25 June 2014 / by Radmila Gurkova

Eleven great years teaching English. And counting...



OxbridgeTEFL | www.oxbridgetefl.com

It's been eleven years since we first started teaching English in Spain and abroad. On Saint John's night, a big festivity in Barcelona, we were only a few hours of launching Oxbridge.

Sant Joan's night, as the locals call it is one of the most cheerful celebrations with fireworks and bonfires and one of the most beautiful nights of the year in Barcelona. It is also the OxbridgeTEFL's birthday's eve. Recalling Sant Joan's night eleven years ago, I remember ourselves exhausted, nervous, expectant… But also extremely excited, shining with the idea of a new start, touched by the spirit of the festivity. Old demons gone, a new era begins. Ours.

Inspired by Cat Stevens' You can do (Whatever), chosen as soundtrack for Job, the movie about Steve Jobs, we can proudly say that we have done what we dreamt of doing. We made our dream come true with love, dedication and bold decisions.

Today, eleven years later, we still feel the same passion about teaching English in Spain and now also beyond Spanish borders, as the very first day. Or even more, adding the reward of having brought English to so many people in Spain and abroad.

A big thank you to all our teachers that made it possible and to answer, day after day, the question about the best way to teaching English. Many thanks to our administrative staff, who takes good care of all of us and our clients. Many thanks to all those who trusted us and chose us to train them in English or as English teachers!

We hope to keep improving and growing with the same philosophy and good care for our product. The question we first asked: "What is the best way to teach English" still remains the engine of our research and preparation. We hope you enjoy the journey as much as we have!

We can do whatever we want to do! Happy birthday, Oxbridge!

12

June 2014
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30

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FM - Unifying format criteria for TEFL activities. The cherry on the cake!
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On debate: We need to unify format criteria when creating TEFL activities in order to create the perfect activity. The teachers creating activities and the ones correcting them have to use the same criteria. We agreed to: Creating st...

30

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by Radmila Gurkova
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16

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by Radmila Gurkova
The purpose of this piece of ESL activity belonging to our activities section for beginners is to introduce the verb 'play'. The previous ESL activity included the verb 'like' as well as 'play' so we removed the verb to like in order to simplify the activity. We introduced 4 Sports which all add something different to the ESL...

13

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ESL activities for beginners - a new ESL activity is born
by Radmila Gurkova
If you think these faces are too serious and concentrated, you are about right. The guys you are seeing in the picture, part of our Oxbridge TEFL teacher team in Madrid, are deeply engaged in creating ESL activities for beginners. Four teachers. One activity. An ESL activity for beginner learners of English t...

08

May 2014
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by Radmila Gurkova
How to teach beginners English as a foreign language in the target language only is sometimes a headache for ESL teachers. As it turned out, teaching the function I WANT in English without translating is not that easy. Students tend to confuse its meaning with I LIKE because this structure appears in similar contexts. How to teach beginners I...

20

March 2014
My favorite ESL class
by Radmila Gurkova
We asked different teachers about their favorite ESL class. We wanted them to explain what makes a great ESL class really memorable. We often hear teachers complaining about certain students and classes that were difficult. It's much more productive and rewarding to hear about TEFL teacher's favorite class...

14

March 2014
Positive learning environment: Learn from sports and apply to ESL classes to create the best environment for your students
by Radmila Gurkova
What is the best learning environment and how can we create a positive learning environment in our ESL classes? What can we learn from sports about positive learning environments? ...

07

March 2014
How to teach pronunciation through ESL activities. Say it clearer, not louder
by Radmila Gurkova
The OxbridgeTEFL community launched the project of how to teach pronunciation through ESL activities as a result of the necessity of creating specific tools -apart from the usual work on pronunciation through vocabulary activities- that would target Spanish learners' pronunciation. What moved us ...

27

February 2014
My Top 5 Reasons to do a TEFL course: featuring India Boddy
by Radmila Gurkova
Maki...