Concept Checking

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When teaching a class of students, teachers may discover that when they are trying to explain or introduce a new concept or segment of work, they are talking for more time than their students are. This can consequently reduce the effectiveness of the lesson and in turn result in a poor experience for the learners, as well as not equipping them properly to communicate in English outside of the classroom. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Lindsay K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The method I would use to minimize this problem would be a combination of drilling and simplification exercises. While teaching, I would employ the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I began my TEFL/TESOL experience not having had any prior teaching experience. Therefore, teaching was something that I was learning step-by-step, reading the units and using Internet resources for additional examples when needed. Even though there is no straightforward answer to this question, the ITTT course taught me that being a teacher is so much more than just transferring knowledge to someone else. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Sofija A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. It helped me pave my path of self-discovery as a teacher. There were many areas in which I felt I was strong in theory but lacked the practice....  [Read more]

Luciana Maluf TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Neurodiversity celebrates the differences between our brains and as a concept in itself, it is relatively new. It was first used in a magazine back in 1998 and was coined as a term by Singer in 1999, whose son had Asperger's syndrome. Neurodiversity describes the different ways in which brains develop, leading to different strengths and challenges related to thinking and learning. People with dyslexia, autism and ADHD are examples of neurodivergent learners. Neurodiverse English language students are not trying to be disruptive just because we must support and have modifications in place to make the educational process more accessible to all. Some neurodivergent students may...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching a real class, first, we need to mention the rapport between teachers and students. What makes a good teacher and a good learner are tend to be “student-centered” class than “teacher-centered”, which means teachers’ talking time is less than students’. Being a good teacher will always remind and encourage learners about their learning motivations and interests. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Crystal D. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Before teaching a class, we need to plan a class and what you expect students to achieve by the end of the class. In a lesson plan, we need a learning objective what do you...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas There are four basic skills in any language: receptive skills – reading and listening, and productive skills – speaking and writing. Usually, when we learn a new language, we tend to access our learning process and result by checking how our productive skills are and forget that before we can the product, we need to receive first. Data says that the production of every 100 words in writing needs a receipt of 1000 words in reading which means to be able to produce anything, one must get as much as 10 times receipt. Similarly in listening and speaking. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Josephine L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of...  [Read more]

Shirin Sophy Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas The study stage, when the teaching is actually done, is the second phase of a straight-arrow ESA lesson plan. What needs to be taught in this stage depends on the course content and the source the teacher is expected to cover through a specific period. But generally speaking, languages are made of receptive and productive skills in addition to systems like syntax or grammar, vocabulary or lexis, and phonology. The content of textbooks is normally centered around these areas. Although the ESA method is supposed to be applied for almost every lesson, no matter if it is allocated to a skill or system, the details of the procedure may vary based on the aspect of language that is...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Let’s remember the latest class you’ve had. What were you doing? Were you explaining a new rule? Were you answering your students’ questions? Were you telling a story from your life? Weren’t you talking too much? Let’s discuss how to decrease teacher speaking time (TST) and increase student speaking time (SST). This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate DALER R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. According to the communicative approach, TST shouldn’t be greater than SST, moreover, it must be much less than the last one. Why? There are several reasons. First of all, we have to mention that the more a teacher talks the less...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas It is true that following a lesson plan may make the class rigid and lack flexibility. But for some inexperienced teachers, we may get panic when there are unexpected things arising in the class. By preparing a lesson plan, firstly we will have a thorough idea about what is going to happen so we can be mentally ready to some degree. Secondly, each step from the lesson plan has it a specific reason to exist to assist an inexperienced teacher to learn about how to manage the class. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Wu Z. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Having a plan at hand with the learning objective listed clearly can help us...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Teachers play important roles in the lives of the students in their classrooms. Teachers are best known for their role of educating the students. The best teachers possess excellent communication skills, understand classroom management and appropriate discipline techniques to ensure a positive learning environment. As with all skills, teachers need to continue to improve their teaching skills by sharing with other teachers, continuing education and classroom experience. There are five important skills that teachers need in the classroom to set their students up for success. The focus needs to be on strengthening these skills to increase the effectiveness of the lessons. This post...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Type in "teaching grammar effectively" into Google and the reader will be confronted with pages and pages of advice/frameworks/theories on how to effectively teach grammar. Most of the content does acknowledge that there is no "golden rule" for effective grammar teaching before imparting their particular key rules or areas that should be incorporated into teaching grammar. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Joe S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Also Read: Top 7 Spanish Speaking Countries for Teaching English Abroad There's a lot of theory around, much of it contradictory. It can be valuable, but I sometimes feel, to quote Mark...  [Read more]

Latrice Coates TEFL Information Alumni Experiences I am sure you’ve seen the sponsored posts floating around your social media feed of travelers in these candid, well-desired places with the caption “I quit my 9-5 to travel the world & so can you”. You immediately get excited, then you look at the stack of bills on your dining room table then your bank account, and then instantly become discouraged and continue scrolling through your feed. Ha...yeah… that was me two years ago too. But now, here I am.. I DID quit my federal 9-5 job to travel the world full time and I’m here to give you the scoop that most influencers don’t tell you about moving abroad... Most of us did not just walk into work one day, went to our...  [Read more]

Ramon Perez Teaching Ideas With each passing day, we learn something new. We build upon the previously attained knowledge and expand our understanding of various subjects. As teachers, we have the responsibility of expanding our students’ knowledge and abilities. As much as we would like to provide fun and innovative ways to present the information, it can be difficult to keep it fresh on a daily basis. There are many factors to take into consideration when teaching a new subject: what, when, how, where, and why. Because we have many factors to consider, it’s vital to be as organized as possible. The tool we use to achieve this, is a lesson plan. In today’s blog, we will briefly discuss what a lesson plan is, the 5 elements mentioned above,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching is probably one of the most rewarding professions that can exist. I've always dreamed to be a teacher, being able to make a difference and be the one students can look up to. This opportunity was given to me when an English training institute from China called Web international English (also called Web) hired me as an ESL teacher. The web is a private English school which provides different class sizes such as VIP(1 to 1), Private(1 to 4), Salon(1 to 10) and Social(1 to 25+). These various courses helped me to differentiate and experience the difference between teaching one to one and groups. Hence I will detail in the following paragraphs my personal observations between both types of classes. Starting...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas Hello everybody, it's Liza here and I'm super happy to welcome you to today's ITTT live session. I hope that you have some spare time to tune in and talk about another exciting teaching topic. If you can see and hear me clearly, please let me know via the chatbox. I'm super excited not only because of this live session but also because of the weather, it is super warm here today. My hometown is blooming, and it feels so nice. Let me know where you are tuning in from. I am actually located in the middle of Russia in the city of Yekaterinburg. Usually it's pretty cold here but May is just the best month of the year, so if you are thinking of coming here one day it's better to choose...  [Read more]