But First English

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences It is true that in life, the road to success is not a clear straight upward path; rather, it is more of an obstacle race. A teacher’s life looks simple from the outside. Why, she just wakes up early, wears her uniform, goes to school, and does what any other teacher does. It looks pretty straightforward, but my personal experience has been anything but. From a teenager unsure of her future to a high school English teacher, my work life so far has been perfectly imperfect. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Pia M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. 2007: I entered the university with a small blue patch on my tie, signifying my...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences A language is a tool for people to communicate, so there must be some connections among different languages, include similarities and differences. If we can use their similarities properly and pay attention to differences, different languages can be interlinked. Therefore, the first language not only has a positive impact but also hurts second language acquisition. We call these effects ‘language transfer’. There are two kinds of language transfer, positive transfer, and negative transfer. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Tiffany C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. If the first language has a good impact on second...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences So, you have decided to become a foreign teacher and move abroad. Start a new journey and perhaps a new career or just using this experience to see for the world and take a gap year. But have you thought about all the other things that go along with going to another country? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jacq-Pierre B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Yes, you are there to work and enjoy your time, but there are a lot of extra things that you need to. How are you going to communicate with people? How are you going to get around in your new town? What will everything cost? Will you meet other foreigners in your city? Will...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Learning a second language can feel like stepping into a whole new world compared to the way you learned your first language. When you learn your first language, you take in that language in a very natural and organic way compared to the way you might obtain your second language. The first language you learn is what you hear from infancy as you grow up, as it’s the language you hear at home, on tv, at school and etc. And your second language will mostly be something you are taught in classroom which is not the same type of experience that you get from learning in your actual living environment. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Mandrell C. When you grow up using your native tongue you...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences What does it mean to learn a language? Generally, when we talk about learning a language, we mean a process that starts with a person not knowing a language but ends up knowing it, regardless of the number of languages a person might already know. Of course, this is an overly simplified definition, but it gives us a decent starting point. So why are our experiences and the mental image of acquiring our first language so different from one of learning a foreign language? In this essay, I will consider the perceived difference between first and second language acquisition. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Eszter E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I am an EFL teacher in a kindergarten in Japan. I have two years of experience teaching English in kindergarten. It is only a 30 minutes session every day. In my first week, I made a lesson plan for them that is good for one month. I was surprised that they didn’t get the lesson, memorized it or even pronounce it properly. Then the lesson plan I had to prepare last for about 3 to 4 months. I find it hard teaching English as a foreign language to my students even though I am only teaching them the basic vocabularies and some nursery rhymes. But their curiosity in the English language and their eagerness to talk with a foreigner in school helps me to find my style in teaching them the language. Before that, I...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences My first language was French –-the language of my Cajun-born mother. She wanted to pass on her cultural heritage and therefore spoke to her first-born child, me, only in French. However, once I was put into kindergarten and was unable to communicate or understand any of my teachers or classmates, my parents reverted to English because they feared to set me back in school. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Madeleine K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Despite understanding their fear, I did not appreciate my parent’s decision. I was very vocal about that fact, in true teenage fashion, especially when I had to spend hours...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences It has been said that there are three great blessings in one's life: a good family when one is a child, a good teacher when one is reading, and a good leader when one is working. Thus, family education plays a very important role in people's growth. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ramy M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. In the current family education, I think the biggest problem is not the lack of education, but improper education. To educate children, parents should play the following roles in family education: Some people say: family is a flag of children, parents are a mirror of children. It can be seen that parents...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore TEFL Information Teaching English abroad is anything but an extended vacation, but rather a valuable international work experience that looks great on any resume. Here are 5 reasons why teaching English abroad enhances your career prospects. Linda Dunsmore TEFL Information When you are new to teaching English as a foreign language, finding out which country or type of school is the ideal fit for you isn’t always easy - but these top 8 resources for researching teaching English abroad should make it a whole lot easier! Linda Dunsmore TEFL Information A lot of new teachers starting their first job teaching English...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Class management is essential. I have been teaching art classes for three years now, and especially with art classes, a well-managed classroom is fundamental for a lesson to be successful. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Verdonck H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. At the beginning of my career, I thought that my students and I could act as equals, like friends, but that was not the case. Soon they began to think of my classes as being an hour of recess instead of a lesson. The problem with that is when something goes wrong the pupils don’t take you seriously anymore, and it is hard to adjust the situation once you made the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In February 2019 I took on a part-time teaching job at a language school close to Toulon, France. I am a Dutch citizen and English isn’t my first language, but I am fluent enough to be able to teach several evening classes. And so, I did. Via this school, I was then approached by another institution to teach English to future hotel directors and hotel receptionists. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Marieke V. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Seeing as I have a bachelor’s degree in Hotel Management, this seemed like the perfect fit. While teaching I realized that being fluent in English and being able to teach English are...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas A lot can be said about the connections teachers make when coming face to face with their students for the first time. Eye contact and smiles are tools teachers should use to immediately create a welcoming environment. There is nothing better to put a nervous child at ease, especially when spoken words are not an option. Can these same tools be effective through a computer screen? Can a child, half a world away, learn from a stranger they can’t understand? Is it possible to convey warmth and a desire to teach through a screen? Is it possible to teach a language? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Stacey S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences In general, linguists maintain that a first language is acquired, that knowledge is stored unconsciously, and that a second language is learned, meaning that knowledge is gained through a conscious study of the second language’s structure. However, this distinction is not watertight and SLA can involve acquisition to a certain degree. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nelida N. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. FLA (first language acquisition) does not, however, be learned as no instruction is required. Remember that you know your first language before you start school. There is a critical period, that of puberty, around 12...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas One of the things we should remember about when coming to the classroom, that this place can become a battlefield: a battle can happen between students, between the teacher and students, with the English language, and the most difficult one - a battle with yourself. These were my thoughts when I started teaching. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Yulia M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. When you just start your career as a teacher you may know (in theory) or may not know (even in theory) what should you do in your first class, what kind of behavior to choose and how to react to the students’ behavior. But every mistake - no...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Visa and Legal Destinations TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Traveling abroad is an exciting but challenging adventure, for anyone. Still, teaching abroad as an LGBTQ person often means traveling has some added difficulties. It is more than likely that your adjustment to a new country will include more than culture shock and a language barrier. LGBTQ teachers have to deal with a lot of questions before deciding to teach English abroad: However, there’s also a bright side. Equality rights have come a great way over the past decade in many parts of the world. The number of countries legalizing same-sex marriage is increasing - but there’s still a long way to go. It’s...  [Read more]

  In this TEFL/TESOL review video, Alexey, from Moscow, describes his experience on ITTT’s online TEFL/TESOL course. He points out that the course provides a great overview of grammar, teaching techniques, methodology, classroom management and lesson planning. In Alexey’s opinion ITTT’s course is one of the best on the market for those wanting to teach English abroad. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. This first unit is...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Learning English is a continues process and it starts right after the birth of a baby. Parents are the first teachers to the kids. So they must need to understand the importance of the English language. Children are adept at picking up on the family’s’ attitudes. If they realize that in their family it isn’t important they won’t give importance to it. So it’s the parents’ who’s responsible for making the environment at home and let this skill nourish and nurture the kid. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Abdul s. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The first three years’ age of any infant decides the habits and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas There's no doubt that the quality of the educational process significantly depends on the teacher. And therefore the teacher plays the leading role here. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ivan K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. There are many of them. First of all, in my opinion, it's the personality of a teacher that has the main impact on the way he/she leads the educational process. Such personal traits as confidence and self-perception, emotional control, creativity, сommitment, and determination make a good teacher in the first place. A teacher can have good theoretical knowledge about teaching, have a great variety of...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences As we all know that the process of learning how to speak our first and second or third languages are different, we acquire the first language and learn second and third languages. When we speak our mother language, we can just say it automatically, we acquire our mother language from our environment, before we learn words and sentences, but when we learn a second language, we inevitably need to learn the vocabularies, clauses, sentences, grammar, etc first, then try to translate the second language to our mother language, which is complex. As far as common linguistic problems are concerned, I think there are a lot of problems to consider. Here are some of the most commoner linguistic problems. This post was...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This paper will discuss the benefits of teaching slangs and idioms to students learning English as a second language. It posits that both are necessary to fully use and understand the language, and will look at when it would be appropriate to introduce them to different types of students and how they might be incorporated into lessons. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Niall M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Both slang and idioms are natural parts of the English language; however, textbooks are usually lacking in them, due the fact that they cannot be updated quickly enough to keep up with the change of language or because it...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences As the world becomes increasingly globalized, EFL programs are nearing ubiquity. A substantial portion of EFL participants are young learners. Although there is a lot of crossover between techniques used for young learners and those used older children or adults, there are certainly strategies that can be employed to get the most out of a classroom of young learners. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kara C. A teacher’s initial lesson will help set the tone for the semester and should be warm and fun. Teachers should avoid teaching from the book and instead focus on making connections between teacher and students, as well as peer to peer. Icebreakers and simple games are a good way to...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Determining the best route to take to become TEFL/ESL certified can be a daunting task. A myriad of questions and doubts raced through my head as I researched all the different options. Will it be worth the money? Why is this one valued differently than that one? Which materials are the most up to date? Should I take an onsite or an online course? What is the big difference between the two!? It's a lot. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Tony D. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. However, I have no just completed the online course and have come to a revelation. I now understand the one big difference between an online TEFL...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences Difficulty with pronunciation is likely something that every EFL teacher will face at one point or another in their career. Every language in the world has different ways of pronouncing different words/ letters. In addition to this, most speakers of other languages have heavy accents that can make pronouncing English words very difficult. This can be a challenge when teaching English as a foreign language. It can be especially challenging because not all learners around the world will face the same problems. Students in Vietnam will likely have different pronunciation problems than students in Kenya and students in Brazil will likely have different pronunciation problems than students in Morocco. For this essay, I will...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences One of the most basic aspects of life is learning, we start learning the moment we are born, the first thing we learn is how to breathe and after that, the learning process just keeps going on. On most families kids grow up listening to just one language and that language becomes what we call as mother tongue or native language, this language is the one that the kid will always hold on into and have it as his/her primary language, so we as English teachers in foreign countries have to be aware of this, because this native language is going to have a huge impact on the learning process of the students, for example if you are teaching in a class that the student’s native language has a different grammar or...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Even in picking on what books and materials to aid the lesson, from authentic to created, cultural awareness should always be part of the consideration. The cultural background of the students should be first studied and researched, as this will play a significant role in the learning process. Even though many students may have been exposed to cultural exchange programs, personal interactions, and awareness through social media, we still differ in cultural needs. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Julia B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The first impression for the educator is that it may see as a hurdle, but to look on the...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences I worked as an Emirates Airlines flight attendant for over 6 years. In order to be accepted you need to pass multiple group exercises, a written exam and a two person interview. There are always over a thousand applicants but they only accept a very small number. Two years ago I left the company and moved to Vietnam where I noticed a great interest in younger people wanting to become flight attendants, but many were fearful of the Open Day, a two day process of interviews and exercises because they were not sure if their level of English was good enough. It didn’t take long for me and two friends, who had also worked for the same airline, to decide to put together an 8 day course for people interested in becoming...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences Today I will be discussing teaching EFL in a kindergarten class in Vietnam. The main 3 points I will be talking about are the culture, school support and parent assistance. Just to give you some background, my name is Melanie and I am from Ohio, USA. I have over 10 years experience in the classroom. I started as a substitute teacher in Nevada and then decided to move abroad to Vietnam in 2013. Vietnam is where I had my first EFL experience of teaching kindergarten. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Melanie W. The first big difference I noticed in the school compared to the US was the culture and practices of the Vietnamese people. What I quickly learned was that in general the people were...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences According to my experience, there are two stages when learning a foreign language. I am a Mandarin native speaker. Learning English is my foreign language experience. The first stage of my English learning experience was in my childhood. Learning English is an obligation in primary school, secondary school and high school. In my opinion, in this obligatory education, our learning curve is limited. The second stage of my English learning process was as an international student in England. It was a tremendous improvement in my English learning path. I would say it is like the ESA lesson but it lasts longer than one lesson! This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nina S. Please note that this...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Teaching multiple tenses might sound frightening as teaching a single tense can sometimes be a challenge on its own. However, while it might seem difficult the first time you try it, it isn’t as daunting as you would think. When teaching more than one tense at a time there are two main factors to consider: which tenses to teach together and what language level you are teaching. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ferenc M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The general rule is that basic tenses are for lower level students and harder ones are for intermediates and above. Despite this, many higher...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I am a non-native English teacher, currently living and working in China. Honestly, I was hired by my first school, when I had no experience of teaching English. In my first training center, the absolute majority of students were preschoolers or students of a primary school and I also had a part-time job in the kindergarten. At first, it was hard for me to understand what attracts kids to learn English at such an early age and what motivates them to come to our center twice a week and what keeps them interested. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Oleg P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. With time, I understood that there are two...  [Read more]