Category: EFL Teacher Blog

Having lived and worked in Asia, Arabia, Europe and the USA, I’ve retired. I would like to share my knowledge, while writing my new book THE EXPATS.

EFL Teacher Blog5 Comments

Teaching English Overseas – Dream or Nightmare?

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

Both. In the 1980s, EFL ‘Eh-full’, (English as a Foreign Language) was a dream job for savvy college graduates. Being a native speaker became a passport to a job, legal visa, often with paid housing and paid airfare to and from foreign lands. After the 1990s, it became too popular. After 2000, its attractiveness tarnished and its wages stagnated. Colleges, language schools and various English language employers demanded proof of a Bachelor’s or preferably, a Master’s and attestation (a complicated, time-consuming and expensive process.) Eventually, employers began demanding teacher credentials. Adios to the ‘backpacker’ English teacher. In the early 1990s, … Continue reading Teaching English Overseas – Dream or Nightmare?

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DNA, DESTINY, OR CHOICE

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

How much control do people have over their own lives? Not much. Maybe from zero to 20%. The wealthier, the more choices. The other portion of self-identity and life choices dwell outside the realm of individual control: gender – male, female or other; geography – place of birth; historical times – war or peace, health conditions, food access, and more; religion; culture – dictatorship, tribal, democracies, other; education – availability, contents, control; parental genes; and finally, family upbringing. NOTE: Numbers 7 and 8 are not discussed here. Modern science offers a plethora of information. For example, neuroscience has revealed the … Continue reading DNA, DESTINY, OR CHOICE

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TWO FREE ELECTIVE SURGERIES!

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago (1986), a commoner of limited means (teacher) lived in a Kingdom (Saudi Arabia). She risked a free operation in that Kingdom. As an American, she rarely had health coverage. Years of codeine pain relief for her monthly passing of blood, which destroyed three days, now, at the age of 36, annihilated seven – one fourth of her life. She plunged into the Kingdom’s dubious medical procedures. She lived in a university-hospital housing compound, buses daily chauffeuring her and female colleagues to and from the university. The yellow and black rod which … Continue reading TWO FREE ELECTIVE SURGERIES!

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SIGNS – work in progress

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

Road signs – Aramco, in Arabic and English, on the Aramco compound in Saudi Arabia. The entire compound looked like a small town in the USA. Then a STOP sign in, Korean or Japanese – I don’t remember. Portuguese road signs. See this link for the signs you don’t understand.https://traffic-rules.com/en/portugal/traffic-signs/information The words ‘sign’ and ‘symbol’ are often interchangeable and listed as synonyms in many sources. My first inclination made me think of road signs. The STOP sign is universal in its octagon shape and red color, but not always language. Strangely in Portugal, the sign is in English. At first, … Continue reading SIGNS – work in progress

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Teaching Paragraph & Essay Writing, along with Grading Samples

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

First, the usual handout, then a visual handout for how to teach writing a paragraph. Then, using the same visual, it can be extended for writing a five-paragraph essay. After those, a handout on writing a good topic sentence. Followed by how to narrow an idea down to a specific topic that can be managed within an essay. Then three suggestions for how to grade essays. These are posted as jpegs. Please feel free to use them. They really helped me in teaching writing. VisibilityPublish15 Revisions Document Continue reading Teaching Paragraph & Essay Writing, along with Grading Samples

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Money

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

Nowadays, with Google images, it’s possible to see money from around the world. Before that, here’s my collection. American money is actually the most boring – all the same color, same size, different picture of a president in the middle. Unfortunately, the two dollar bill was recalled, although re-issued in 1976. Notice how Egyptian money is bilingual, English and Arabic. This is common in other Arabian countries. The huge numbers of foreigners working in Arabic countries often know some English. New countries, like Saudi Arabia put their leaders, such as King Abdulaziz. Notice how the English side has an airport, … Continue reading Money

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Christina Randall – YouTube Person Worth Listening To

Alice Delaney Walker, aka Dana Walker

I discovered this young woman who talks about life in prison. She was sentenced to three years after being forgiven by judges for years for many minor offenses. One video explained her first three years. She was savagely abused. In one video, she described her first three years as a child, where her biological parents seriously abused her. She then went into the foster system….. Her story made me experience so much grief. And to look at major inappropriate teenage behavior. She made me wonder what horrors those kids may have also experienced too. She tells stories about other people’s … Continue reading Christina Randall – YouTube Person Worth Listening To