292 How long was the teaching course you did?

Step 1: Repeat Jake’s lines.
Step 2: Read Jake’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Jake How long was the teaching course you did?

Sarah About six months. Well half a school year ... so that’s probably not six months actually.

Jake Wow, that’s long. Aren’t they usually six weeks?

Sarah Yeah, but this was part time.

Jake How many classes did you have a week?

Sarah It was twice a week. And each class was two hours, I think.

Jake What kind of things did you learn?

Sarah Ah ... all kind of things. I can’t really remember specifically now. But one of the things we did was, we taught in front of the class and gave each other feedback which was really good.

Jake Do you keep in touch with anyone from that course?

Sarah No, I wish I did though. There were some really nice people. There was one guy who was a bus driver. He was really cool. I wonder what happened to him.

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start, cws start, qa start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
tracks: Superheros, Intellectuel, Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws bgm
artist: San Sebastian
track: Happy Sad
artist site

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