HOW TO TEACH EFL AT A THAI UNIVERSITY WITH MINUMUM EFFORTS AND MAXIMUM RESULTS - ALBERT ELISHA OBERDORFER

ALBERT ELISHA OBERDORFER, MAG. PHIL. *
* 34 + semesters teaching experience at a Thai university
HOW TO TEACH EFL
AT A THAI UNIVERSITY
WITH
MINIMUM
EFFORTS
AND
MAXIMUM
RESULTS
14 Simple, Practical, Proven
Techniques & Strategies That Will
Save You Time, Money & Energy and
Increase Your Effectiveness Manifold
1

The name of the game is to
work smarter—not harder.
2

KAIZEN.
THE JAPANESE call it ‘Kaizen.’
We call it continuous improvement.
Continually upgrading.
How much sense does it make to be
spending hours upon hours cutting a piece
of meat?
With a knife that is not up to the task?
Or blunt?
It would make sense to invest half an hour
into sharpening the knife.
Or even buying a super sharp ceramic
kitchen knife.
3

4

The Pareto
principle—
the 80/20
rule—says
that 20%
of what we
do causes
80% of the
results. 1
5

6

To be more
productive,
we need to
find out what
works and
keep doing
more of what
works and
less of what
doesn’t.
7

CONTENTS
8
KAIZEN. 3
THE BUG THAT CAME IN THE MORNING.
DILIGENCE MAKES THE DAY—OR DOES IT? 13
SUITED FOR THE HIGHEST OFFICE. 19
SIMPLE, PRACTICAL, AND PROVEN
TECHNIQUES AND STRATEGIES.
1 ELIMINATE. SIMPLIFY. AUTOMATE.
DELEGATE. 25
2 DON’T LECTURE. 35
3 DON’T OVERWORK YOURSELF. 39
4 SIMPLIFY. 43
3 STREAMLINE YOUR COMMUNICATION. 45
4 DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL. 51
5 BE SELECTIVE. 55
6 LESS IS MORE. 61
7 THINK INPUT-OUTPUT. 65
8 PLAN YOUR SCHEDULE WISELY. 67

9 FIRST THINGS FIRST. 69
10 GRADE WITH STYLE. 73
11 MAKE PARKINSON’S LAW WORK TO YOUR
ADVANTAGE. 77
12 PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE. 81
13 TAME THE SOCIAL MEDIA BEAST. 85
14 DECISION-MAKING: A REVISED MODEL. 89
9

10

THE BUG THAT CAME
IN THE MORNING.
11

12

DILIGENCE MAKES
THE DAY—OR DOES
IT?
I LOOKED at my watch, and it was just
before 5 am.
That’s when it came.
I still remember it so well because when
I heard the deep humming sound, I was
so glad and curious at the same time.
I had just finished grading the last
pieces of the final exams of a reading
and writing class—for those of you who
know, it was 311 Reading and Writing
1.
I had started at around 10 pm the
evening before and been super diligent
in correcting every sentence of the
students’ writings with a red pen in
great detail.
I felt like a keen editor for a peerreviewed
journal. (Actually, I had done
editing research papers for medical
journals for my wife before then.)
13

14

I needed to grade about 24 pieces of 1-pagelong
writings.
And it took me 8 hours of overnight hard
work.
So when I heard the beetle’s sound, I was
so thankful that I had finished grading and
that I got to see this exciting creature.
I opened the door to our verandah and tried
to locate it.
It sat on a vine resting.
I felt for it. Because it had this huge body
and relatively small wings, in proportion to
that huge fat body.
So it sat there—a beautiful specimen.
And I sympathized with it.
Because I thought that it has to carry this
huge body around on those relatively small
wings.
(According to the laws of aerodynamics,
those creatures—like beetles and humming
bees — are not even supposed to be able
to fly.)
And then the sun came up and flooded us
with its glorious light.
I was so glad and overjoyed that I got to
see all this.
15

16
But the point is this.
Today, I am grading the very same
paragraphs in about 1/5 of the time.
On that day it took me 8 hours.
Today it takes me from 1 - 2 hours max.
And I’m more effective in those 1 - 2 hours
than I was in those 8 hours before.
I give better and more accurate and useful
feedback than before.
I am learning that being diligent is not
always a good thing.
Only if it is smart diligence.
Not necessarily hard work.
Imagine the loaf of meat once again.
Cutting it with a razor-sharp knife would
do the job in a matter of minutes.
But dabbling at it with an unsuitable
knife—even if you were super dilligent!—
might not get it done at all, and if with
much sweat, very inefficient and very
messy.
It is the same with teaching.
The name of the game in teaching is not
hard work.
The name of the game is to apply principles,
methods, and techniques that are effective.

That can save your time, money, and energy
while at the same time making you a more
productive and effective teacher.
I trust the principles and strategies that I
have outlined in this book will help you do
just that.
USING A GADGET
BOX SAVES YOU
A LOT OF ENERGY
TRYING TO CORRECT
STUDENTS WHO ARE
SOCIAL NETWORKING
ON THEIR PHONES
IN CLASS. [SEE 12.
PREVENTION IS
BETTER THAN CURE.]
17

18

SUITED FOR THE
HIGHEST OFFICE.
RICHARD Koch, the author of the book
the 80/20 principle, says this: 2
One of my favorite quotations comes—
rather oddly perhaps—from one of the
Prussian army officers called Erich von
Manstein who had this to say about his
people. He said,
“There are only four types of officers. First,
there are the lazy, stupid ones” Now did he
suggest firing these people? Not at all. He
said, “Leave them alone. They do no harm.”
Because at least they are lazy. “Second,
there are the hard-working, intelligent
ones.” Now, they are good, obviously. They
make excellent staff officers ensuring that
every aspect of the plan is very carefully
considered. “And third, there are the hardworking,
stupid ones. Now, these people,”
he said, “are a menace. They must be fired
at once. They create irrelevant work for
everybody. And finally, there the intelligent
lazy ones. Now, these people are suited for
the highest office.”
19

20
She has it all worked out how to catch
them. No stress for her.

So the good general was suggesting that
whether you are smart or intelligent, it is
actually much better to be lazy. Is this a
silly paradox?
Visualize it. Do you think that Warren Buffet
is busy frantically crunching numbers at
his desk?
Do you think this is what Ruppert Murdoch
spends his time doing? Do you imagine
that Jim Clark does that?
So Koch’s point is that smart work is what
makes the day.
And that being diligent not always actually
helps but may even do harm.
21

22

SIMPLE, PRACTICAL,
AND PROVEN
TECHNIQUES AND
STRATEGIES.
23

She has a strategy and a plan.
24
It’s all about the mindset.

1 ELIMINATE.
SIMPLIFY. AUTOMATE.
DELEGATE.
USING this simple process will help you to
get rid of unnecessary clutter in your life. 3
4. DELEGATE
3. AUTOMATE
2. SIMPLIFY
1. ELIMINATE
Including in your teaching.
1) ELIMINATE
Approach a task by first asking this
question,
“Does this task need to be done?”
If the answer is No, then do not do it.
25

This sounds obvious, right?
In my previous example of me grading 24
final exam papers for 8 hours overnight, I
should have asked myself this question.
Is it necessary for me to give detailed
feedback on these papers?
The answer would have been ‘no.’
For several reasons.
I was only required to score the final exams.
Not to give any feedback on the writing.
Because the students never got to see their
final exams anyway.
So, in this case, it was a complete waste of
time.
Except that I got to see the bug in the
morning and a most sublime sunrise, which
I would not have seen otherwise because I
would have been sleeping.
So maybe just for seeing this unique beetle
and the sunrise, it was worth it.
Back to the point.
Many tasks you might be doing as a teacher
are not necessary.
They do not help neither you nor the
students.
So why do such tasks then?
26

So the first step in this decision making
process model requires us to think first
before doing anything.
“Is it really indispensable for me to do this
task?”
This is a very valid question when it comes
to focusing on what kind of activities you
should include in your teaching activities.
It is vital that you focus on activities that the
students will be tested on in their in-class
tests and their mid-term and final exams.
Otherwise, it is not fair for the students.
It’s like a swimmer who practices freestyle
a lot.
But then in the competition, she is supposed
to race in a butterfly race.
She needs to be practicing swimming
butterfly if she gets will take part in a
butterfly race.
This sounds very obvious.
But you will often find in textbooks
that many activities do not necessarily
contribute to the clear learning objective.
Take a course, for example, in which the
students learn how to write a paragraph
and how to take notes.
27

They are tested in several in-class writing
tests and their mid-term and final exams on
their skills in writing a coherent, logically
structured paragraph.
Then this is what the teacher in this class
should be mainly focusing on.
He should include lots of activities in
which the students get to write paragraphs
in class.
Because this is what the students will be
tested on.
And the teacher should include lots of
activities that allow the students to practice
note-taking if this is what the students will
be tested on.
The teacher should feel very free to cut
out (eliminate) any activities that do not
directly contribute to this clear learning
objective.
So step 1 is ‘Eliminate’.
2) Step 2 is ‘SIMPLIFY.’
If you decide to do a task because you
think it is essential to do it, you can ask the
next question.
“Can this task be simplified?”
So you are trying to find ways how to make
complicated things easy.
28

You are trying to declutter stuff.
For example, when you are giving
instructions
3) ‘AUTOMATE.’
Ask the question, ‘Can this task be
automated?
So that I do not have to do it?
But that there is a system in place that does
it for me?
For example, I have seen teachers setting
up a laptop at the door of a classroom.
Then they have the students who come in
scan something or click something on the
laptop.
So the system is doing the class attendance
for the teacher automatically.
This would save a lot of time.
So look for ways to automate some
processes so that you do not need to do
them.
Your aim is to be as effective as possible, so
you can spend your valuable time focusing
on being a learning facilitator.
You do not want to waste a lot of time, for
example, on administrative stuff that can
be automated.
29

4) The last step is ‘DELEGATE.’
Ask yourself the question, “Can this task
be delegated?
There are myriads of tasks that you can
delegate as a teacher.
Wiping the whiteboard clean for example
is a simple task that you can delegate to
your students.
Turning on and off electrical equipment,
air conditioners, lights, fans, changing the
seating arrangement, etc.
All these tasks can be delegated.
Even grading multiple choice exams.
I am asking our house helper to do it for
me.
I show her clearly how to do it, then doublecheck
that she has understood what she is
supposed to do, and then I let her do it.
She doesn’t understand English.
But she can still help me because this is a
task almost anybody can do it.
It would be a waste of my precious time
to do it because I can do something more
meaningful in the meantime.
I even pay her for it because my hourly
rates are higher than hers.
30

So it also makes sense to delegate this
work to her from an economic point of
view.
If you learn how to delegate, you can save
money because you can spend your time
doing things that are more valuable than
doing menial tasks.
In my case, I prefer writing books instead
of grading multiple-choice exams.
So if you can apply this simple process
of asking yourself these 4 questions, it
will help you to much in the process of
becoming a more efficient and effective
teacher.
[See flowchart ‘Standard Decision-
Making Process’ on the next page.]
31

32

STANDARD DECISON-MAKING
PROCESS
Do it
No
Can I delegate this task?
Yes
Delegate
No
Can I automate this task?
Yes
Automate
No
Can I simplify this task?
Yes
Simplify
Yes
Can I eliminate this task?
No
Do not do it
33

34
Teacher talk.

2 DON’T LECTURE.
APPLY action learning principles instead
of lecturing to your students.
It’s more fun for them, and it is more fun
for you.
And they are learning better.
Learning by listening is not effective.
Instead, have them do something.
Put them in the driver’s seat.
Let them talk.
Let them explain something.
35

36

Let them practice.
Randomize.
Change your classroom to be a place of
learning.
Apply student-centered learning principles.
Be a learning facilitator.
Don’t think that you have to deliver content
to your students.
Especially if it is content that your students
will easily forget anyway.
Because they learn extremely little by
being passive listeners.
I’d like to recommend a book that I
have written to help teachers transition
from being lecturers to being learning
facilitators.
It is called ‘Upgrade Your Teaching
Style: 68 Practical, Proven Techniques
& Strategies How to Facilitate Effective,
Creative & Fun-Filled Student-Centered
Learning in an Institutional Asian EFL
Setting.
37

38

3 DON’T OVERWORK
YOURSELF.
THERE IS a saying ‘organize or agonize.’
Preserve your energy inside and outside
the classroom.
For example, there is so much that you
delegate to your students (as we’ve
mentioned before).
It is all a matter of organizing and coming
up with useful ideas.
With a little planning ahead, you can save
time.
Let’s say your students have just finished
an in-class writing exam, and they are
about to hand in their papers (an outline
and a paragraph).
You only need to grade the paragraphs (not
the outlines).
So you create two stacks of paper.
A stack with the outlines.
And a stack with the paragraphs.
39

As the students are handing in their work,
they need to put their outlines on one stack
and their paragraphs on another pile.
So when you get home and do the grading,
you then do not need to separate the exam
papers.
It is already done.
A little planning and foresight have saved
you a few minutes.
That’s how long it would have taken you
to separate the exam papers at home by
yourself.
Instead, you had the students do it.
So you saved a few minutes.
This is a simple example, but
the key is that when you are
looking out for opportunities
to do things more effectively,
you will find them.
Here is another example.
Suppose you need to grade
an exam.
The answer sheet may look
something like this.
In that case, make a template: simply box
in the right answers on transparency.
40

Then place the transparency over an exam
paper, count the number of the correct
answers, and write it down.
No circling of correct answers.
No crossing out of incorrect answers.
No looking back and forth between the
sheet with the answer key and the exam
paper.
It takes about 5 minutes to make a template.
But this method enables you to be 3-times
faster than by using the conventional way
and allows you to be more accurate.
I have seen teachers make a template by
cutting out the boxes that display the correct
answer. Then they would use a highlighter
and highlight the correct answer on the
exam paper.
It takes more time to create this kind of
template, and even highlighting the right
answers on the exam paper is unnecessary
as it takes time.
So as a teacher, you can always look out
for ways how to make your life easier.
Without being less effective.
That is the beauty of smart solutions.
You are faster and more effective at the
same time.
41

42

4 SIMPLIFY.
USE ONE schoolbag for your stuff.
Put all the folders you need into that bag.
Don’t take stuff in and out.
To save time.
Use one light plastic folder with the
attendance sheets and schedules and
curricula of all of your classes.
So all your essential pages are in one place.
They are neatly organized.
This makes you save time, and it makes
you more productive.
Be always on the lookout of how you can
de-clutter and simplify your life.
And your teaching.
43

44

3 STREAMLINE YOUR
COMMUNICATION.
USE LINE groups to communicate with
your students.
Give them instructions.
Send them information such as answer
keys.
Ask them to post their work, and then
selectively give feedback.
In that way, the whole class can benefit.
If you give your students individual
feedback, the rest of the class can’t benefit
from that.
But if you do it in the LINE group, the rest
of the class can learn from your feedback.
You can even teach a whole class on LINE.
The possibilities are endless.
One word of caution, though.
Be very careful what and how you say things
in the LINE group because everything is
public.
45

46

You need to be aware of that.
Sometimes students will also want to talk
to you privately and ask you questions
about something.
In that case, you can clarify to them that
you do not talk to students personally (in a
separate LINE group when they send you
a message directly).
Tell them to post their question(s) in the
group.
Make this clear to the class.
In that way, others in the class can also
benefit from your answers, and it is also
safer for you.
Make sure that you don’t waste your time
by replying to the students at all times.
Only when you have allocated that time
for that.
Otherwise, being always available and
responding immediately to people can
cause you to be quite ineffective.
Because every time you reply to LINE
unscheduled, it disrupts your attention
from what you are currently focused on.
For some teachers, to become more
productive, they may need to learn how to
use their mobile phones wisely, particularly
in social networking.
47

48
Become phone-wise so that your mobile
phone doesn’t become a distracting and
time-stealing force in your life.

49

50
This does it for me.

4 DON’T REINVENT
THE WHEEL.
IF YOU run into some problem with your
teaching, don’t be shy to ask for help.
There is no need for you to reinvent
the wheel because if you have run into
some problem teaching, your colleagues
will have likewise. Some of them might
already have come up with a solution to
the problem.
So don’t be shy to ask your colleagues
how they do something or what they are
thinking about some issues.
In the overwhelming majority of cases,
they will be more than willing to share
their ideas with you.
They might even be willing to share with
you some of their supplementary teaching
materials.
Sure, you will need to critically evaluate
if others’ material is suitable for your
teaching style and purpose.
51

52
But if your colleagues have shared with
you some teaching tips or materials, do
your best to retaliate. This then will create
a pleasant atmosphere amongst you and
your fellow teachers.

53

54
This is a selective close-up photo of a brown
dachshund dog with a white scarf.

5 BE SELECTIVE.
LAST WEEK while I was hiking on the
Doi Suthep mountain in Chiang Mai, I met
Kirk from America.
Afterward, we had a fresh fruit frappe at a
local market and had a chat.
Kirk sometimes has food at the canteen of
the Social Sciences faculty.
He told me that he is sometimes approached
by students who hand him over their
assignment and kindly ask him if he could
help them correct the grammar.
Kirk asked me what I would suggest to
him to do in that case.
Do it for them?
Or say ‘no’?
I suggested him to give selective feedback.
I do the same in my writing classes.
It saves a lot of my time and helps the
students because I don’t do the work for
them.
55

For example, when I give students feedback
on their grammar, I don’t correct anything
for them; that is, I don’t do the work for
them.
What I will do is this.
I come up with some correction codes
for grammar mistakes, such as SVA for
subject-verb agreement mistakes, or
FRAG for sentence fragments or RUN-On
for run-on sentences and so on.
Then I selectively focus on about 3 mistakes
and give feedback on those 3 mistakes.
So I don’t correct every sentence and every
mistake for them.
Instead, I write down correction codes next
to the sentences with the mistakes.
Then the students need to identify the
mistakes and correct them.
Once they have mastered those 3 grammar
mistakes, I then move on to 3 more errors.
And so on.
This is also what I told Kirk.
I suggested that he not correct the students’
work and do it for them, but give them
selective feedback on a few points and then
send them back to correct those mistakes
by themselves.
56

SMART THINKING LEADS TO THE
RIGHT DECISIONS. TEACHING IS
NOT ABOUT TALKING SO THAT YOUR
STUDENTS UNDERSTAND. TEACHING
IS ABOUT THINKING HARD, WHICH
KIND OF ACTIVITIES AND LEARNING
STYLES ARE MOST EFFECTIVE, AND
THEN IMPLEMENTING THEM WISELY.
[SEE 14 DECISION-MAKING—A
REVISED MODEL.]
57

58

Your students are not babies. It’s not your
responsibility to spoon-feed them. If you teach
them to take responsibility for their learning,
they will become mature and effective learners.
59

60

6 LESS IS MORE.
BE CAREFUL about overloading your
students with content.
You shouldn’t just because your schedule
says that you need to finish this section of
the book by such and such a date.
Instead, focus on crucial tasks.
Less is more.
Especially when it comes to how content is
delivered or acquired.
It may be easy for teachers to bulldoze
through content in the book by giving an
excellent power-point presentation and
well structured and thought out lecture.
However, the problem is that students do
not learn by listening.
They learn by doing.
Task-based instruction is hugely more
effective than lecture-based instruction.
You may want to look at classrooms where
the teacher is lecturing.
It is not the student’s fault that they are so
easily distracted by their phones.
61

Good teaching doesn’t equal learning.
So less is more.
Focus on a limited number of learning
points and then structure your teaching so
that it is genuinely student-focused and
task-based.
Then your students will learn more.
You may cover less content.
Yes. But your students will still overall
learn more.
Because just because you have covered
some content does not automatically mean
that students have also learned much.
If anything at all.
The only way we can know if students
have acquired a particular skill after they
have gone through the learning process is
by testing them.
So learning needs to include a testing
process.
This process is also called participatory
learning.
Only if students are undergoing this
learning process can we know whether or
not they have actually acquired a particular
skill.
62

It’s showtime.
63

64

7 THINK INPUT-
OUTPUT.
THINK in terms of effectiveness.
How can I do things effectively?
You want to be as effective as possible
with the least possible input.
Think of the Pareto (80/20) principle.
The key is not to work harder.
The key is to work smarter.
So the question is, “How can I have the
greatest impact on my students with the
least possible efforts?”
Which kind of activities can I have them
do that do not require a lot of effort on my
part but are hugely useful?
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66
Your time is valuable.

8 PLAN YOUR
SCHEDULE WISELY.
BLOCK your teaching, when you have the
choice to do that.
You may be teaching at a university.
See if you can block your teaching
assignments.
Let’s say teach only two days a week full
out instead of teaching on all days of the
week a few hours.
This will save you time commuting to and
from work.
Figure in the time you need to get to your
workplace.
And see if there are more efficient ways
how you can structure your daily activities,
including your work schedule.
67

68
Some things are more important than others.

9 FIRST THINGS FIRST.
BEFORE you start teaching a subject, do
this.
Make sure that you, as a teacher, understand
clearly what the students will be tested
on. This will then become your learning
objectives.
Let’s say you are teaching a writing
class, and in the course, the students will
need to be able to write different types of
paragraphs.
This will then be your clear learning
objective.
For example,
“My students will need to able to write
three types of paragraphs: a descriptive
paragraph, a narrative, and a reason
paragraph.”
“They will need to understand the paragraph
writing process.”
“This includes brainstorming (gathering
ideas) and outlining (structuring ideas).”
“After that, writing the first draft
(changing the ideas from the outline into
grammatically correct sentences).”
69

WASH BACK.
70

“And finally, revising (identifying grammar
mistakes and correcting them).”
If you know what skills the students will
need to be able to master, you can focus on
having them practice those specific skills.
This is basic logic.
Sometimes you will find that what students
are supposed to practice in a textbook and
what they will then be tested on doesn’t
always coincide. In that case, you can focus
on first things first. Have them practice
the skills they need to be able to master
for their exams.(Technically, this is called
‘washback.)
Eliminate (cut out) the things that the
students don’t need to know and focus on
what they need to know.
One of the first things you need to do when
you start teaching a class is finding out
what the clear learning objectives are.
But beware: Sometimes, the curriculum
will state some learning objectives that the
students are not really tested on.
You don’t want to be wasting precious time
focusing on minors.
Focus on important things first.
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72
A-grade.

10 GRADE WITH
STYLE.
YOU WANT to grade as efficiently and
effectively as you can.
Remember our Eliminate-Simplify-
Automate-Delegate process?
Your first question when you are about to
grade something should be, “Do I need to
grade this?”
You may be wasting time grading something
and giving too detailed feedback when it is
unnecessary and ineffective.
In my case, I often remind myself of the
experience I had when I was grading exam
papers overnight. [See The Bug That Came
in the Morning.]
If you have to grade something, then look
for ways to simplify the process.
For example, give selective feedback.
Or come up with a simple template. [See 3.
Don’t Overwork Yourself.]
In some courses, the university will
automate the grading process, such as
73

when students need to take multiple-choice
tests.
This is the good of us as teachers because
then we don’t need to do any grading.
(Of course, this kind of testing is not very
useful when it comes to learning. But that’s
beside the topic.)
But you may also be able to find ways how
you can delegate the grading.
In my case, I have started to ask our
housemaid to grade yes/no tests or multiplechoice
tests for me.
She can’t speak English, so I need to make
sure she knows what she needs to do.
I will first show her what to do (follow an
answer key).
Then I will let her do it under my
supervision.
And when I feel that she can do it, I will let
her do it on her own.
In the end, I will also do spot checks to
make sure that everything is up-to-par.
Delegating is a great time- and moneysaving
tool.
It frees us from doing mundane tasks that
we can easily delegate and pay people for.
74

From an economic point of view, it doesn’t
make sense to do any work that others
could do for you at an hourly rate lower
than yours.
If you learn how to delegate, it will save
you a lot of time and money.
So you can have more time and money to
focus on things that only you can do.
Things that you want to do.
(Like writing a book, for example.)
In the case of a complex operation, there
would be a team of medical workers
working together.
The chief
surgeon will
only do the
most critical
tasks.
She will
delegate the
rest to her
team, and only
focus on doing
that part that
only she can
do.
Anything else
would be a
waste of her time.
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This commodity will eventually run out.

11 MAKE
PARKINSON’S LAW
WORK TO YOUR
ADVANTAGE.
PARKINSON’S law says that a task grows
in accordance to the time allotted to it.
If you allow too much time for a task to be
completed, it will take up that amount of
time.
So, in short, things can be done much faster
than we might initially think.
And doing something faster does not mean
that the quality will suffer.
Instead, the opposite is the case.
In the past, it used to take me 8 hours to
grade 24 one-page-long paragraphs.
Now I can do it in 1 hour.
I am more effective, efficient, and more
accurate.
Because when I do the grading, I am at my
peak.
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The best solution is to turn it off.

So my advice to you is this.
When you do a task, do it with all your
might.
Don’t do it halfheartedly.
What do I mean by this?
I mean, put away your mobile phone while
you are focusing on grading.
Turn it off.
Put it in a different room.
Being constantly interrupted by notification
and sound signals on your phone while
working is a complete productivity killer.
It fragments our attention.
It makes us abysmally ineffective.
You may want to do some research on this
topic. (How does being online all the time
and allowing yourself to be continuously
distracted by social media affect your work
performance?)
You will be shocked.
The phone is a complete productivity
killer.
If not managed drastically, it dulls us.
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An elegant solution.
80

12 PREVENTION IS
BETTER THAN CURE.
THIS IS a given.
Prevention is better than cure.
To invest time and money in prevention is
much better than spending time and money
in a cure.
Countries know that.
Or they should know.
So I suggest, for the sake of your students,
consider using a gadget box. Help them
to learn better by removing any potential
distractions so that they can focus.
Bring a box, a foldable container, even a
plastic bag to class.
Then, at the beginning of a class, tell
your students to put their gadgets (mobile
phones) into the gadget box.
Unless you have planned to let them use
their phones.
In case you want to do some exercises
with them through a social networking
application, such as LINE.
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What else is there to do?

In that case, let them keep their phones.
Otherwise, ask them to put their phones in
the gadget box.
And make sure that at the end of the class,
remind them to pick up their phones from
the gadget box again.
IT ALSO HAS TO DO WITH
THE CLASS ACTIVITIES.
IF THE CLASS ACTIVITIES
ARE ENGAGING ENOUGH,
STUDENTS WILL NOT HAVE
TIME TO ACCESS SOCIAL
MEDIA DURING CLASS.
[SEE 2. DON’T LECTURE.]
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This creature needs to be handled with care.

13 TAME THE SOCIAL
MEDIA BEAST.
TO BE MORE effective in your teaching,
even in your life in general, curb your
mobile phone use.
Don’t allow social media to interrupt you
while you are doing essential tasks.
The problem is the notifications on our
phones that always keep popping up and
sound effects (‘bling’).
This disrupts our attention and severely
affects our productivity level.
Many people, the first thing they do in the
morning, is going through the notifications
on their phones and follow up on social
networking threads.
Don’t do this.
If you do it, it will drain your mind power.
You will start to think about all kinds of
issues that other people are throwing at
you.
But these are not your issues. These are
not the issues that will help you to move
forward in your life.
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86
This dog thinks she is the boss.

Imagine that your goal is to grade a stack
of student papers.
You want to do it most efficiently and
effectively.
While you are doing it, turn your phone
off. Be unavailable. Completely. And
focus all your undivided attention on the
task right before you. You will be surprised
how efficient you are.
If you allow social media to fragment your
attention, you will become hugely less
effective.
Because once your attention has been
diverted, it is hard to reach the same level
of focus as before.
While I am writing, my phone is on Flight
Mode.
And in case I am using my
phone’s personal hotspot,
the ‘Don’t Disturb Mode’
is on.
This does wonder for my
productivity. It will do the
same for you.
SHE IS LEARNING
THAT SHE IS NOT
THE BOSS.
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We need a goal.

14 DECISION-MAKING:
A REVISED MODEL.
HERE’S a revised model of the decisionmaking
process.
Before starting the process of elimination,
you need to ask the question, “What is (or
are) my clear goal of goals?
In other words, you need to define your
goals.
Without a clear goal, it is difficult to score.
1) Define.
2. ELIMINATE
1. DEFINE
6. DO HIGHER-LEVEL WORK
4. AUTOMATE
3. SIMPLIFY
5. DELEGATE
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So, before you start teaching a class,
determine the clear learning goals or
learning objectives.
To get a good idea, look at previous exams
(if possible) to get a clear picture of the
overall learning goals.
Once you have established clear learning
goals, you can move on to the next step.
2) Eliminate.
As we’ve said before, try and cut out any
learning activities that do not contribute to
specific learning objectives.
It would make little sense to be practicing
how to swim butterfly if you are goal is to
participate in a freestyle race.
So you will find that once you have
established and are clear on the learning
objectives, you will be able to cut out
things.
Then you can use the time you have
saved by cutting things out for necessary
(essential) issues.
3) Simplify.
This is a powerful idea.
It helps students immensely if you can
present critical ideas and learning points to
them as simply as possible.
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Without having a target it is hard to score.

Let’s say you are teaching a writing class.
Students will need to be able to write a
concise, lucid, and coherent paragraph.
They will need to be able to master the
process of paragraph writing. This includes
brainstorming (i.e., gathering ideas),
outlining (i.e., structuring ideas), and
writing a grammatically correct paragraph
(i.e., the process of drafting and revising).
If you give them a simple handout that
clarifies this process, it will help them
immensely. [See next page.]
You may be able to summarize the concepts
of 30 pages of a textbook and present it to
your students on a few pages.
4) Automate.
The next step in the decision-making
process is ‘automate.’
Let’s stick with the topic of paragraph
writing.
To be able to write grammatically correct
sentences, students need to be able to
master specific writing skills.
Such as to write sentences without subjectverb-agreement
mistakes or avoid sentence
fragments and run-on sentences, etc.
You may be able to find online exercises
that you can have your students do.
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You can automate this process.
Instead of you going over stacks of papers
of your students’ writings and painstakingly
giving them feedback on grammar points,
a program will do that for you.
There are tons of grammar exercising
programs and websites available for free.
So, instead of overworking yourself,
you can automate this process of helping
students improve their grammar skills.
5) Delegate.
This is also a powerful strategy that
teachers can use to their advantage.
Everything is a process.
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HOW TO WRITE A PARAGRAPH
STEP 1: FIND A SUITABLE TOPIC
(Not too broad, not too narrow)
STEP 2: GENERATE IDEAS
Do BRAINSTORMING (come up with 3 MAJOR
SUPPORTING IDEAS + MINOR SUPPORTS).
STEP 3: GROUP YOUR IDEAS
Write an OUTLINE
- Begin with a TOPIC SENTENCE.
- Use a correct FORMAT (NUMBERS,
LETTERS, INDENTATION).
- Use appropriate HEADINGS (MAJOR
SUPPORTING IDEAS).
- Use RELEVANT SUPPORTS (MINOR and
SUB-MINOR SUPPORTING IDEAS).
STEP 4: WRITE A FIRST DRAFT
Write COMPLETE SENTENCES and add
TRANSITIONS.
STEP 5: EDIT YOUR FIRST DRAFT
Do a GRAMMAR CHECK (no INCOMPLETE
SENTENCES, no RUN-ON SENTENCES,
TRANSITIONS, PUNCTUATION, and SPELLING).
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OUTLINE & PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE
Outline
Why I like to study at Chiang Mai University
I. There are many reasons why I like to study at
Chiang Mai University.
TOPIC SENTENCE
A. Nice environment
MAJOR SUPPORTS
1. Green surroundings
that
1. Good teachers
2. Technology
C. Social reasons
1. Family in Chiang Mai
2. Easy to make friends
D. Economic reasons
1. University fee cheaper than
of other universities
2. Cost of living cheaper than in
other cities
Pargraph structure
Topic
Topic sententence. Connector, Major Support
1. Minor Supporting ideas ..............................
.........................................................................
............... Connector, Major Support 2. Minor
Supporting ideas ..........................................
....................... Connector, Major Support 3.
Minor Supporting ideas .................................
............................. Connector, Major Support
4. Minor Supporting ideas ..............................
................................ Conclusion
TOPIC
LETTERS & 2. Good air
NUMBERS 3. Good views
MINOR SUPPORTS
B. Excellent learning facilities
96

INDENTATION
SAMPLE PARAGRAPH
Why I like to study at Chiang Mai University
There are many reasons why I like to study
at Chiang Mai University. First, in Chiang Mai,
the environment is nice. Chiang Mai has a lot
of green surroundings. Moreover, in Chiang
Mai, the air is good most time of the year.
Besides, in Chiang Mai, there are many good
lookouts from which you can have a beautiful
view. For example, on the road up to Doi
Suthep mountain, there are several lookouts at
various heights from which you can have a nice
view of the city. Second, the learning facilities
at Chiang Mai University are excellent. The
teachers are highly qualified, and the learning
technology is of a high standard. For example,
every classroom is equipped with a computer,
a projector, a screen, and an air conditioning
system. Third, I like to study at Chiang Mai
University for social reasons. My family lives
in Chiang Mai. It is also effortless for me to
make new friends in Chiang Mai because I
speak the local dialect. Finally, I like to study at
Chiang Mai University for economic reasons.
The university fee of Chiang Mai University
is cheaper than that of other universities.
Moreover, the cost of living in Chiang Mai is
less expensive than that of other cities. These
are the reasons why I like to study at Chiang
Mai University.
(230 words)
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Let them do their job.
98

When I think back of my university days, I
do not remember much of what I had been
learning there.
Many times as I sat in a lecture hall, I was
so awed about the ability of lecturers to
present information in such a coherent and
highly intelligent way.
But in terms of content, I can remember
very little (almost nil) what they talked
about.
But what I can remember is this.
The few times, when I had to give a
presentation on a particular topic.
I can still remember what I was presenting.
For example, in an introductory class to
English literature, I still remember that I
gave a presentation on the figures of speech
in writing (such as simile, metaphor, etc.).
And I remember, in a linguistics class, I
once presented a lecture in a 150-seater
lecture hall on the topic of linguistic
features of the English found in the King
James Version of the bible.
And so on.
Now when I think of it, I could still
remember most (if not almost all) of the
topics I presented.
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TALK, TALK, TALK.

But I can remember almost none of the
topics and content when I was a passive
listener.
What does this tell us?
That we learn better by doing than by
listening.
So if you can have your students present
information in class, it will be good for
them.
They (those who present) will benefit the
most.
Your goal in teaching is to have the students
learn most effectively.
So if you learn how to delegate work to
your students, it will be good for them.
And it will be useful for you.
Because you have less work.
And you are more effective.
You can use the time that you save by using
this technique of delegation in other ways.
You could help your students present
effectively by giving them instructions to
use compelling visuals, examples, etc.
If you delegate, it does not mean that you
will have nothing to do.
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But it means that you have more time to do
things that others cannot do.
6) So you can do higher-level work.
This is your goal.
To define, eliminate, simplify, automate,
and delegate work so that you can then do
higher-level work.
Teachers should not be doing mundane
work.
They should not be wiping the whiteboard
clean.
Or make unnecessary grammar corrections.
(A computer program can do that better.)
Instead, they should use this process that I
have outlined here to move on to do more
intelligent work.
Higher-level work.
Using this decision-making process should
free them up so that they have time to think
hard about making their teaching even
more useful.
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TIME INVESTED WELL.
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Do higher-level
work
How can I facilitate the students’
learning process even better?
No
Yes
Can I delegate this task?
Delegate
No
Yes
Can I automate this task?
Automate
No
Yes
Can I simplify this task?
Simplify
Yes
No
Can I eliminate this task?
Do not do it
What is / are my goal(s)?
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STUDENTS CAN BE
AMAZINGLY CREATIVE IF
YOU LET THEM.
107

You have got to draw the line somewhere.
TIME’S UP.
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109

How to Teach EFL at a Thai University with Minimum
Efforts and Maximum Results: 14 Simple, Practical,
Proven Techniques & Strategies That Will Save You
Time, Money & Energy and Increase Your Effectiveness
Manifold
Copyright © Albert L. Oberdorfer
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the
author’s written permission.
PICTURE CREDITS
Unless otherwise stated, all images are courtesy of
Pexels.com and Pixabay.com. The pictures on page
40, 83, and 107 are by the author. Any inadvertent
omissions can be rectified in future editions.
110

Endnotes
1 See Richard Koch’s ‘The 80/20 Principle:
The Secret to Achieving More with Less.’
2 See ‘Richard Koch - Full Interview with
LeadersIn’ on Youtube.
3 Many of the ideas for this chapter are
from an online article by Marc Winn called
‘Eliminate. Simplify. Automate. Delegate’
on theviewinside.me.
4 I have borrowed this idea from Paul
Arden’s book ‘It’s Not How Good You
Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be,’ pg.
124-125.
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