Gerhard Erasmus

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Gerhard Erasmus started blogging for Pavilion ELT in December 2019. He moved over to blog for the new look Modern English Teacher in January 2022 where he will continue to write about teaching and management issues, ways to teach pronunciation and other teaching/teacher training techniques. Gerhard has been involved in ELT management since 2006 as senior teacher, academic manager, and director of studies. He is currently based in Taiwan where he is Director of Studies and Course Director at a language school and teacher training centre. He is also a Trinity Certificate TESOL, TYLEC, and Trinity Diploma TESOL tutor. Alongside all of this, Gerhard is Coordinator of IATEFL LAMSIG (Leadership and Management Special Interest Group) and draws lots of his inspiration from the connections he has built with managers and leaders in ELT from across the globe. His management interests involve learning and development of managers, specifically those starting their careers as teachers, and it is also the focus of his current Educational Doctorate studies.

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The baby camel

I love stories. They are great for lessons, they are great for analogies, and best of all, they are fun. So, I have opted to start this blog with a story. A baby camel asks his mum, ‘Why do we have humps?’ Mummy replies, ‘We are desert animals, so they help us store water so we can survive.’ Baby asks, ‘and why do we have long legs and round feet?’ Mummy says, ‘So it is easier for us to walk in the desert.’ Then baby asks, ‘Why do we have these long eye lashes. They are annoying and get in the way.’ Mummy says, ‘They...

The day TBLT died

Many of my blogs are born from conversations with teachers or trainers. This one is no different. I will start by saying that as much as I am no fan of absolutes, I feel quite strongly that the best way to get beginners operational is a Comprehensible Input driven methodology like TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling), but I detest the fact that the methodology is trademarked. I also think that once communication, even at a fairly basic level is possible, Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT or TBL) is the best way forward. That obviously means that I...

The neutrality trap

In ELT, we are encouraged to be ‘neutral.’ We use the PARSNIPS acronym (Politics, Alcohol, Religion, Sex, Narcotics, Isms, Pork) to identify topics that should be avoided to prevent conflict in the classroom. From a management perspective, this is often seen as the ‘safe’ route—a way to ensure the school remains a business-focused, harmonious environment. However, in a geo-politically complex and volatile world, this ‘neutrality’ can become a trap. When we manage teachers and students in regions affected by war, occupation, or extreme political shifts, pretending the ‘P’ (Politics) doesn't exist isn't being neutral, it is being insensitive, and...

Concept Checking Questions

Concept checking questions fascinate me. Why? Because they are generally either overused or used extremely poorly. I can probably think of a dozen or so instances where I have seen a teacher use concept checking questions and thought, ‘Wow! That was very good use of CCQs (concept checking questions).’ So, what are the main problems? First, they are used when they should not be used or not used when they should. Second, teachers approach it like a magical three question formula without thinking about the need for them. Third, the wrong concept is checked, and lastly, the meaning is not...

Things that amuse me

While thinking about what to write so we can start the year with something fun, I was preparing for Cambridge Advanced class, and we were doing word formation, particularly looking at or reviewing morphemes like ‘bi’ for two in words like bicycle or binoculars, ‘tele’ for far in telephone, television, telescope, and ‘scope’ for ‘to look at’. As part of this, I made a little review quiz, so as a start, you can try the quiz yourself. I allowed them to use dictionaries, so you can too. What can we use to: • Look in someone’s ear – Otoscope (this was...

Be wise – Time is money

I am going to start this blog with a story. Then, I will explain why I vehemently disagree with the story and why it is in fact terrible advice. The story Imagine you wake up every morning with 86400 dollars in your bank account. It happens every single day. But there is no carry over. Whatever you do not spend is lost. How would you spend it? You don’t know when it will stop, but you know that at some point in the future, it will stop. Will you make a better plan for using it? We all have this account, but other...

Choosing a course book – What checklists don’t tell you

Discover practical tips for choosing a course book that truly fits your needs. Avoid common pitfalls and make your selection process more effective. We want to change materials. We have to change materials because the book is no longer in print or available. Or we are starting a new course, and we need a book. For each different reason that exists for choosing a new course book, there are probably a hundred ‘checklists’ that ‘help’ with the process. And to be honest, most of those checklists are like coursebooks. By that, I mean they are in essence all the same. I...

Meaning, form and pronunciation of complex sentences?

Discover how to effectively teach pronunciation of complex sentences by focusing on meaning, form, and stress, not just terminology. Perhaps this blog is partially an admission of guilt. It is also something I hope to share with future trainees, because it is a question I get very often from trainees after our teacher training courses. The time on a CELTA or Trinity CertTESOL is often so little that, at times, things feel rushed. We go over many different parts of grammar and lexis, lots of new terminology, features of pronunciation, and how to teach them. And with us, we quickly...

“AI, like the internet and extensive reading, will replace teachers”

Gerhard Erasmus explores why he believes it is unlikely that AI, like the internet will replace teachers and explains why this is not really a new phenomenon. As a teacher trainer, I get asked this question so often that I almost have a memorised formulaic response to it now. ‘Will AI replace teachers or change how we learn languages?’ Those are really two separate questions, but I will mostly be addressing the first part of the question in this blog. For the second question, I will just use one paragraph in the introduction part. Will AI change how we...

Young Learner Exams – Who is it for?

Every month, I make a short video that we post on our social media. These are mostly to promote the school, but also to provide some guidance for parents and teachers. A few months ago, I did a video on young learner exams, and how they are interpreted. Quite a few school owners and examiners messaged me saying they disagree with what I had said. Now, I was quite happy that they were actually watching the videos, but felt many had missed the point of what I was saying. So, with the full intention of being somewhat confrontational, this...

Value or valued? Are you dating or married?

In a recent consultation session with a school manager, I used an analogy that came to me at the time, and I am going to re-use it in this blog. She was upset about lack of development of a teacher she had employed. In the recruitment process, this teacher stood out as better prepared than all the other candidates. She felt it was an easy choice in the recruitment process but now feels the teacher has failed to live up to the high expectations she had had of them. There was some conflict between them, and I was ‘hired’...

Grammar me this, grammar me that

Before we get started, please do not take any of the examples in this blog as evidence of anything. They are purely to get you to rethink grammar, and grammar teaching, and obviously, to have a bit of light-hearted fun. For evidence, do read a little further. Now, let’s get right to into it. Do you agree with the following statement. If you do, can you think of another example. If not, why not? Walk cannot be used as a noun unless you add an ‘ing’ (Walking is good for you) or an article like ‘A walk in the park’ or...

Organisational cycles – Is it a new year yet?

A new year, of whatever kind, is often a time of celebration, a fresh start, plans for the coming year, but at times, it can mean despair and confusion. Here, Gerhard Erasmus looks at how different cycles in your organisation can mean a ‘new year’ for different people you work with at different times, and how you can best address their needs.

Morphology and Syntax: What do we teach and assess vs What do they learn

Gerhard Erasmus was a decade into his teaching career before he heard the word morphosyntax. Here, he explains why thinking about grammar as morphology and syntax opened up a whole new teaching world to him, as he explores what this means in practice.

Is Santa real? The gift of giving anonymously

As we start to approach Christmas, children are keenly awaiting Santa, and adults vary from excited to dreading the money they might need to spend. Here, Gerhard Erasmus looks at Santa from a different perspective, and suggests why we must keep Santa alive, not just for Christmas, but for the whole year.
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