Teacher qualifications

"While I think standards are crucial, we need to be wary of the 'closed shop' syndrome."

I cannot brag about any of my qualifications. Most of what I know has been from plowing through books by people like Professor Nunan. I have also extensively explored journals and academic papers on the Internet, have written authors and experts with my questions as well as made a heck of a lot of mistakes in the classroom. I have tried to honestly face my shortcomings and learn from them and I think I have to some extent.

My current interest is in action research led teaching. This would be a teacher who uses action research on a regular basis to test broad theories, Krashen's CI or Truscott's error correction, as well as to study his students so as to know the students better than they know themselves.

Additionally I've set up an online training program to teach ESPs in Electronic Manufacturing and Logistics. On behalf of Cambridge University Press I've traveled across China to give talks to Chinese English teachers to promote the communicative approach of Jack Richard's New Interchange. I've developed what I think is a very effective system of "speaking homework" and what is proving to be a popular method of "movie homework".

But I have to face the fact that these years of experience and study may not look as good or add up to a guy who has an MA and one year of experience. So I'm glad I can still find work.