HEY, HOW'S IT GOING? IAN LEAHY HERE...
When I'm not painting my face...
I help aspiring and current teachers make their lives better through online training. If you're thinking about teaching English abroad (especially in Asia) or you want to improve your classes (especially if you're teaching kids) then you'll find heaps of help here.
LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO TEAM ESLINSIDER... HEHEHE
The Teacher
He's the teacher, but in fact he's still a student that loves learning. He teaches what he knows and what he's done. He's taught in China, Korea, Taiwan and lived in Japan. Contact.
The Artist
Cold and bold. He adds his creative and weird touches to the site here and there with paintings, drawings, dj scratches, music, beatboxing and some stuff we can't put our finger on.
The Martial Artist
This guy trains judo and BJJ. He's the tough adventurous type who inspires people to be more courageous and if anybody picks on the pink guy he's got his back.
The Yogi
This guy is about as quiet and serene as they come. Aside from his daily practice of yoga and meditation he contributes a holistic perspective to the site.
I don't know about you, but...
Exploring planet earth has been part of my story...
Some places I've called home:
- Fukuoka, JP
- San Fran, CA
- Shanghai, CH
- Changwon, KR
- Busan, KR
- Tainan, TW
- Taichung, TW
- Santa Fe, NM
- Welches, OR
- Missoula, MT
- Flagstaff, AZ
- Brevard, NC
- Monroe, NH
- Pike, NH (Check out this place where I grew up... on the end of a long dirt road surrounded by trees, fields and in a great house my dad built. We had to walk a mile to the bus stop^^.)
I keep a personal blog here.
Check this video out - OLD SCHOOL ESLinsider.
I started ESLinsider while I was in Korea and in this video you will find some scenery and interview bits (1:34) from teachers in Korea, China, Japan and Taiwan.
There's even some skydiving and sweet DJ scratches by that pink guy above^^. Then at 3:38 you'll find some how-to videos and activities.
This video was originally published on an old channel I had in 2010. Since 2010 ESLinsider has grown and there are now more videos, resources, blog posts and courses that take these videos to the next level. The course helps connect all these bits into a simple and active teaching style that works.
WHOA!! I am almost famous on Youtube!
Heeheehee, not quite but...
7,910 people must have clicked that red button on ESLinsider's Youtube channel for some reason
See a snazzy infographic of ESLinsider's Youtube stats.
Who uses ESLinsider?
People who want to learn.
Not people who are looking for an "accredited" or TEFL certificate that is supposedly going to work wonders.
Not newbie wannabe teachers.
Teachers.
Not outsiders.
Insiders.
Take a look at the top 5 pages on ESLinsider.
People who want to learn use ESLinsider.
Why did I create ESLinsider?
Someone asked...
What makes me feel frustrated about this industry?
I hate the TEFL course industry.
And if you start reading through the blog you'll see that sentiment seep through the seems in some posts.
Your experience might be different.
But I am speaking from my experience which started in 2004.
I see courses lie to people all the time and they lied to me too. I saw some guy on Youtube yesterday saying the web is loaded with lies and misinformation and the first thing I thought was that it's no different in the TEFL/TESOL course industry.
Many courses front like they're the next best thing since Harvard, make you think you're going on vacation and then sell you a course that's loaded with theory and stuff you will never use.
Is it really "all" courses?
Haha.
Probably not "all" courses, but the majority of them since...
They're all copycats too.
Copycats.
Is it just me?
Or do they all look and sound the same to you?
How many "reputable, accredited, internationally recognized, 120 hour" courses have you seen?
CELTA copycats.
Not that CELTA is the greatest thing since sliced bread...
They're telling you that their certificate is so reputable and trying to look as if they are prestigious like a university. That you are going to get some amazing job... Make more money...
Lies.
So I took a TESOL course before going to Taiwan and then...
There I was standing in a classroom in a strange land with students speaking Chinese and feeling pretty clueless about how to teach.
Teaching was hard.
That course I took taught me nearly nothing that I could apply to my day to day life teaching kids in Taiwan.
I paid a $1000 to get some piece of paper that made it look like I knew something (but actually I didn't).
And my first employer didn't care about that certificate. And the same can be said for the other employers that followed in Korea and China.
Real world teaching in Asia (where I taught) wasn't like the course I took, the experience suggested by their website or the websites that I see now.
Those TEFL/TESOL courses were general (I've taken 2 now) targeted more towards adults and teaching you a lot of jargon, grammar, theory (mostly things that are not useful).
They are trying to sell to as many people as possible and giving all of them a "general education" that's probably not going to be very helpful since it's probably going to be loaded with theory, text, lectures and not enough showing you what to do.
They don't teach enough practical tools.
You are not going to be some professor up there spouting off grammar rules and theory.
So after I got to Taiwan and started teaching I basically had to teach myself.
I watched a few teachers at my school, learned a few things and I would spend a lot of time searching the net for things that I could use in my classes. Things that actually worked. Things that were practical, but I wasted a lot of time and it was difficult!
Don't expect anyone to show you what to do. Most schools out there will assume that you know what to do. And if you get training it's probably going to be pretty minimal.
Over the years I gradually improved and then got the idea in Korea to make how-to videos that I would record in my classes.
My idea wasn't to make a course at first, but to make something that shows people what to do in a real classroom.
Because that's the basic way to learn.
Monkey see, monkey do.
And the course came years later and took those videos two steps further.
What matters is that you learn how to do your job because teaching sucks if you don't know what you are doing.
It really sucks.
It's stressful and you're head feels like it's going to explode because there is noise and kids not doing what you want and then you have to teach them and what's the best way to do that?
I mean you want to go abroad to travel and experience all those things and maybe go to those beaches that you've seen, but if you do go there that's going to be about 1% of your time abroad.
Now your experience might be different.
I hope all courses out there aren't the same despite the fact that they all basically look the same.
TLDR.
No BS.
Make learning how to teach easier so that you and your students enjoy it more.
Simple and practical training that focuses on what really matters.
The teaching.
Because you are not going on a year long vacation.
Your experience abroad is going to be centered around your work and not traveling or vacation or ____ (whatever appeals to you about going abroad).
Thing is you got to put some effort in.
Most of us are not naturally gifted teachers, but everyone can learn and improve.
And if you improve your experience inside the classroom you will improve it outside the classroom.
I made ESLinsider to make teaching easier and better for you. It's what I wished I had when I first started. You'll learn real concrete tools and activities that you can put into action and very little theory.
Chances are that if you are going to Asia to teach that you will be teaching mostly kids and that's why I made this site and this course - so you have a better experience doing that.
If you care about what other people think then you might want to know that 7,910 people pushed that red button on ESLinsider's Youtube channel
I heard Wayne Dyer say once that, you should "be independent of the good opinion of other people".
And I always remembered that...
Maybe that's why I chose not to get an "accreditation".
Perhaps I mentioned those Youtube numbers because even though it's not an accreditation it is a more transparent metric than "accreditation" is.
I decided to focus on making a better course for teachers instead of putting a superficial label on it that makes it look like a better course.
Actually had I got it "accredited" I probably would have sold more courses because that one word seems to impress a lot of people despite the fact that they don't know anything about those accreditors, what they did, if it was fake or how much money they were paid.
Or maybe it's because I grew up in the "Live Free or Die" state... lol.
ESLinsider the outsider.
Over and out.
So what do you want?
- Want to get deep insight on teaching in Asia?
- Want to get a good job and avoid the bad ones?
- Want to make your experience teaching abroad better?
- Want to feel more clear and confident in that classroom?
- Want training that will put a big goofy grin on your face and your student's?
If you really want to get prepared to teach English in Asia
or...
If you want to totally revamp your experience teaching abroad then this course is for you.
"Thanks Ian! You are a big reason I am here in China! Without your motivation I wouldn't have traveled so far and had all of these great experiences. It's been two years, now I am an English director for three kindergartens." - Raul Romo, more reviews on ESLinsider
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