Does Venezuela Celebrate Halloween

Linda Dunsmore Destinations Lunar New Year is one of the most important holidays in a variety of Asian countries. This holiday marks the beginning of a calendar year whose months are cycles of the moon. Typically, the Lunar New Year is celebrated in January or February depending on the lunar calendar. Teaching English in Asia is a great way to experience Lunar New Year celebrations and different customs in the various Asian nations. Chinese New Year is the most important Chinese festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese moon calendar. Chinese New Year is a 15-day-long festival period with the Lantern Festival concluding the celebrations on the 15th day of the year. The first day of Chinese New Year begins on...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas October is here and Halloween isn’t far away! Whether you teach in your country or abroad, this festival is exciting as it has specific cultural features. In this blog post, we share five fun Halloween decor ideas for your ESL classroom. Get inspired, and feel free to encourage your students to help you decorate the classroom! If you prefer to celebrate in style, you can pick a particular topic to decorate all parts of your classroom. Also Read: "6 Great Ideas for Developing Vocabulary in English Learners" Use all time favorites - pumpkins, lanterns, web, and wreaths - as the basis of your decor. You can either DIY them or buy them at a...  [Read more]

Barbara Harrison Teaching Ideas Celebrate the universal language of music with your students. With music, students at all levels work on the basic skills of learning and improving their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills while having fun! Music improves attitudes toward content and learning, as well as classroom participation. It’s also been shown to decrease anxiety and tension on scary topics and increase memory of grammar concepts. The benefits are many, including improved concentration and memory, help to absorb material, inspire creativity, and encourage learning. Music makes learning fun! A student’s previous class or activity can determine the best song choice. Ask yourself: Is your student coming to class from...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences From my heritage of teachers to multicultural experiences, I feel that events in my life have prepared me to be an effective English teacher. Teaching is something I’ve always enjoyed doing and I have wanted to become a teacher for much of my adult life. Teaching English will be a new experience for me, but I’m at a point where I am ready to take on this exciting chance to not only make a difference in students’ lives but to also see new parts of the world. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Joseph Brent W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. My grandmother was a school teacher and some of my earliest memories are of her...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Teaching Ideas Motivation can be categorized into two types: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation is a drive that comes from within a person. People are intrinsically motivated when they enjoy doing an activity. Extrinsic motivation is a drive that comes from outside of a person. People are extrinsically motivated when they want to gain a reward (like a prize or a good grade) or avoid a punishment. Motivating Students to Learn English with some Smart Tactics are as follows: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nigar S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. One way to encourage students’ intrinsic motivation is to make class communicative. Part...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences As babies and toddlers, learning a language is a natural thing. We listen, watch, learn, and eventually try speaking for ourselves. We make many mistakes. As a toddler, mistakes are adorable. Our parents, siblings, and grandparents can't get enough of our attempts at language. However, as we get older, mistakes are no longer cute and can become somewhat embarrassing, causing us to fear trying new things. This fear can make learning a new language particularly difficult as we get older. As teachers of foreign languages, it is important to help our students feel comfortable trying new things and even making mistakes. If our students can feel confident, even when they are wrong, they won't be afraid to try. This...  [Read more]

Amanda Stern Destinations Alumni Experiences Are you planning on teaching abroad, but worrying about how you can get involved in the community and leave a memorable impression on the locals? Language barriers may make this seem like a harrowing task, but fear not, the following is a list of a few jumping-off points for those planning to take the plunge into their new community. Celebrating multiculturalism in a community is a worldwide phenomenon, even for unassuming towns. In our rural port-town in Japan, we have multiple events throughout the year to promote understanding and celebrate the various cultures and people who have made Japan their home, temporarily or forever. These events included Filipino traditional dance...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences To many students, the school can feel like more of a chore than a pleasurable experience. Whether it is struggling to pay attention to lectures or to complete homework assignments, all students will lose focus at some point or another. One way to make the learning process more pleasurable is by transforming the classroom into a game-like environment. This does not necessarily mean playing games in class, but it does mean applying similar concepts to the classroom. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Heather H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Many of the games we enjoy also happen to build real-life skills such as...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Destinations TEFL Information Whether it’s a small present or a simple card - these cute sayings for teacher appreciation add a special touch to your gift! Your teachers will truly appreciate your thoughtfulness with these cute sayings. Around the world, there are several holidays dedicated to celebrating your teachers. In the United States, Teacher Appreciation Week is the first full week in May. Here is a list of when it is celebrated in other countries: “Thanks for helping our child ‘bloom’ “ or “grow” tag with a bouquet of flowers or growing plant “Thanks for giving our child a hand” tag with hand lotion “Thanks a ‘latte!” tag with a gift card from the local coffee shop, special...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas English has become a worldwide language, leading to early learning of English in the school context is becoming more common nowadays. It has been suggested that children should master their mother tongue before moving on to their second language. However, if you learn a language after the age of seven, you can never turn it into your mother tongue. You should learn it as soon as possible. After that age, they won’t learn it the same way as they do their native language. This is the reason why there are more and more kindergartens teaching English and what does a teacher need to put in mind when teaching EFL for children? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Tran T. Please note that this blog...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Urban education can be described as a complicated topic for school reformists in America. With critical issues, such as inadequate funding, lack of resources, and uncertified teachers, the myriad of problems with public education has reached a new high. Many big-city public education systems have turned into melting pots by bringing together members of different racial, social, economic, and ethnic groups. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Crystal H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Per the Bureau of International Information Programs (2011), the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Many English language learners have different motivations, interests, and skills in learning a new language. In a classroom with diverse backgrounds and skill levels, it’s very important that a teacher strives to understand each of their students to the best of their abilities and support them along in their journey to learning English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Tessa S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. As we discussed in ITTT 120-Hour Course: Teachers and Learners teachers take on multiple and diverse roles in the classroom, sometimes during a single lesson. These roles include manager or controller, organizer,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Becoming an English teacher can present many great opportunities, among such may be learning the skill of navigating issues and culturally sensitive situations unique to instructing students with a wide array of nationalities. Much of this skill comes from learned experience but a teacher who has had proper training and time for adequate research can steer though these issues with greater ease. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Brynn G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Putting aside cultural matters for the moment, the strictly linguistic issues that may come to fruition in a multi-national classroom are plentiful. The most...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences A life long learner, to me, is one who desires to learn new things based on interests, motivations, and knowledge to be gained. As one who is a certified teacher in first through eighth grades (in Louisiana, USA), possesses a master degree in education, as well as having a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a minor in Leadership and Supervision, does not mean that I know it all; far from it. In my middle school teaching days and years of teaching in higher education preparing teachers to teach, I encountered students from other culturally diverse backgrounds; yet, I did not have the basic fundamentals of teaching students whose first language was not English. This I regret. This post was written by our...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Throughout the modern and ancient world, across all cultures and empires, generations have been inspired, entertained and educated through the process of storytelling. Before such modern practices of documentation, word of mouth was used to keep the spirit of generations alive, these served as a purpose of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and to instill a sense of morality into their young. Since the written word, our desire for storytelling has evolved and allowed us to reach and inspire further audiences on paper. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate florence c. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. To separate and...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas A multilingual class is a class where the learners speak a variety of first languages. A monolingual class is a class where all the learners speak the same first language. I have been working in international school setting for over 13 years. The classes are multilingual classes where students come from different cultures and English is the common language for them to communicate with their teachers and classmates. By contrast, English classes in local schools and universities in China are considered to be monolingual classes since the students use their first language, Chinese, to communicate. The teacher has to remind them to not use their mother tongue constantly during class...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Budget and Salary TEFL Information Welcome, I'm Linda from ITTT, and we are doing a live Q&A session today, so let me just check if this is working. Is anybody here if you're here, if you can see me if you can hear me. Please, leave a comment. That would be great so that I know that you are here. And, please, let me know where you guys are tuning in from? I would be super interested to see where you are tuning in from. I'm in South Korea. I'm about an hour and a half outside of Seoul, like in the middle of South Korea in a city called Cheongju. It's not that big. It is quite big, but it's not pretty well known, but um, I've been here for five and a half years already. So, hello, some people are here great! Hi,...  [Read more]

Umber Sherjeel Destinations Alumni Experiences Being in the teaching field for more than a decade and having taught in Saudi Arabia for the last 7+ years, I will give some pointers about my experience here as an English Language teacher. The education industry in Saudi Arabia is very blooming. There are many international schools, colleges, and universities - and the English education field in Saudi Arabia continues to grow and expand. Due to the rapid shift in the education system during the past few years, the country has established an insatiable appetite for ESL English Language teachers. English language learning has become mandatory in pretty much the entire school system. Since English is considered as a key skill for...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I have chosen this subject because I have some experience in teaching young learners and motivation has always been a hot topic of discussion with my peer teachers. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Lenuta M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Young learners have a short attention span and teachers or educators have to manage this issue in the first place. When dealing with teaching English to little ones, a first step is capturing their attention and interest since the intrinsic motivation is not yet developed. One method is to engage them using songs and movements. Even if they don't understand the lyrics, the rhythm and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Confidence - how many times we’ve heard about it. That it’s important, that we should have it, that we should build it, that we should help students or any other people develop it. But what does it mean? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Iuliia S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. It’s been always difficult to explain what is it, as it’s something that comes from feelings of well-being, acceptance of yourself, belief in your abilities, skills, your own experience. I would say it’s a ‘self-power’, that lets you move through any difficulties, helps you to grow and become a ‘someone’. The Merriam-Webster dictionary...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In my opinion, classroom management is the most important part of teaching. Classroom Management does not have only the skill of organizing and managing but also a relaxing manner. It is a critical skill. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Huyen P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Simply put, classroom management refers to the wide variety of skills and techniques that teachers use to ensure that their classroom runs smoothly, without disruptive behavior from students. According to me, it boils down to having a structured learning environment with clear rules that promote learning as well as consequences that diminish or...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences In 2010, I was on a cultural fact-finding mission. While living as an ex-pat in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China, I decided I would like to teach English to Chinese students. I thought it would be a fun, constructive way to spend my extra time while my husband was working. So, I took the challenge! I call this a challenge because I had no prior ESL experience at the time. I soon found that understanding the Chinese culture was going to become a priority. Is sensitivity to the Chinese cultural norms significant in teaching ESL in China? A very important puzzle piece in successful teaching in China is defined by their culture. Learning about it and implementing it in my teaching classes smoothed many a...  [Read more]

Kayla Hill Destinations TEFL Information So, you’re interested in teaching English in Hong Kong? Although there are many avenues in which to do this, one particular program that is unique to Hong Kong is the Native English Teacher (NET) Scheme. I’ve just started my fourth consecutive year teaching in a local school in the New Territories in Hong Kong, and the scheme has definitely provided me with plenty of opportunities. The role of a NET is to enhance the English learning environment in public sector schools. The Education Bureau (EDB) of Hong Kong recruits native speakers from English-speaking countries around the world to give students a chance to interact and learn English from a foreigner. Hong Kong is an attractive...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I first decided to take this TEFL course because I am currently teaching English in rural Japan. I plan and execute English lessons for Junior High School students, as well as serve as a cultural representative of my country and foster cultural exchange. Here's the catch though - I don't speak Japanese. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Gwendolen J. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I've had to think a lot about how to get students to like me and the subject I teach without relying on verbal communication. I don't know enough Japanese to convey my outgoing personality, or to make jokes, or to ask questions about their interests....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Over the past two years, as part of an international community, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting people from all over the world. We share the common experience of learning an L2. I’ve spoken to nearly 100 people now, and what I’ve learned about learning L2 is, well, it’s hard. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Janis U. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Most people I’ve “interviewed” have either learned an L2 over many years or are still in the process of learning it. Of those that have learned an L2, they tend to be more fluent than accurate and most have learned L2 out of necessity within 1-3 years. I consider...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I have read everything that has fallen into my hands ever since I can remember, and that goes for both my native tongue, Spanish, and my second language, English. I remember waiting in line and reading and re-reading a thousand times a sign on a window directly in front of me! Sometimes it can be maddening being this way, but in the long run, I firmly believe that my passion for reading has finally paid off! This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Marcela C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. When I began studying English, and I was about 11, I started what it seems now like a race! A race against who? Me! Every new word, meaning,...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Hi and welcome to another live session. My name is Linda from ITTT and I'm back again this week, who would have thought? No, we're actually pretty consistent with our live events. So we are going live twice a week. Me once and then my colleague Liza once. I’m so happy to be here today guys, let me know if you can see me and if you can hear me, and also where you're watching from. Just drop hi I’m watching from so and so into the comment section, that would be really great. I'm super excited to be here again today. Normally I go live on Fridays, well Friday mornings in South Korea. But today I'm going live on Thursday because we are actually going into the Lunar New Year...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Destinations TEFL Information Hi and welcome to another live session from ITTT. My name is Linda and I'm here today to talk about teaching English in South Korea. Let me just show you today's topic so that everybody who's joining knows what's happening today. Today we're talking about teaching English in South Korea and I'm so excited about this topic and it's actually been a super requested topic every time I do a live session. I've been living in Korea for almost six years and I have been teaching a few different classes. I have done summer camps and winter camps and teaching kids and teaching adults, teaching business English, teaching conversation, teaching full-time at a kindergarten and elementary school...  [Read more]

If you have already graduated from one of our TEFL certification courses and have yet to decide on where you would like to teach, or you are thinking about signing up for a course and are looking for an insight into the most popular teaching destinations, then the following guides might provide some welcome inspiration. Below you will find dozens of countries from all corners of the world where there are plenty of good opportunities for teaching EFL. Click on the countries that interest you to access a wide range of travel tips, country facts and other useful information. As one of the most developed countries in the Latin American region, Argentina is a very popular destination for teaching English as a foreign language. Jobs are relatively plentiful in Buenos Aries and several other...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas English to me and I'll answer them to the best of my ability. We have a first time watcher Sebastian watching from Cameroon and it is 2:00 a.m. there, wow thanks so much for staying up and watching our live stream, that's awesome. We are actually streaming live on Facebook and also on YouTube at the same time, so wherever you're watching from you can throw your questions at me at any time and if you don't want to miss out on any of our live streams don't forget to like and subscribe so that you always get notifications. I go live every Friday morning my time, depending on where you're watching it might still be Thursday, and then my colleague...  [Read more]