Monday, 30 June 2014

How to Write a Networking Email that Gets Results

Updated 8 December 2014

Everyone knows that connections are gold, but few people act on this. People continue to look for jobs and send their CV just like they've always done. They need to start networking and one easy way to do this is to contact peopel via email.  I've written about cold calling to get teaching jobs and how to network your way to a great job, but never had any sample emails about networking, so I thought it was high time to do so.

Below are 4 sample emails. The first email I received from someone (and yes, he gave me his permission to use the email as is) who is a avid networker. The last three are sample emails that I got from Cool Careers For Dummies. There are a ton of networking books out there with good tips as well.

Sample email asking if they know of any jobs
Dear Sharon,

First, I want you to know that I appreciate you being one of my LinkedIn connections. I am grateful to have university educators to assist me in gaining knowledge of a profession I plan to be a member of in the near future.

I am writing to ask you if you would keep your “ears and eyes” open for any positions that are available at your school. If you can send me the name and e-mail of the person in charge of hiring, I would be thankful. (Your name would be kept confidential, of course)

I am aware of DavesESLCafe, but I know that universities will ask their teachers if they know of a qualified individual.

 My education and experience is under my LinkedIn profile.Please feel free to contact me at or 010-6288-7959 if you have any questions or comments. Finally, I hope you remember that I am here to assist you in your professional endeavors.

Daniel Wolkenfeld  

Sample email to a friend of a friend
Dear Mary,

Tom Hawkins suggested I contact you. I have long been fascinated with fragrances and imagine that working in a perfumery would be wonderful.

I'd guess that I could do more than one thing for you, so I thought I'd share a few things I've done. Perhaps the following will enable you to see how I might help you:

I helped turn around the shipping department at McFallon's Wholesale Nursery. I developed a new system, hired great people, and created an environment in which everyone wanted to work hard.
I developed the website for a little home business: see
I received a grant from Exxon to create a catalog of South Carolina's wildflowers. It was an amazing experience.

Am I deluding myself into thinking that I might be of help to you even though I lack direct experience in a perfumery?

If you think I might be worth interviewing, or if you simply have a little advice for me, I'd love to hear from you. My number is 555-123-4567, and the best times to reach me are between 8-9 am and 5-6 pm.

Monica Pataki

Sample email for getting in touch with someone after many years
Dear John,

I'd imagine I'm the last person on the planet you'd expect to hear from. You and I were in the same statistics class with Professor Maracuilo at Penn Stat 20 years ago.

I've been a project manager with a video game company and got great evaluations, but they just sent all the work to India.

I've been reading a book on how to find a job and it urges job seekers to call everyone they know, no matter how distant the tie. So, I'm wondering, by any chance, if you might know someone who might need a good project software project manager or could lear me to one. And by any chance, might you know someone at one of these employers? (Insert your list of 25 target employers.)

Thank you for considering my request. I love my work and am eager to get back to it.

Henry Mikulski

Sample email for getting in touch after cold calling
Dear Mr. Johnson,

Thanks for taking my call yesterday.

I am pleased that you think my experiences at college make me marketable. I do think that my job marketing the campus radio station on the web taught me a lot that would be valuable to an employer.

And, of course, I appreciate your offering to keep your ears open for a position that may be appropriate for me.

I've already followed up on your suggestion that I contact Jane Doe. I just called and left a voice mail. 

Work aside, it was fun hearing about your new sailboat.

Best regards,
Harry Moskowitz

Some Tips
Here are some things I've learned over the years about networking.

Don't ever, ever ask people to get you a job. Just don't. I personally don't feel comfortable recommending someone and I wouldn't want someone to recommend me. It can easily backfire. You can read more here. That's one reason why I really like Daniel's email, because he said he'd keep my name confidential. I have no problem passing info on, and I have, many times. But I don't recommend people, ever.

Say thank you. I cannot believe how few people ever say thank you. I've been on Dave's ESL Cafe for over a decade, blogging since 2008, and also in a handful of Facebook job groups. I like organising info and I like helping people. I often get a couple emails and PMs a week asking for help. I always answer and that's usually the end of it. Hardly anyone says thanks, which is a big mistake. It really doesn't take that long to hit reply and say something like thanks for taking time out of your busy day to answer my question. I don't do this because I want people to thank me, however, it's common courtsey, like the poster that says Everything I need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Even if they can't help you, you should still say thank you.

Don't take it personally. If someone doesn't get back to you, or can't help you, that's ok. Move on.

Follow up. If they don't get back to you, try sending a follow up email. Just one though, you don't want to stalk them. Over to you


Saturday, 28 June 2014

The Best TEFL Jobs in Georgia

Here's the information for Georgia for The Best TEFL Jobs in the World. You might also want to look at The Best TEFL Jobs With Worldwide Employers.  

I only have one job listed. If you know of any other good ones, please let me know by emailing me at
  1. TGL (Teach and Learn Georgia): There are a number of posts on Dave's ESL Cafe about this programme.


Tuesday, 24 June 2014

Why You Should Use Role Plays in Class

Using role plays in class is great to get students motivated and involved in learning. This holds especially true for ESL and EFL classes. Role plays can be used with all ages and levels.

All Levels
They can be good for beginners because they can see how they can use the few words they know. Intermediate students often hit a plateau and role plays can help them grasp more words for specific situations. Role plays can help advanced students become more fluent in English.

All Ages
Children really enjoy doing role plays since they often pretend on their own. When left on their own children are likely to play house, pretend to be dinosaurs, or act in any number of situations. Using role plays with teens is a great way to get them up, doing something, and involved in the class. Adults might already have experience with role plays in the workforce, at training events for example.

Different Ways of Learning
People learn differently and some people learn by doing. If you combine speaking a foreign language with actions they may be more likely to remember.

Positive Feedback
Students are able to get immediate positive feedback through applause and verbal feedback. Both you the teacher and other students can tell the actors what they've done well.

Review the Lesson
Role plays allow students to use new words, expressions, and grammar in a suitable context. By using what they've learnt earlier in the lesson straightaway, they are more likely to retain what they've learnt.

Useful Links
You might want to check out fun ESL plays for children, role play ideas that work, and example role plays.


Friday, 20 June 2014

The Best TEFL Jobs in France

Here's the information for France for The Best TEFL Jobs in the World. You might also want to look at Europe for non-EU passport holders and The Best TEFL Jobs With Worldwide Employers.  

  1. Ministry of Education assistant teachers: You'll have to be between 20-29. Here's the info from the French embassy in Washington, Escape Artist, a short summary, as well as a description of the programme. 
  2. Speaking Agency: They mainly have au pair, nanny, teaching, and tutoring jobs. They also have short-term jobs such as those in retail, restaurant, hospitality, tourism and more. If you need a visa they can put you in touch with an agency that can help you get a visa. Some of the visas they have gotten people were working holiday visas, working visas, student visas, private life visas, and resident visas.


Tuesday, 17 June 2014

Top Tips for Teaching Pronunciation

You might also be interested in
Teachers are often plagued by students asking them how they can improve their pronunciation. This probably happens because we often don't teach pronunciation directly like we teach other things such as grammar. International House has a good online course helping teachers learn about teaching pronunciation.

What do you tell them? Practice? Listen to native speakers? Watch TV? Those are all legit answers and can help students, but you're going to have to go a bit more in depth. Below you can find some ideas to help you out. You can also find specific websites dealing with pronunciation in the article sites for lesson plans

Physically Show Them
Different languages cause you to manipulate your mouth differently. Showing students how their mouth has to form the sounds can help. You can also try using charts which can be found in some ESL and EFL books.

Use Phonetics
The phonetic alphabet may be tough to learn, but it's incredibly useful when trying to teach pronuncation. Learn it and use it. Your students will thank you. Too hard? Invent your own alphabet. You can use words that sound similar or rhyme to help your students as well.

Speak Naturally and Link Words
While you may need to speak slowly for beginners, don't speak like a robot. English speakers naturally run words together. You don't want your students to say, "What. Are. You. Going. To. Do?" You want them to say, "Whaddya gonna do?"

English has word stress and sentence stress. Syllables are stressed inside of words, not every syllable receives the same stress. For example, you say, "TAble", not "taBLE".

In addition, sentences can change meaning depending on which word you stress. For example, "Give ME the pen" means that you want the person to give you the pen and not to give it to someone else. "Give me the PEN" means that you want the pen, not the pencil.

Going along with stress and not being a robot is intonation. Our voice goes up and down in pitch when we speak English. For example, "I'm so happy" would have your voice start at a low pitch and go up. "That's too bad" would start high and go low. Here are some Tips on perfecting your pronunciation.

Voiced vs Voiceless
Voiced means your throat vibrates when you talk, for example, when you say the letter "g". Voiceless is when your throat doesn't vibrate, like in the letter "k". Your mouth and tongue are in the same position for "g" and "k", but the former is voiced. Have your students feel how their throat vibrates when they talk.

Aspirated vs Not Aspirated
This is when a little puff of air comes out of your mouth. For example, "b" is aspirated, but "p" isn't. Your students can hold their hand in front of their mouths and feel the air come out.

Words such as "15" and "50" are easily confused. 15 has a long vowel while 50 has a short vowel. I saw a teacher demonstrate this once with a rubber band. The students had to say the word and stretch the rubber band if it was a long vowel. Simple, but it works.

Minimal Pairs
Make a worksheet with words that are nearly the same, such as "tip, tap" or "fashion, passion" or "pray, play" or "ship, sheep". They should say them aloud and can work in pairs, groups, or as a class. You can even use pictures or have them draw, such as "a sheep is on the ship". Ship or Sheep is a good website for these.

Have Some Fun
Have your students try to impersonate people. This is fun and a relaxed way to learn pronunciation. They can practice with different accents, such as British, Australian, Irish, etc. Have them take it a step further and imitate foreigners speaking their language.

Tongue twisters are another favourite among EFL learners, especially since it's hard for native speakers. Demonstrate a tongue twister and your students will see that making mistakes are ok and can be fun. There are a number of fun activities you can do with your students.


Saturday, 14 June 2014

The Best TEFL Jobs in Cyprus

Here's the information for Cyprus for The Best TEFL Jobs in the World. You might also want to look at Europe for non-EU passport holders and The Best TEFL Jobs With Worldwide Employers.  


It's hard to work unless you know the Greek and are E.U. citizens. The exceptions are private secondary and primary schools where the first language is English, which do advertise vacancies from time to time but their demands are quite stringent and include relevant experience apart from academic qualifications. There are a number in the all the main towns. Here are the ones from Paphos.
  1. The American Academy
  2. The International School of Paphos: you'll need to have a degree and be fluent in English.


Thursday, 12 June 2014

The Best TEFL Jobs in the USA

Here's the information for the USA for The Best TEFL Jobs in the World. You might also want to look at The Best TEFL Jobs With Worldwide Employers.  


  1. ELS
  2. DLI (Defense Language Institute): Located in Washington DC, Monterrey, California and Texas. They recruit through  usajobs and may advertise under the US military, such as the air force, army, etc. Here's an example of their advertsPay is usually $58,000-$75,000 plus benefits.
  3. i-to-i: Trainers usually work on the weekend. You pay i-to-i a certain fee and keep the rest of the fees the students pay.
  4. Oxford Seminars: Trainers usually work on the weekend. You pay Oxford Seminars a certain fee and keep the rest of the fees the students pay.


Wednesday, 11 June 2014


Option 1


Option 2


Option 3

More tips


Tuesday, 10 June 2014

The Best TEFL Jobs in Australia

Here's the information for Australia for The Best TEFL Jobs in the World. You might also want to look at The Best TEFL Jobs With Worldwide Employers.   


Kinshachi from Dave's ESL Cafe shared some good tips on what you should expect from a good job in Australia in this post. Basically, you're looking at 20 hours face-to-face teaching per week (most colleges now do 5 hours per day, so you get 3 day weekends) to classes of mixed L1 adults, legally capped at 18 students.

The rates depend on qualifications and experience, but average around $50k per year, plus 9% superannuation.You should also look at the Fair Work Australia website.
  1. IDP is the owner of IELTS and has branches all over the world. (they're also in recommend in The Best TEFL Jobs in Cambodia). Good management, salary, and opportunities to do IETLS exams.


Saturday, 7 June 2014

List of ESL, EFL, and Linguistic Journals

If you're looking to get published, here's a list of journals, online publications, and online resources that should help you get started. Be aware that there are open access journals out there as well. Many of them are shady, you pay, you get published. There are also lots of tips on how to get published. Or you can go to to self-publish.

Useful Links


Poll Results May 2014: How long did it take you to get your job?

May's poll was "How long did it take you to get your job?" Here are the results.
  • less than 2 weeks: 0% with 0 votes
  • 2-4 weeks: 50% with 1 vote
  • 4-8 weeks: 50% with 1 vote
  • more than 2 months: 0% with 0 votes
It seems that most people are able to get a job pretty easily. Good jobs can be hard to find though! Check out this list of the best TEFL jobs around the world

Be sure to vote in this month's poll: Student evals are . . .


Sunday, 1 June 2014

Sending Money Home

Updated 12 November 2014


Before You Send Money
  1. Bank Drafts / Cashiers Cheques / Money Orders from Banks
  2. Bank Transfers to Different Banks
  3. Bank Transfers to the Same Bank
  4. Debit Cards
  5. Money Orders
  6. Paypal
  7. Traveller's Cheques
  8. Country Specific information

1. Bank Drafts, Cashiers Cheques, Money Orders




2. Bank Transfers to Different Banks


3. Bank Transfers to the Same Bank

4. Debit Cards


5. Money Orders

6. Paypal

7. Traveller's Cheques

8. Country Specific







The Paypal option works in Japan too.




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