Become Elementary Teacher

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences In the wake of the upcoming 2020 Olympics in Japan, there has been an increase in elementary school level English classes. As an assistant language teacher half into my fourth year, I have had the rare chance to work the entirety of my time in one elementary school where I have had many great memories. However, being present every day I began to notice that some students were struggling or in some cases, not even trying when it came to English class. Talking with my peers and colleagues from other elementary schools as well as my own, there are some common problems that many students seem to experience in an English class. These problems include learning in a counter-productive environment, inconsistent...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Nowadays, many parents want their children to approach and learn English early. This stems from an objective cause when English becomes the language of globalization. English training for elementary students should be focused on because children at this age can absorb language very well. This article will explore methods for parents to help their elementary school children learn English well. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Phuong N. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Like joining an English class, parents who study with their children will build their...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas For the past four years, I have worked in Japan as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) of English. Before this, I had limited experience operating in a conventional classroom, teaching young learners. I trained adults who were self-motivated and designed curricula for vocation institutions. Now, outside of my expertise, here I am teaching at a junior high school – my base school and an elementary school. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Aeika P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The city in which I live is very rural, farming and fishing are traditional...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I am in my 3rd year of working in the countryside of Japan as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in public elementary and junior high schools. An ALT's official job description is to be the assistant to a Japanese Teacher of Language (JTL). In my experience, especially in elementary schools, the ALT is not seen as an assistant but as "the English teacher" since the regular homeroom teacher has no training or experience with ESL. In most cases, the ALT has a degree in a field unrelated to teaching and has no qualifications. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Carl S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. At the moment, English in...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences When I hear the term role, I often think of a theatrical production. Which role is so and so playing? “What has to do they wear?” is another question for what the teacher does in and out of the classroom. Regardless of the term, I believe the answers are numerous. The teacher must fill many functions. Most of these roles will stay the same regardless of the age of the students, whether they are clients in a mandatory English class paid for by their company or a classroom full of elementary students in a US public school setting. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Bill C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. To convey...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences This essay seeks to explain how the Japanese ‘Katakana’ and ‘Romaji’ alphabets cause barriers to the introduction of English education in Japanese elementary schools. It will look at how these alphabets affect the pronunciation, writing, and reading abilities of Japanese students. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ethan M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The main two, ‘Hiragana’ (the base Japanese writing system) and ‘Kanji’ (Chinese characters), are not relevant to English. The remaining two, ‘Katakana’ (used for ‘borrowed’ words from other languages) and ‘Romaji’ (Roman letters) are often used...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Ever since I was a little girl, education has been a huge part of my life. My mother was a teacher at the elementary school I attended and also taught me and my sisters Japanese after school in our home. I have always been inquisitive, constantly asking questions to my parents and teachers about topics I was interested in and about things I didn't quite understand. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kim S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I always enjoyed learning and loved the feeling of accomplishment when I received high scores on tests and other assignments. My favorite subjects were reading, writing, and spelling....  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Destinations Teaching Ideas Japan is a country facing rapid change. Due to an aging population and a scarcity of workers, Japan is opening its borders to foreigners, many of whom speak English. This, along with the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, has led to an increase in demand for English teachers. I currently work in Japan, and have had the experience of teaching English to high school Japanese students for the past year. Over the course of this year, I’ve learned of many problems that students in Japan face when learning English. Of those, the top three problems for students in Japan are pronunciation, shyness, and large class sizes. This post was written by our ITTT graduate Kaavya P. The phonology of the...  [Read more]

  http://www.teflcourse.net The teaching idea for the past perfect continuous tense covered in this video is an adaptation of a present perfect continuous idea. The past perfect continuous is rarely used so it can be quite hard to think up original and interesting ideas for it so adapting ideas for other tenses where suitable is useful. For this idea students are given situation that was happening in the past and the other students having to say what they think had been happening before that event to cause it. For example: Yesterday you were crying (because you had been watching a sad film). If you are thinking about becoming an English teacher you should consider getting yourself properly qualified. In addition taking a TEFL certificate course will open up a large number of ESL...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Next year, Japan will host the thirty-second Olympiad in the capital city of Tokyo. To correspond with the timing of the 2020 Olympics, Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (hereafter MEXT) has laid out a plan for the reform of English education to meet the future needs of Japanese students in a globalized world. However, this plan presents several challenges for current and future learners of English in the Japanese educational system. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Philippa K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The thrust of MEXT’s plan is to roll back English education in Japan so...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When you select information to teach in your lesson, you need to think about what level the students are at and how well your lesson fits into what they already know and what they need to know. When you begin teaching it can be quite difficult to know what students are likely to comprehend at each level and few EFL teachers follow the same students from beginner to advanced level. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Shorena B. Beginner-level students aren't necessarily children. Many people discover a need or desire to study English later in life. Students at beginner level can't speak or write accurately in the present simple and present continuous tenses. Those who know some words in English...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I have traveled throughout Asia for some forty-five years, Vietnam is now my home. I always found the younger generations had a thirst for knowledge, particularly English as a second language. The difficulties of acquiring the knowledge under what was a repressive regime have diminished somewhat, but the major stumbling blocks to acquiring good English are the lack of experienced Vietnamese teachers, interaction with English natural speakers, and knowledge of the outside world in general. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Christopher M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Learning English as a second language has now become a...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas As a child, I always wanted to be a teacher. I adored helping people, listening to different stories, and sharing my knowledge with others. Inside was a natural curiosity and burning desire to understand everything. As a young girl, I was unaware of how demanding, entertaining, and rewarding this profession can indeed be. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Khrystsina P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Today, I currently work in China as an English Teacher. Over the past year, I have realized that teaching is my calling. Therefore, I want to improve my...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The questions should be why not, everyone who is a native speaker or just fluent in the language of English and loves to share with other people, this is the perfect opportunity. English is a global language, everyone around the world is connected through this language. Especially, people who are already teaching English in school, they should finish this course, it provides them an invaluable opportunity to explore the world, to learn about new cultures through interacting with their students, to share their knowledge on a global level. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Blažo D. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. There is a...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Without knowing it nor intending it to be, my path has been strongly directed and focused on education and it was since Elementary School that I felt that something was wrong with me in the nowadays education system. After struggling a lot with learning as I was supposed to and believing that I was not smart enough, I finally took a subject at college that changed my thinking. This subject was called Educational Psychology and it was based on the actual necessity of creating a revolution or a change in education. Within the years we have been de-humanizing education at the point that we don’t even ask ourselves what is the purpose of what we are learning or teaching. We have become like side-blinded horses that...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Reading it's a skill which we learn when we are children. Some children learn to read before they start to join the elementary school, it depends on parents always. But how we can instill a love for reading in children? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Radka S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Parents should read a children's books since childhood like this the relationship between parents and a child become stronger, the child gets to know emotions by reading books and it becomes a favorite activity of a child usually. The child already at one year will be able to hold the book in his/her hands and leaf through it. Reading the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Doneika D. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I am currently an English teacher living in Japan. I teach both Elementary and Junior High School English Language. Japan’s government allows the students to start learning English sometimes as early as Kindergarten. Most Elementary schools have a designated ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) that possesses a native level of English. Even though English is a compulsory subject in Japanese Junior High and High Schools, these students struggle with achieving even daily conversational English. In this summative task, I would like to highlight the two...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences I might not have realized it before since I was busy studying and just trying to achieve my short term goals but I believe that my mother has been an inspiration for me to become a teacher. I could remember seeing kids at home being taught by my mom and she used pictures to identify certain shapes and animals. My mom was a regular housewife then. She taught only for fun and to make my brother and I be more engaged in learning things with the company of our friends, our playmates. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Marie M. I remember how I strived hard to be able to be the best in my class when I was in elementary school. My mom would always prepare review lessons for me before my periodical...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Japan is a Pacific Island nation whose history is marked by periods of nationalism and seclusion, as the Japanese government closed the borders to international trade. The lack of foreign influence in Japan has enabled a unique culture to flourish and the population to remain nearly 98% homogenous, meaning nearly everyone that lives in Japan is Japanese. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Andrew C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Within the past hundred years, government policy has changed and Japan has opened its borders to trade and tourism, becoming a major global economy and popular international tourist destination...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I’ve been teaching for almost two years in China as an English teacher. At first, I was only assigned to teach preschool children, due to the sudden leave of their last teacher. I was nervous and didn’t know whether I would be able to teach them. They were very young and were absolute beginners. I had to teach letters with paired vocabularies every lesson. But as soon as I got to know them, all my worries disappeared. They were supportive and eager to learn. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate CONNIE L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I would start my class with the greeting part, by asking students their names and how...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching English as a foreign language can be an intimidating task, especially for non-native English speaking teachers. This is true for many of my coworkers who are homeroom teachers at elementary schools in Japan. English has recently become a formal subject in elementary schools here and many homeroom teachers are intimidated by the sudden responsibility to teach a language they are not fluent in. Many feel that native speakers are better English teachers since native speakers have natural pronunciation and excellent command of the language. Co-teaching with a native speaker can put added pressure on homeroom teachers to speak perfect English in front of their students. Therefore many homeroom teachers feel...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas What is phonology? Most students have not even heard about it. Whenever I ask my students whether they know or have ever learned about phonetics, the same answers come out, “No, we don’t know about it at all”. It is no wonder they reply like this because there is no phonetic teaching lesson in English classes from KG to high school here in my country. As for me, I got to study about this only when I attended college. Even then, it wasn’t taught comprehensively and I only learned very little. So I couldn’t read nor write phonetic symbols very well. Thus I thought it was the most difficult part of studying English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Thein G. Please note that this blog...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I have been teaching for almost 5 years now. My teaching career, I should say is at the beginner level. But I rather call it the aspirational level. At this level, I am in the stage of acquiring different qualifications to have more advantages and gain a wider scope in teaching. But as I seek more qualifications, I slowly understand what is important for early-career teachers like me. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Chiedizberg J. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. In my 5-year teaching career, it wasn’t an easy road. In the first year of my teaching career, after graduation, the first qualification I wanted to achieve was...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas “The role of grammar is perhaps one of the most controversial issues in language teaching” (Richards and Renandya, 2002, p.145). From the past to the present, there have been so many changes in methodologists’ views on which grammar items should be taught and how to teach them. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Man C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. In the past, in a traditional classroom, grammatical competence and explicit knowledge of language rules were emphasized. Grammar teaching held such an essential part in language teaching that other aspects became either ignored or downplayed. People assumed that if the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I have been living in Japan for the past one and a half years. Needless to say, the experience has been enthralling. This country would have never been my first choice for a country to relocate to, from my home country, India. But if my stay has taught me anything, it is that never judge a book by its cover. When we think of Japan, the first thing that pops up is that it is a country of workaholics; it has zero English presence, and the people are highly prejudiced against foreigners and foreign culture. I was proven wrong. Japan is a beautiful country. It is culturally so rich, it makes me want to live here forever. The people, though tend to be a little distant initially, a warm-up to you eventually, and...  [Read more]

1. Introduction 2. Job Opportunities for English Teachers in the United States 3. Qualifications and Requirements 4. Salary and Benefits Are you passionate about teaching English and considering a career in the United States? As the demand for English language education continues to grow, there are numerous job opportunities available for qualified teachers. This article will explore the job prospects for English teachers in the United States, including qualifications, requirements, salary, and benefits. English teachers are in high demand across the United States, with opportunities available in schools, language institutes, colleges, and universities. The need for English language instruction is driven by factors such as globalization, immigration, and the increasing importance of...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Being a student at the elementary or beginner level in any language, not just English, is not only a challenging task when beginning to learn the target language but also a clean slate to progress the learning in the correct way. Having never learned English before, it can sometimes be a difficult feat of where to begin. However, this allows the teacher to start the student or students off in the correct way so that the challenges for the student will become less and less as they progress through the language difficulties. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Amanda T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Beginner students are the...  [Read more]

Asia Ridley TEFL Information Alumni Experiences English education in Japan has been prominent for decades and starts in elementary schools. It is in high demand as the relationship between the U.S. and Japan as well as the abundant amount of tourism. Last year straight after graduating from university in the United States, I moved to Japan and began teaching English. I was fortunate to pass the interviews and become part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme {JET}. Being an assistant language teacher {ALT} in the Japanese education system versus a conversation school has its differences. Therefore I will be diving into how one can contribute to the classroom as an ALT. In Japanese elementary schools, all the students...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Learning English has become a necessary extra-curricular activity for many students in China. Since China has become a global giant as a result of her rapid economic development, many parents have picked up the momentum in raising their children’s proficiency in English. From learning and studying the TESOL and Young Learners’ sessions, there are three areas of hurdles observed. They are learning environment, technical differences, and students’ mindsets. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Angela W. Although English is taught to children since pre-school years, many students do not have the exposure to this foreign language outside of the classroom. There is no encouraging learning...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Who was your favorite teacher in elementary school? Mine was my 5th-grade Teacher, Mr. Powers. Not because he was super cool, or cute, or wildly entertaining. It was because he was an amazing teacher. He was a retired Air Force pilot, yet was never very hard on us and I can’t think of a single time that he got upset with us. I believe this is completely due to his amazing classroom management skills. I try my best to model my own teaching skills after Mr. Powers while teaching here in Istanbul, Turkey. Cultural and economic differences are actually the least of my problems while working with these amazing children. The most challenging aspects happen to be making the most of classroom space, ensuring the...  [Read more]