The objective of this blog is to record real life situations in a TEFL classroom and to summarize successful and unsuccessful aspects of a particular class with addition of subsequent analyses. The name of the blog is "TEFL guinea pigs" because that's what I sometimes jokingly call my students when I give them a worksheet that I created or when I am trying out an original methodological approach. In this blog I will focus on language and methodology related topics and anything else that I might deem important for a successful English class. A little bit about me: I am a CELTA-certified English teacher with work experience in Russia, Ireland and Germany. I currently work and reside in Berlin.
Progress in a foreign language — especially in speaking — can be greatly supported by recording voice messages and listening to them afterwards with attention and analysis. It sounds simple, but in reality, it is often uncomfortable. Personally, I don’t like recording my own voice and listening to it again. It creates a certain unease. There is something vulnerable about hearing yourself from the outside. The voice sounds different. The mistakes become more obvious. The illusion of fluency can suddenly disappear. And yet — it is extremely useful. If we truly want to become aware of our pronunciation, our rhythm, our intonation, and the mistakes we repeatedly make (especially those that may already be fossilized), then this step is almost necessary. It can be compared to training the body and observing progress in the mirror or in photographs. Without that mirror — without that external reflection — improvement would be very difficult. We would not clearly see where the weaknesses ...
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