British V American

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences When it comes to learning English, non-native speakers can feel quite torn on whether they should learn British English or American English. They have their similarities, but can contrast each other strongly. The differences can be confusing for English speakers as well. The diversity in spelling, pronunciation, and vocabulary can really throw you off. In this article, I will be focusing on these three topics. Let’s explore spelling, shall we? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Tabitha C. Growing up in the USA, I learned to spell in a simplified form. American English focuses on how the words are pronounced, therefore the words are spelled according to their sounds. Kələr in the British...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences For a student learning English as a second language, one thing they may notice is the difference in the accents between British English and American English, the difference is rather pronounced considering it has been less than two hundred and fifty years since the American Revolution. The American accent is likely to be more familiar to many students, thanks to many American movies from Hollywood. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Anthony B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Unfortunately for students, the accents are not the only differences in the language but where did these differences come from? In England, in 1755,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences From the time of the American revolution and onward, there has been a distinctive trend for American English and British English dialects to move away from each other. Whether taught in American English or British English, most people of either type will have little trouble understanding each other. Unlike the many dialects of China, English is a pretty ubiquitous language across the board, with a spattering of unique regional words. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jeffrey G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The 2 most prominent English dialects were intertwined throughout their collective histories because the British...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences British English versus American English are often discussed during the class, students frequently ask which one is the standard English to learn and would it cause any difficulties in communication. Both of them have differences and similarities, but individuals from the UK and the US can communicate without too much difficulty. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate JIN G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Besides, there is no right or wrong when the differences appear, the British may consider American do not speak proper English and American might think British people are too formal and serious. However, from my perspective,...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences As more and more countries place a growing importance on its people to learn English as a secondary language, for work purposes or for general use, there is a growing debate about which is the better English to learn - British English or American English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Max E. The argument stems from the growing influence of America in the modern world. British English has a longer standing history, but in today's modern society, it is almost impossible to go through the day without hearing American English in use. We hear it in television programs and films, more businesses from the US are branching out to foreign soil, and many countries feel that American English may be the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Why are British and American versions of English so different? British and American English, while, broadly speaking, are mutually intelligible (each party can understand and communicate with each other), there are notable differences that make one wonder why there is a difference at all? In this essay, I’ll briefly discuss some key differences in these two dialects, and further, provide reasons and evidence explaining said differences. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Betsy W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. If you were to ask someone in America to say something in a British accent, you would likely get a response of...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When teaching English as a foreign language in a country where the native language is not English, it is easy to assume there are going to be some cultural differences between you and the students. The differences could be as little as what you eat for breakfast and which hand you pass things to someone with, or they could be as large as how you address someone and what you are allowed to talk about in public society. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Shana H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Part of learning a language is learning the slang that goes with a particular language. When I say slang, I do not just mean the words...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT TEFL Information Teaching Ideas As a newly qualified TEFL teacher the chances are you will be working for a school which supplies its teachers with all the resources needed to teach successful lessons based on a set course. This article shows a selection of the course books that are available for teaching general English course to adults from a number of publishers in the TEFL industry. There are several publishers involved in producing course books for the TEFL classroom. The main publishers are Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Pearson/Longman and Macmillan. These publishers produce course books across a range of EFL sectors including, young learners, adults, business English, and English for...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences In speaking of any language is global, and in our case, particularly English, several categories could be discussed to give us more understanding. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Frederic S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The first is the history of the language, where did it originate? If we say English was an obscure German dialect we can also say that without knowing more of the history behind it, there would be no way for us to plot its progression or understand its popularity. The second is the spread of the language, how and why did it occur? The third is economic, what were the factors that propelled its growth,...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences My biggest takeaway from my TEFL certification course with ITTT is the topic of learning techniques. Learning techniques vary depending on race, gender, age, cultural background , past experiences and several other variables of the students involved. I will describe my personal past experiences in regards to the subject at hand. I would like to take a moment to thank the ITTT staff for putting together this highly informative and enlightening TEFL program. It is well written, easy to understand and well organized for new and experienced ESL teachers alike. This post was written by our ITTT graduate Svetlana V. One of the first things I learned during my 60-hour TEFL course was that children are divided into two...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In an experience of mine, I was working as a computer technician for the city, the city had decided to give me a new task of working in the libraries to teach computer classes, I felt quite nervous about this for I had never taught before or had any idea about how to go about it. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rudy C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. When classes began I always had one majority group, and that was elderly, who in time had neglected technology and decided to finally come around it to learn how to use a computer. I was given a basic manual on how to do the courses, I, of course, followed it and did my best, saw...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Assuming it has already been understood generally, I do not intend to elaborate on the reasons between Myanmar and Burma, even though it still remains unknown to many. In this essay, I will be using ‘Burmese’ or ‘Burmese language’ to refer to the language and ‘Myanmar’ for the country. Language acquisition can understandably present several challenges ranging from alphabets, accent, construction styles, pronunciation, etc. Depending on several factors, different language speakers will have different challenges. While one part is no less difficult than another, I reckon, in Myanmar, there is one component that most learners seem to have similar difficulty in taking up the English language –...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Some people think that correct English grammar matters only to teachers and is of no real importance in daily life. This is certainly not true. Grammar, regardless of the country or the language, is the foundation for communication. When a message is relayed with the correct grammar, it is easier to understand the purpose and meaning of that message. To communicate, a learner should know the grammar of the language. It is important to be able to express yourself, but this should be done in a way that people find easy to understand. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ha V. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Writing that is poorly...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Early childhood is the period from 0-8 years old, it is a time of remarkable growth with brain development at its peak. During this stage, children are highly influenced by the environment and the people that surround them. We can say further that Early childhood education is a branch of education that relates to the teaching of children from birth to the age of eight, therefore covering infancy, kindergarten and the early school years up to grades 3. So how does storytelling come in? Well, storytelling does a lot here because this stage is very crucial to a child’s early physical, socio-emotional, cognitive and linguistic development. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Chinenye M. Please...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Typical English classes, apart from facing miscellaneous issues concerning management, motivation, dependence, and discipline, have to handle a particular set of complications in the language they are attempting to acquire. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ati V. Understandably, far from taking into account some language – impaired, or those with learning disabilities, attention deficits or other language disorders, not one single item lies behind the problem of a student being unable to acquire what they are taught, or go to schools for. Cultural barriers, on top of the list, cause widely various difficulties for English learners worldwide. Iranians are never an exception here. The...  [Read more]