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Tefl-certificate
Shirin Sophy
Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas
No matter how seasoned and confident a teacher is, there are occasions specifically before starting a new class that every teacher might wonder, "what if they don't like me?" This nightmarish query may cause even more distress when one is getting ready to start a job at a new school or a new country. Considering the fact that students don't basically walk into a class with a bias against the teacher, and they tend to take a liking to him/her based on the very first impression they get, can clarify the importance of the first session. In fact, you can work towards establishing a strong rapport by having various fun warm-up activities ready in hand in order to provide your students... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Why does the English language break all its own rules and have so many words or phrases that simply make no literal sense? How does one learn such a language like this?
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Bridget B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
Football in most countries is a game where a ball is kicked around with one’s foot. In American English, this sport is called soccer. The sport of American football has much less to do with the kicking of the foot but yet is still called football. And we still also have soccer and handball.
We have many other words in the English language that can be very confusing to those learning... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Flashcards are aids to learning with information on either both sides or on one side which a teacher holds up so that the students can see. Flashcards can have an English word on one side and have a translation in another language on the other side, or they can have pictures on one side and a word on the other side.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Eshita P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
Teachers use flashcards for different reasons, such as playing games, sentence construction (grammar), or to make it easier for students to get a clear picture of what the teaching will be saying. These cards are usually used to perk up... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Linda Dunsmore
Teaching Ideas
We all know what it’s like to teach a class with reluctant students who don’t want to talk. It’s like pulling teeth. However, with these 7 awesome ESL conversation activities, you can really get your students talking!
For this activity, you simply use a tumbling block game such as Jenga and write 1 simple ice breaker question on each block. Before a student places a block on the stack, they must first answer the question on the block. This activity is especially great for small ESL classes or for small groups in a big class.
Also Read: The 5 Best Ways To Build Rapport With Your TEFL Students
First, take a few minutes to brainstorm characteristics a person might have. This could be something like “has flown in... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Linda Dunsmore
Teaching Ideas
Teaching speaking skills is an important part of an ESL class. Sometimes, entire conversation classes are established that focus solely on speaking. Here are 7 great games for your ESL conversation class.
Write down the names and key points about five celebrities and assign them to the same amount of students in your classroom. One by one, a student enters a “party” with another student playing the host. The host must then find out the identity of each guest by having a conversation with everyone.
Have your students stand in a circle. Choose a specific grammar point and have the first person asks a question using the grammar structure. The student then throws a ball to another student who answers the question... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Linda Dunsmore
Alumni Experiences
Challenges are inevitable especially if you want to be successful at what you do and teaching EFL is not devoid of them. In fact, teaching English as a Foreign Language can be very much exciting but also very challenging as it comes with lots of problems. Among these problems are what to do for the first lessons and how to get students motivated for the EFL course. These problems like many others have solutions and this essay seeks to highlight the problems and provide some practical solutions to them.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Belinda S.
What to teach for a first lesson can be very problematic sometimes and as the proverb goes, “First impressions are the most lasting”. First... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Practicing conversational skills is often daunting for students. However, with these awesome activities, you’ll engage your students in speaking quicker as they will like the tasks.
Jenga is a favorite stack game to millions of people. Your students will get excited as soon as they see the blocks. For this activity, you need to customize the blocks a bit by writing 1 ice-breaking question on each piece. Students need to pull a block and answer the question before putting it on the top of the stack.
You can adjust this game to online classes by using online Jenga.
Also Read: Can I teach English as a foreign language online?
Before the lesson, brainstorm as many personal characteristics as possible (e.g.: have a... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Rapport according to the Cambridge dictionary means “a good understanding of someone and an ability to communicate well with them”, it can also be defined as a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other's feelings or ideas and communicate well.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kudzai K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
Establishing rapport with your students can make a great amount of difference when teaching, especially in a second language. It increases the bond between a teacher and his students and thus more often than not makes learning interesting and more fun for... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Linda Dunsmore
Teaching Ideas
One of the great things about teaching conditionals is that once you discover some classroom activities that work well for one, they can be adapted to suit any of the conditional patterns that you may be asked to teach. Here are 7 fun activities for teaching conditionals for the ESL classroom that you can easily adapt to help your students understand the correct structures and usages.
Tell your students to stand up and form in two lines (teams) and have an item that can be thrown and caught without causing injury or damage. Set the timer on your phone to sound after about 30-45 seconds. The teacher calls out the beginning half of a conditional sentence, throws the ball to a student at the beginning of the line and... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
No matter how well-prepared a teacher may be, every classroom is different, which means each student is different, and each teacher needs to be able to adjust and be able to establish rapport with the new class. For some teachers, working in a foreign country may cause them to feel uneasy; however, a teacher needs to overcome this feeling to be successful in the classroom. Indeed, building rapport with all students will help. Although this is a continuous process throughout the term, the key to establishing a friendly learning environment starts on day one. Thus, the best way to build rapport is to know the students’ names and interests by the end of the day or week (depending on class size).
This post was... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Alumni Experiences
A teacher has an important responsibility to get to know his or her students to ensure that they are engaged with the lesson on a daily basis. Learning another language is not easy so it is imperative that a teacher does everything in his or her power to get to know their students and become as familiar with them as possible. One of the most effective ways a teacher can begin to do so is by establishing rapport with their students.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kathyrine L.
Establishing rapport with students is ideally something that should happen at the beginning of the course. It is better to get to know your students as soon as possible rather than later. There is much to be... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Shirin Sophy
Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas
Today's pedagogical approaches put considerable emphasis upon the importance of providing students with the opportunity to have a joyful educational experience through adding enough and well-located variety to the lessons. One practical way to do so is designing and adding aimful games to your plan in order to inject positive energy into your lessons, improve the mood of your class and make your lessons stick in students' long-term memory.
Since not only young learners but also grownups enjoy playing fun games while taking English lessons, teachers, therefore, are always trying to come up with games that serve this purpose. So here are some ESL game ideas that you can adapt to your... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
The more a teacher speaks the less attention the learners will pay. Decreasing teacher speaking time can be done with a few practical steps and wonderful teaching methods. It all starts with proper planning. When designing a lesson plan be sure to include assignments and activities that will engage your students and do not call for a teacher dominant role.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Johnelle M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
Using activities in the classroom that engage the students is very important. For example, instead of going right into a lecture, using a pass the ball activity allows the students to get engaged... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Linda Dunsmore
Teaching Ideas
When teaching young learners, it’s important not to spend too much time on any one activity as they can soon lose interest. It is also a good idea to have activities that give younger learners the chance to move about and use the boundless energy they have at that age. Below we present a list of short activities suitable for young and very young learners of English.
This is a good activity for practicing time with small classes. Clear a space in the center of the classroom and have a student stand in front of the board with their back to the class, this person is the wolf and the rest of the class stand at the back of the room. For each turn, the class asks the wolf ‘What's the time, Mr. Wolf?’ and the wolf... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Learning a new language can be incredibly challenging. To even attempt to learn a language that is not one’s mother tongue takes both incredible courage and humility, especially when the language is English. As a teacher of English, stress must be expected and prepared for in order to keep students feeling encouraged and wanting to try. These are my tips for doing just that.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate AmyJoy G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
First, make sure that students know you care about them by building rapport with them as they begin the class. With this, it’s helpful to see that other’s aren’t perfect so... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Trang V. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
Also Read: Moving Forward: My Personal Teaching Experience, Changing Careers
STAGE 1 - Understanding And Learning The Meaning Of New Words (10’) Firstly, students watch a video that is related to colors. Students give their attention the main words: Black, white, yellow, pink, blue, green, orange, grey, brown, purple, red Help them to understand what topic we learn today. They watch the video once and try to remember some of the colors. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4XUBGJK180
Then the teacher will move around class make them have more focus:... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Alumni Experiences
While English isn’t the most spoken language on earth, it is the language that is spoken in most places in the world. This is what designates English as a Global Language. If you want to study Neurosurgery at Stanford University, you’ll have to know English. You have a startup company in France, that’s going to revolutionize the smartphone industry. If you want to have your phones manufactured in China, you’ll need to know English. You’re from Russia, and spending your holiday at a hotel in North Bali. When you go out to the restaurant to order coffee from a native Balinese, you’ll need to know at least enough English to get your needs met.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Linda Dunsmore
Alumni Experiences
Teachers who walk into a new classroom are never sure what type of students will be there. Many times, they will get a class that has a mixed ability. Some of the students may have a stronger grasp of the English language than others. An experienced teacher would know what to do. But what about an inexperienced teacher? This post will describe some of the steps and strategies that would assist them.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate James O.
On day one, the teacher does not need to use the text. The teacher’s job on the first day is to develop a rapport with the students. This would include getting to know the students, what they are interested in, what their level of English proficiency... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Linda Dunsmore
Destinations
So, you love to travel and want to teach English abroad but you’re also a vegan? The good news is that you won’t have to choose between your dietary needs and your dream of exploring the world. The following places are vegan-friendly destinations ideal for teaching English abroad.
Due to its significant Buddhist population, Thailand has plenty of vegan food options to choose from. There are vegan eateries all over the country, and you’ll also find healthy salad bar concepts, organic farm-to-table, Japanese macrobiotic and all sorts of other vegan eateries here. Even your regular restaurants often have meatless pad Thai, tom yum soup, coconut milk-based curries and salads on their menu. What’s specific for... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
I have been teaching English to young learners in China for almost a year and I tried to make my lessons with and without flashcards. And I can say for sure, that it’s really hard to teach children (3-12 years old) if you don’t have prepared flashcards for your classes, but only an interactive whiteboard and some stuff to play games.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kelly P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
I’d like to reveal a paragraph about games more deeply, because games in a classroom allow you to keep your students motivated and interested in what’s going on.
Also Read: "7 Great Games for Your ESL Conversation... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
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]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas
We all know that exciting lessons make you learn things easier and faster. So how do we bring some life into the boring lesson? There are a lot of ways. Some teachers use songs and cartoons, which are great for kids. The others find class discussions and debates helpful. They are a good choice for older students. But what do all of us love? Of course, games! Both children and grown-ups enjoy playing games. They bring fun into the studying process and can be productive. Games can be used at every stage of the ESA lesson.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Oleh K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Completing a TEFL course is useful in many ways. Firstly, it is useful to complete a TEFL course because of the knowledge it provides. Before starting this course I had an English background, but I wasn’t aware of all the grammatical points I was missing out on. This course has made me think and taught me some very new ideas that I had not previously known before. Aside from grammar, I had picked up some very useful communication skills and problem-solving skills. When in a classroom I learned how to keep people engaged and active. A very useful technique is the ESA technique. That stands for engaging, study, activate. In this technique, you can use the straight-arrow method, boomerang method or the patchwork... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Learning a new skill can be difficult, and applying that skill can be even harder. Now teach that skill to someone else so they can adeptly apply it, and there might be people who become intimidated by such a task. However, teaching is a rewarding skill and there are several ways to improve a teacher’s confidence in the classroom. Although not an all-encompassing list, a few ways teachers can improve their confidence is through proper preparation, building rapport with students and self-reflection.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Courtney N. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
If a teacher is prepared to teach the lesson then... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Alumni Experiences
English is the language of the modern world. All people around the world know the importance of the English language in our life, because we need it in our work and sometimes when we meet other people from other cultures, maybe they are not from Britain or America but we almost think they are talking English.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Doaa E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
That doesn't mean our language isn't important. Sure all people love their language, but the first language now used as a global language in the world is English agree or disagree.
As global communication expands throughout the world, so does the... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Alumni Experiences
English is the language of the modern world. All people around the world know the English language in our life, because we need it in our work and sometimes when we meet other people from other cultures, maybe they are not from Britain or America but we almost think they are talking English. That doesn't mean our language isn't important. Sure all people love their language, but the first language now used as a global language in the world is English agree or disagree.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Doaa E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
As global communication expands throughout the world, so does the need for a global... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Linda Dunsmore
Destinations
The worldwide EFL market is ever-changing with new hotspots and trends popping out of nowhere on a regular basis. If you don’t want to teach English in one of the common EFL destinations, like China, Mexico or Italy, this list of the top 5 off-the-beaten-track countries for teaching English abroad might get you inspired.
With a diverse range of landscapes, Guatemala is a teaching destination like no other. Here, you will find towering tree clad volcanoes, lush canyons and Caribbean beaches that could have come straight off a movie set. The local EFL market might not be as big as those in some other countries in the region, such as Chile or Brazil, but that is what makes Guatemala so unique.
We also offer our 4-week... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Teaching Ideas
Young learners and adults have different needs and goals in the classroom. Young learners want to be engaged and have rapidly changing activities while adult learners will enjoy a more serious classroom setting. It is the job of the teacher to ensure that these needs are met for both age groups.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Preston M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
If a teacher is teaching classes with young learners, visual cues are very important. Many young learners are not able to read at all or can read very little, so young learners need to be using material that is picture based. When the teacher is preparing... [Read more]
Tefl-certificate
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]
Tefl-certificate
Elizaveta Pachina
Alumni Experiences
I believe that using English learning games will have a great impact on the students in a positive way, having fun and integrating the new language in that activity is a big boost for learning. The coursebook is essential and a great study tool, but a variety of activity is very important. There are so many different types of games which is amazing because the fact that the teacher can provide a totally different game to play will keep the students' interest at its fullest, and that will make the student absorb a new language like a sponge.
This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Joakim A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
There... [Read more]
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