LOL brilliant! Having a great sense of humour is must to get through life!

Very amusing blog thankyou. It is fair to say that the message within your lighthearted blog was lost on some people...

Just finished my TEFL Course.......cant't wait to get going ......Fantastic literary comments :-) X

Hi Emma,

Im just in the middle of my TEFL course and was getting a bit bogged down but just came across your blog and loved it. Very funny and useful. I feel better knowing that I don't have to be perfect and that if i get stuck in the classroom there are funny ways out of the situation.

Thanks

Madlee,  this is a tongue in cheek blog - I'm sorry if you have taken offense to it. 

The underlying theme is be professional even if you aren't confident...and also have fun in the classroom with your students.  I have lived in four different countries now and like it or not, teachers (and the locals) like to drink and have fun. 

I however agree that it shouldn't be to the detriment of international relations (I have actually just come back from teaching in a muslim country where I pretty much detoxed from drink for 2 years!!).  However, what you do outside of the class shouldn't come into the class.

In response to the 'question dodging' section - many new teachers are on chalkboard and I'm sure they think they have to answer every question that students pose.  However as mentioned in the blog it is acceptable to say 'we don’t have time to cover this now – don’t worry we will look at it in another lesson' or ask them to find out for homework (when you will have also done your homework and can tell them if they are correct).

Anyway, apologies again if any offense was caused....

I take a different viewpoint to some of the comments.

This looks like the portfolio for a Club 18-30 holiday rep, not a teacher. I will be outspoken about this topic, as the actions of this kind of party teacher have serious negative implications for the students, who are paying a lot of money to be educated by us. As teachers we have a PROFESSIONAL responsibility toward our students. Not only that, we are the face of our country. What we do in other countries, leaves an impression on the locals as to what a population is like. There seems to be a clear distinction between teachers, and idiots using teaching as a mask so they can get paid to drink.

The strong emphasis on getting drunk or the aftereffects of, and not providing a quality service to our students is what's tarnishing the ELT industry.

The paragraphs:

'Act like a teacher' is irresponsible. Don't act like a teacher BE A TEACHER! If your not a teacher, get the hell out of the classroom and stop using students money to fund your booze cruise.

'Question dodging' is another example of a lame teacher. If you don't know, say so. Students will suss you out eventually. Student's DO know, when you really don't know. The worst thing to do is to make up an answer and hope your students, or by the tone of this post 'suckers' don't try to find out.

'Hone your acting skills'. What a pile of crap!

'Have and answer for everything'. Again referring to drinking. What the hell is this?

nice ha :) very useful

Am loving these "get out of sticky moment' ideas......Thanks Emma.

Hahha... these are great!!! :)