Respect cultural differences when teaching. For instance, choose your humor carefully. What you think is funny may be inappropriate. In some cultures, it is taboo to touch students. If you are teaching in a foreign country and your students take you out to eat, they may not expect you to pay for the meal.
Find out what they are and follow all the rules of the school. Turn off your cell phone. Do not chew gum. Some schools expect you to stand while teaching and others allow you to sit down.
Make your own list of class rules and pass it out to the students. Some rules might be speaking only in English, always coming to class on time, and not eating while in class.
Be prepared when you teach your classes. Lack of preparation is one of the worst mistakes you can make, not to mention being embarrassing. Make lesson plans. If you do not have a lot of experience, you can find many lesson ideas online at sites such as eslcafe.com. Take all the materials you need with you to class.
Use the school's curriculum if you are teaching in a private academy, but ask permission to use your own materials and clear them with the manager. This makes the school appreciate your willingness to follow its rules--yet it shows it you are enthusiastic about your job. Tie your lessons into the textbook lesson.
Slow down your speaking speed so that students can understand you. Enunciate clearly. Show students how to make sounds. An example is sticking your tongue out and pulling it back in to make the sound of words such as "there" and "then." List some words on the board and then have each individual say one, followed by the whole group saying them together. Start out slow and make it faster and faster.
Be creative in your classes. Plan holiday activities such as bobbing for apples on Halloween. Ask the students to share their holiday traditions with the class. Take pictures of your family and share them with the students, then ask them about their own families.
Plan games for small groups and for the whole class. A good game is putting some letters of the alphabet on the board and asking students to call out a word. Then tell the students they have to make a sentence with the word.
Have students write a few sentences at home and then have a speech contest, telling them in advance there will be prizes. At the end of the class, tell them they did a great job, then give every student a pen or pencil and a certificate you make on your computer.