Category: Uncategorized

Assorted odds and ends without a home.

ESLinsider’s 10 Most Popular YouTube Videos

ESLinsider.com is a site that I created for those interested in teaching English abroad. It provides resources such as how-to videos, online TEFL courses, guides and a blog. It’s also a place where you can find out what it is like teaching and living in Eastern Asia: China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

Because that’s where I taught and/or lived.

It has a presence on Youtube with over 200 videos and over a 2,200,000 views. The main channel for ESLinsider is here.

I also made an infographic in 2019 about the Youtube stats.

This post will take a look at the 10 most popular videos.

Update: Some of these may no longer be the most popular as years have past since this was originally published.

Most of the videos are how-to videos shot in the classroom. The other videos posted here have to do with culture, money, advice from teachers and teaching ESL without a degree.

In this post on ESLinsider’s reviews I also made an infographic that is kind of snazzy – if you care, lol.

1. Teaching English To Kids in 5 Fun Steps


I took some time to make this one. My goal was to make it informative and fun. This video takes you through a lesson plan and gives you some structure as well as some ideas for class in a fun way.

The majority of the how-to videos were uploaded in 2011 this one was later in 2014 and it’s growing fast. At this rate this video will become the most popular video ESLinsider has on Youtube.

This video was filmed in a kindergarten in Busan, South Korea.

UPDATE: It’s a little tedious to keep track of these numbers so I have stopped doing that, wink, wink.

By the numbers since 2014:

  • 300,000+ views
  • 286 likes
  • 191 shares

“Amazing!!! I have my very first day teaching kids on a EFL context in Nicaragua! I’m pretty sure they will love a class like this one! Thanks!” – iMedia’s comment

2. The Preview – ESLinsider’s 1st Video On Youtube


This video and another longer version were the first to go on Youtube in 2010. This video was a preview of the videos that went on Youtube and on the site. It shows a sample of some of the how-to videos.

This video is a preview of 3 of the how-to videos.

  1. The first one is an icebreaker called “Categramble” that can be used with lower intermediate to advanced students.
  2. The second listening activity is called “One Hand, Two Hands“. This is a listening activity that is used here to tell the difference between plural and singular nouns. It can be used with all levels.
  3. The third one is called “Whispers“. This is a speaking activity that works well with younger students through elementary school and sometimes even older.

This video contains footage from a public school in Changwon, South Korea and a kindergarten in Busan.

By the numbers since 2010:

  • 170,000+ views
  • 220+ likes
  • 73+ shares

“Nice video with very cute kids^^ What is the name of the song at the end of the video? Loved it! :)” – Leyl’s comment

This video is on a channel that was discontinued. The following videos are placed on ESLinsider’s main channel.

3. “Teacher Says” – A Warm-up/TPR Activity For Kids


This activity can be used as a warm up for kids or it can be used for teaching body parts and actions as well. It works well with young kids. If you can’t get them to make a mistake then that probably means they are too old for it or their level is too high.

In my experience it works until about 3rd or 4th grade.

This was filmed in a kindergarten in Busan, South Korea.

By the numbers since 2011:

  • 159,000+ views
  • 78+ likes
  • 50+ shares

“Loved it! Good strategy to teach human’s body parts!” – Shimeny Soares comment

4. “Line Up” – An Icebreaker


“Line Up” is an icebreaker that will work well on the first day of class. It’s a simple getting to know you activity with a twist.

This video was filmed in a public elementary school in Changwon, South Korea. As you can see the students here were adults. They were in fact parents of some of the children that I taught. There was an adult class once a week.

By the numbers since 2011:

  • 119,000+ views
  • 41+ likes
  • 26+ shares

“Great job!!!!!” – Cesar’s comment

5. “Sprite” – A Simple Vocabulary Activity


Sprite is a simple and effective game that works well with practicing vocabulary. Students get a chance to practice writing, speaking, and listening. It’s also fun too as they kids get to move around which is important.

This video was filmed in a public elementary school in Changwon, South Korea. These children were mostly in the fourth grade. I think some were in the 5th grade too.

By the numbers since 2011:

  • 48,000+ views
  • 58 likes
  • 39 shares

6. Why The Obsession With Asian Women


Did you know that according to some studies Asian women and white men are considered the most attractive by most people of different races?

By the numbers since 2012:

  • 44,000+ views
  • 173+ likes
  • 391+ comments
  • 20 shares

7. “Pass The Bag” – Vocabulary Game


This was another popular game for teaching vocabulary. It uses music which can be fun and refreshing. This video was filmed in a kindergarten in Busan.

By the numbers since 2011:

  • 43,000+ views
  • 62+ likes
  • 40+ shares

“Haha, they are sooo cute! And he is great at giving dynamic classes!” – Ursula’s comment

8. How much money can I make teaching English in Asia?


This video talks about how much money you can make teaching English in Northeast Asia. It specifically talks about hourly wages and salaries for teachers in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and China.

I share my experience and how much I made teaching.

By the numbers since 2011:

  • 30,000+ views
  • 123 likes
  • 12 shares
  • 169 comments

A little note…

Some videos that I didn’t post here were a bit more popular in terms of views.

Such as:

However, there a few videos that are growing faster that were added later like the last 2 on this list. So I have included them here. I also thought they would add a little variety to this post.

9. Advice On Teaching Abroad From 26 ESL Teachers


I interviewed about 30 ESL teachers in China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan. One of the questions that I asked them was if they had any advice for newcomers. Here they share it.

By the numbers since 2014:

  • 26,000+ views
  • 170 likes
  • 34 shares

10. Teaching English In Asia Without A Degree Or As A Non-Native Speaker

This video talks about teaching in Asia without a degree or if you are not a native English speaker. Those are the two main requirements (degree + native speaker) that you usually need to teach there.

Teaching without those requirements can be illegal and sometimes it isn’t. It largely depends on how you get your visa. There are some loopholes to that.

I am also not advocating that or not, but rather just telling it like it is. It can be illegal and there are risks, but that being said most teachers abroad probably taught illegally at least once.

Read more about teaching English in Asia without a degree.

There are other videos with more views than this, but this one is newer and growing.

By the numbers since 2015:

  • 15,000+ views
  • 67+ likes
  • 7+ shares

So what other kinds of videos will you find there?

Most videos are how-to videos. You’ll find instruction and ideas on:

  • Lesson planning
  • Warm-up and icebreakers
  • Vocabulary games and activities
  • Sentence/Q&A games and activities
  • Teaching tips
  • Teaching numbers, reading, writing, etc.
  • Classroom management and more

All of these videos can be found on the site and you’ll also find written instructions below the video that you won’t find on Youtube. They are also organized better on the site.

You can catch the latest blog updates, get feeds from other teachers in Asia by following ESLinsider on Twitter. You can also read reviews of ESLinsider’s online TEFL courses.

Mike Clough – My Memories Of The Daredevil Extraordinaire

I just heard Mike Clough passed away. I don’t know how, but man I wished I had seen him in recent years. My last memories of him were from high school and a bit after circa ’93, ’94, ’95 or so when I last saw him. I have some wild memories of him though.

Here’s some of what I remember:

Mike was a strong guy and had guts like no other and was definitely a thrill seeker. Most of my vivid memories of him involve doing such things like that.

I remember he had this old black Nova SS that he was working on. There was this one day that we took it out for a spin down that dirt road in Woodsville near Wanda Downer’s house. It might have been Swiftwater road??? there by the Ammonoosuc. But we were going like 50 MPH down this dirt road and then he decides to jump off the side of the road into the corn field.

We couldn’t see anything except a wall of green and big ol’ corn stalks. I was shitting my pants and he was laughing as we plowed through all those corn stalks and then jumped back onto the road totally Dukes of Hazzard style.

He had another toy for a while too. It was like a white and blue Honda CBR 600. He used to do wheelies down main street in Woodsville. There was this day that he came and picked me up in Monroe on it and we were heading down route 5 on those straights at 135 MPH. I just felt like if I lifted my head a bit I was going to blow off the back of it.

Then there were the times we would go to the train trestle bridge in Woodsville and jump off. He was the first to show me that spot. What’s that 40-45 feet? Nutty again. Then there was this day Scott Clark decided to do it. He wanted to wear his socks for some reason and when he jumped his sock got caught on that plank and we watched him drop all that distance and land on his side. Hilarious!

There was another bridge in Monroe/Barnet and I remember him and Joe Williams decided to jump off in May. These guys didn’t pause a second and just like ran off it looking very cool and ballsy, so I had to do it too… And when I did I remember hitting that water,  it was so cold and I panicked. I thought I wasn’t even going to make it to the shore, lol^^. Meanwhile Joe and Mike were laughing at me there on the river bank.

There was this other time with Alia and the 3 of us were under the influence of something… We were down by the McIndoe falls bridge and Mike suddenly gets inspired to bolt up the side of the trestle. He gets nearly to the higher part of the end, freaks out, starts laughing and climbs backwards down. It looked nuts.

One of the most memorable crazy, beautiful moments I ever had was with this guy. I think the three of us Alia, Mike and I were out driving around near Ryegate, VT. There had been this crazy lighting and thunder storm and we went to Tickle Naked Pond.

Being the geniuses that we were we decided it would be a great idea to go swimming. It was night time and there we were standing in the pond up to our waists in water watching this insane lighting and thunder show. It was awesome. It had stopped raining and you could see the reflection of the lighting in the water. We were both in awe of this awesome planet and the show we were getting.

I remember standing side by side in that water looking at him and saying something like if we had to die now this would be the perfect time to go. There were handshakes and I think there was a bit of howling perhaps. It was one of those “I love you man” moments. Then I remember Alia in the car calling us morons or something and we finally got out.

Those are some of my most vivid memories of Mike. There were others too. There were other bridges, parties and other exploratory missions out in the woods. Despite some of the trouble he sometimes hung out with I remembered my mom always liked him a lot and thought he was kind.

I wish I saw you when I was back in NH last Mike. I remembered one of the last things you said to me – that you were going to come out west and visit me someday.

I hope you still do.

From hot to cold and why cold showers are better

This guy made me feel like a wimp. You can see him there taking an ice bath. I watched some of his videos on mental toughness. And that’s why I started taking cold showers.

markdevine-icebath

I think this guy Mark Devine an ex-Navy Seal was the first one to give me the idea.

Then I started reading that some athletes and UFC fighters would take a cold bath or shower after a workout.

I figured I had some discipline, but cold showers just seemed impossible. Why would I want to do that? I like hot showers. They’re relaxing and comforting.

But the idea of mental toughness is appealing and goes along with another idea I have been exposed to lately in jiu-jitsu of being comfortable in an uncomfortable position. Like just trying to relax and be patient when you are in a bad position. To not freak out and panic.

Just relax you’ve been here before, you can get out.

I guess it’s the same with showers. It’s cold, it’s uncomfortable, but it’s temporary just relax, you’ll get used to it and then you can get out.

Here are some benefits of taking cold showers:

  1. It increases alertness
  2. It’s good for your hair and skin
  3. Helps circulation
  4. Weight loss
  5. Decreases muscle soreness
  6. Decreases depression
  7. Decreases stress
  8. Increases testosterone in men

How I have been doing it

I just start as normal. I shower and wash and then when I am done I gradually turn the heat down until there isn’t any. And I enjoy??? the cold water for a couple of minutes.

I pulled a muscle in my back the other day and initially pointed the hot water on that spot for a while and then turned it to cold for a few minutes.

It definitely had an icing effect and the pain did go away for a while.

I’ll keep it up.

3 Day Fast: My Experience

Right now I am about 2 hours and 20 minutes away from completing 72 hours of fasting. I plan on stopping tomorrow morning. By then I would have fasted more than 83 or so hours.

I haven’t eaten a thing. I did take one green supplement pill at the end of 24 hours and I have had some green tea in the morning. But other than that just a lot of water and no food.

I first started experimenting with fasting back in April 2015. That was more or less following the Warrior Diet and doing 20 hours of mostly fasting with 4 hours of feeding. And since then I have experimented with 24 hours of fasting with zero food.

After that I got inspired to do a longer fast. What inspired me? I read some something about how the body can regenerate stem cells after 2-5 days of fasting. And since I have had some injuries I thought this would be a good thing to do since it would promote cellular repair and healing.

The first 24 hours wasn’t too hard as I have done that before. I just felt hungry. I did feel more alert and maybe antsy. By the next day I started to feel a bit low energy and light headed.

On the third day (now) I felt nauseous when I first woke up. I still feel low energy and light headed. Morning seemed a little tougher.

I have been doing a lot of meditating which is good to. It’s been raining in San Fran a lot, so staying in, working on my website and taking it easy.

Update 2020: I did a 4 day fast here in Japan.

Day in the life of Blu Man Fu (that’s me) the street performer

Here’s a video a made of some of the highlights of my day out in the streets performing. It can be a lot of fun. We paint our face blue, dress up, freak some people out, do some shows and beatbox a bit.

I made this video over the last summer in Chinatown, San Francisco.

45 Days More or Less on the Warrior Diet

I have more or less kept to this diet. Basically I under eat during the day and overeat at night. It was kind of difficult the first few days, but my body adapted pretty easily.

Did I notice any changes? The only changes that I have noticed are that I don’t crash after my former mid day large snack. I have more of a steady stream of energy through the day.

I also noticed I lost about 5 pounds which is of a little concern since I am already skinny. I stopped doing jiujitsu in that time too. When I saw my teacher after missing 2 months he said that it looked like I lost muscle.

I still seem to have a little bit of fat around my waist. So if I lost muscle then that is no good and then I should change something.

Basically my diet has been like this:

  • Breakfast: A grapefruit
  • Lunch: A banana and some nuts
  • Mid day snack: Yogurt and a banana
  • Dinner (around 7pm): I pretty much eat whatever and quite a bit.
  • Late snack (9-11pm)

It’s nice not spending a bunch of time preparing food either. I have been eating less wheat as well. I have a toothache, so I was going to try to limit for around a month or so foods high in phytic acid: stuff like nuts, beans and bread.

Update…

Since then I have been doing a fast on every Sunday. I start at 10pm on Sat. and don’t eat till 7pm on Sunday.

30 Days on the Warrior Diet

Yesterday I started a new diet – the Warrior Diet. I felt like I was eating too many carbs like wheat and oats and having a mid day crash after my large snack (yogurt, granola, a peanut butter sandwich and fruit). Also despite all the exercise (yoga, jiujitsu, judo, push-ups, pull-ups, running steep hills) I was doing I still had a little bit of fat around my midsection.

So yesterday I just snacked through out the day on fruit, vegetables, nuts and yogurt. Then around 7:30 I started eating. I ate quite a bit and then a few hours later I ate quite a bit again. The Warrior Diet has 20 hours of under eating/fasting and 4 hours of over eating.

I felt a little light headed at times throughout the day, but I never crashed mid day like before. I like the idea, so I am going to try this out for 30 days and if I like it I will continue.

I discovered this diet after watching some videos on Rhonda Rousey. I was asking myself why I was so interested in this person? Maybe part of the reason why was she lead me to this. She said she eats a diet that is a mix of the Paleo and the Warrior Diet.

Hershell Walker also has a diet kind of similar in that he eats one meal a day and just snacks through out the day.

Your Psychology on Time

According to Stanford professor Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd writers of the book The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life we all carry around a certain perspective on time that affects our psychology. It can help explain why we think the way we do, do what we do and how we act they way we do.

You can take their ZTPI test online to determine your own perspective on time. Some people are more living in the moment types, others make to do lists, some reminisce more about the past and so on. We all are a combination of different time perspectives. Take the test to find out yours.

This is what they envision as the best time perspective for those living in the west.

  • High in past-positive time perspective
  • Medium high in future time perspective
  • Medium high in present-hedonistic time perspective
  • Low in past-negative time perspective
  • Low in present-fatalistic time perspective

Find out what your psychology on time is with this test and/or read this book.

Chances are you won’t, but here’s how to change

The chances are 9 to 1 that you won’t change. The book Change or Die covers three main examples on how people and companies changed including health, business and prison punishment.

Here’s the formula on how to change.

  1. Relate. Find a teacher. Someone who will inspire you.
  2. Repeat. Learn and practice the new skill.
  3. Reframe. The new teacher helps you to think differently about your situation.

Even when their life is on the line most people will not change. Doctors orders and a threat of death will only temporarily cause people to change, but then they are soon back to their old habits of overeating and no exercise.

Most criminals and addicts also will not change, but this book tells us about one successful program in San Francisco that effectively prepares ex-criminals for the real world.

From Change or Die by Alan Deutschman