Fun Games To Play With A Whiteboard

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Interactive whiteboards have been around since the turn of the millennium. They have been implemented and studied in multiple ESL classrooms, primary schools, and language centers in order to find the best practices. The American Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) acknowledges the importance of using technology, such as the interactive whiteboard, to support and enhance classroom-based instructions (Segni & Davidson, 2019). In order for the interactive whiteboard to be used effectively to take advantage of learning opportunities and support children’s learning, it is important to use it skillfully in education. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate William N. Please note...  [Read more]

Hoàng Minh Huy TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Due to the pandemic, distance learning has replaced traditional classroom instruction worldwide. Teachers in Hong Kong are attempting to find ways to instruct their students while at home under quarantine. To help you stay inspired when instructing online, I'm going to share some enjoyable games and activities to play with kids using Zoom in this post. If you've never used Zoom, you must give it a try with your students; you'll be pleasantly surprised. Because students are staying at home in a cozy environment rather than attending actual classes in schools, teaching through an online platform makes it very challenging to manage the class. Therefore, establishing ground rules...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Games have proven to be a useful approach within a classroom environment when teaching English. In this essay, I will be discussing in further detail why it is beneficial for the teacher to use games as part of their teaching practice and the different types of games that can be played. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Alexander K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Games are exciting and fun, they are a good way to break the ice and engage students. Games can help build good relationships between students and the teacher because they are informal, so, this creates a comfortable environment for students to make mistakes without...  [Read more]

Karah Musani Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Teaching children can be challenging. If you’re teaching an adult, chances are, they’re there because they want to learn. Most children, however, would much rather be watching their favorite TV show, so it’s important to make the class fun and engaging. One of the best ways to do this is with a reward system. Plan a reward system with 4 to 6 rewards and give one to the student periodically throughout the class when they have done a good job. You can use this to reinforce good behavior and to encourage the student to try harder so that they get more rewards. All of my reward systems rely on a whiteboard the students can see. The rewards will be placed on the whiteboard. Here...  [Read more]

Charlotte Lam Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Due to the pandemic, distance learning has become the new form of teaching all over the words. In Hong Kong, teachers are trying to figure out ways to teach their students while having quarantine at home. In this post, I’m going to share some fun activities and games to play with kids by using Zoom so that you won’t run out of ideas when teaching through an online platform. If you’ve never used Zoom before, you must try it with your students, and it definitely surprises you. Teaching through an online platform makes it very difficult to manage the class because students are staying at home in a comfortable place rather than attending real classes in school. Therefore,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I love flashcards. Honestly, I really do. For me, they are a never-ending source of games and activities. Nowadays I work as an ESL teacher in a training center and I teach mostly young learners (students from 3 to 8 years old) and I am strongly convinced that this age group may learn a foreign language only through games, entertaining activities and live communication. Therefore, I am trying to be creative and use plenty of teaching aids and props, such as IWB, OHP, whiteboard, course books, board games, balls, balloons, hoops, various arts and crafts, etc. However, I find that using flashcards is simple yet one of the most effective tools to increase my student’s vocabulary. And here are some of my favorite...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas During the lessons, teachers usually use a variety of materials and teaching aids. One of the most common is flashcards. They have so many benefits: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Oksana K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Flashcards can be used both for learning new vocabulary and for revision. Here are some of the activities with flashcards that I use working with children starting from 3 to 9 years old, mostly beginners. These activities can be changed a little and transformed into activities for older children. After the new flashcards were...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching English as a foreign language with little to no experience is a daunting task and one that should be seriously considered. There are many aspects to teaching that I was expected to know and implement while teaching English in another country. I had to learn how to teach in about two weeks and although I learned many techniques and strategies, one of the most important tools and one of the most effective was including games in the classroom. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Patricia C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I was slightly skeptical at first because, even though games are fun, I hadn’t personally experienced...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas This year has been challenging for all educators due to quarantine and long-term distance learning. However, it is vital to work on online teaching skills to enhance your students’ online ESL experience. In this blog post, I will share three exciting online ESL teaching ideas that you need to try by the end of this year to help your students learn English with pleasure, even remotely. Although online lessons take place on video chats, there’s still a visible barrier that decreases work effectiveness. To make it more interactive and grab your students' attention non-stop, try a collaborative workspace or an online whiteboard to provide...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore TEFL Information In recent years, more and more classrooms have become more technologically advanced and more and more teachers are using digital teaching materials. However, you don’t always need to hand out tablets to your students or have a fancy digital whiteboard to take advantage of recent advances in digital teaching materials. Here are some great apps to have on your phone while teaching English abroad that you can use to enhance your lessons and really engage your students in the classroom. This app allows you to create an interactive whiteboard filled with instructional videos that can be watched as a class or at home. You can also annotate and animate your content to make it more fun to learn for your students. The...  [Read more]

  Using games in your lessons is a great way to liven up the class and get students excited and interested in using English in the classroom. Not only do they provide a welcome break from the usual activities, they also help to create a relaxed environment where even the most reluctant student can be persuaded to take part. There are many games that can be used in the TEFL classroom, from simple games that only require a pen and a whiteboard to more elaborate board games. There are some games that have been specifically designed to be used in English language classes, while other, everyday games that we usually play for fun can also be adapted to be used with your students. You can even create your own games! Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Kindergartners can range from as young as 1 and a half years old to 7 years old. These children have barely developed in themselves and their native language and are required to learn English as a foreign language. To achieve this, creativity is essential to make language learning as fun and enjoyable as physically possible. My new role as “Teacher Ellie” in a kindergarten school in Bangkok, Thailand has provided me with on the job experience of language teaching. This essay will explore what I have learned so far, including any problems I faced and how I overcame them. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ellie H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas One of the key elements to being an effective teacher is variety. One cannot teach by using the same lesson structure, the same activities, the same worksheets, the same plan every single time. No matter how effective it may be, students will still tire from the repetition, and their engagement will wane. And that is exactly why teachers have a toolbox from which to draw a wide variety of skills, activities, plans, and ideas to keep the classroom fresh and engaging. Changing scenery, environments, and going outside is all part of this toolbox, and can be used to an effective extent to keep lessons feeling stimulating and varied. And by doing so, the teacher is opening up lessons to a fun and exciting range of...  [Read more]

Juan Pedro Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas I remember the first time I sat in front of a computer waiting for my online student to arrive. I had already been teaching in-class for about two years, but this was my debut in the unknown online waters. In the current world, online teaching has gained more popularity due to the pandemic. Yet, a few years ago, when I started with it, online teaching was not so common for me. After over four years of expertise with in-class teaching and over three years in online teaching, I can share some insights about the main differences I have found with you. For me, student participation is one of the most influential differences between in-class and online teaching. When I am teaching in a...  [Read more]

Anna Domiczek TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Shifting from a traditional classroom to a virtual setting can be daunting for teachers who do not have experience teaching online. This is especially the case if one has to keep young students engaged and motivated. What are the tricks to instill excitement and interest in preschoolers who do not have the intrinsic motivation to perform to achieve good grades? Their parents’ primary desire is for them to speak like the native and one day go off to an internationally renowned US university or work for a foreign company. Young students are motivated by something else- a desire to have fun in a welcoming environment. In the evolving ESL education market, the English teaching...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences In an era where technology is prevalent and has become a big part of our culture, it is beneficial to incorporate it in the classroom. Technology in the Education system is one of the greatest changes we have witnessed over the years. The paradigm has shifted immensely to a point where we no longer must sit in a classroom to learn. Everything being taught in the classroom can now be taught online in the comfort of your own space and at a time convenient to you. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Courtney R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Like all other things, technology has its fair share of pros and cons, but the cons are...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Technologies are constantly evolving and improving. There are literally dozens of new technologies that can be applied to the modern classroom in 2019 that have not yet made their way into mainstream usage. New tech changes the way subjects are taught, how students learn and the way teachers and students communicate with each other. Everything from new types of interactive whiteboards, classroom response systems, use of social media, tablet computers and classroom websites to the more exotic and potentially cost-prohibitive techs such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality(VR) or even holographic projectors are commercially available for use in the classroom. Students in ancient Babylonia and Sumeria...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Teaching Ideas Hello everybody and welcome to the ITTT weekly live stream. It's Liza here and I'm super excited that this stream happens every week and we can talk about teaching and TEFL and stuff like that. So welcome and thank you for joining me. Today, we are going to talk about online ESL game design. Last week I started showing you the game I was designing, it was Monopoly. Today I'm going to show you the outcome of the game and also tell you a little bit more about online game design. Thanks a lot for letting me know that you are watching and right now please let me know at what stage of your ESL career you are at. As for me, I'm an online ESL teacher currently. I used to teach in a real classroom several years ago, but then...  [Read more]

Anastasiya Akpinar Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Do you remember the frustration you have experienced after education moved went online? While it may have been a disaster initially, most teachers have now adapted to the new streams of the educational process. Some even say distance learning is better for everyone. One of the most popular approaches to teaching is the ESA method, and in this blog post, we will discover how to use the ESA teaching method for online English lessons. After online education has become a routine part of teachers' lives, many still have problems with planning fun and productive online lessons. To let students take part in the process equally is a challenge for all English teachers, especially when...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching on a one to one is a real skill and one that takes many months and even years of experience to be able to become proficient at. It is true to say that no matter how long someone has been teaching on a one to one basis, they will always find new strategies to employ. So, how can one-to-one teaching be effective? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Tammy T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. As a learning support practitioner for the past 18 years, I have had the privilege of teaching countless students on a one to one basis. It is my favorite part of my job as it gives me the chance to get to know my students well, to have...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Hello everybody, my name is Liza and I welcome you to the weekly live stream run by ITTT. Today's live stream is going to be slightly different from the previous ones because I'm going to share my screen and show you technical things in real time. So this live stream is going to be devoted to the best tools for designing online English lessons and to make sure everything is clear to you, I want to show you in real time how I design my lessons. As I have already mentioned in some of my previous streams, I've been using a couple of useful tools to deliver my classes. The first is Mira which is an online collaborative whiteboard, and another one is...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Teaching EFL to kindergarten requires both mental and emotional preparation but very rewarding. It is one of the most challenging yet fulfilling and enjoyable experiences in the life of a teacher. Children’s attention is full of curiosity, desire to learn new things and have the ability to come up with different ideas and ways of doing things. I think this is the stage when geniuses are made! This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rex Belli P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. A good teacher creates great students. You have to make them look up to you as someone in-charge of the class. That being said, you have to be mindful of...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Teaching can be a gratifying career, but with it comes great responsibility. Possessing a high grasp of grammar, teaching theories, techniques, etc., will hold you in good stead. However, there are many other wide-ranging characteristics required to be a great teacher. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Elicia B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. A great teacher needs to be adaptable as they are not just a teacher. They are a motivator, organizer, entertainer, prompter, corrector, and participator, to name only a few. It is essential that the teacher can...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The importance of a pre-planned lesson cannot be understated, having a plan is paramount to the success of the lesson and to achieve the desired teaching point in a structured way. Lesson plans act as a guide within a lesson so it should not be too complex in nature but should have enough detail to direct the teacher on the sequence and timing of the lesson. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Gerard L. Depending on the experience of the teacher, it may be more heavily relied upon with a newly qualified teacher who is still finding their feet in the classroom, whereas a more experienced teacher is more likely to review it now and then. Although the lesson plan is a guide to the lesson it...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Teaching Ideas Throughout this course, my favorite units have been the ones that teach us how to lead an effective lesson and have a fun classroom environment. I love all the suggestions and teaching ideas they give, and it excites me to think about using those for my future lessons. For that reason, I chose the topic of five activities with flashcards. This essay will be a perfect opportunity for me to delve further into my favorite part of this class and plan some fun things to do. When I move abroad I plan on teaching young children, mainly kindergarten-aged, so my five activities will be geared towards young learners. They need way more energy, fun, and excitement in their lessons than teenage or adult learners because their...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences When teaching in the classroom, it is very important to branch away from the traditional method of teaching, known as the “chalk and talk” method. This typically involves the teacher dictating the lesson, with students sat listening and writing down the words of the teacher. Not every student is programmed to be able to sit, listen intently to every word you say, write down everything important and absorb the information sufficiently to be able to go on and use the language in a productive way. You have to remember you have a variety of learners in any one classroom, and they all have different strengths and weaknesses, and varied ways of absorbing information. Some students might be more visual than aural...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences “Why do I have to take a TEFL course?” I asked this question when my daughter suggested to me to enroll in this course. Having decided to say goodbye to my current job as an international homeroom teacher, I am now embarking on a new journey of applying abroad for a teaching position at an international school. Thanks to the Americans who defeated our Spanish colonizers way back the 19th century, they brought their educational system to the Philippines. Ever since I started school, I have been taught the American way using the English language as the medium of instruction. However, even if I am learned in English, I have to get a TEFL course to prove my competence in the English language. So here we are....  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas Teaching English grammar is an important part of any EFL classroom. Depending on the level of your students and the degree of difficulty of the topics, the teacher may encounter several problems in the classroom. However, the following 10 tips should help you to prepare effective grammar lessons for your EFL students abroad. With an increasing change in the English language and the lack of proper grammar used in the spoken language, many students aren’t motivated to learn grammar. To ensure success, you should break this barrier and show your students why grammar matters. Create a big mind-map on the board and ask the students for statements about why grammar matters. This is a fun interactive way that gets the...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas The following activities may be adapted for use as warmers, engage activities, structured practice or free practice style activities. They may also be adapted for level and age. The first one is really simple but can be one of the best activities to improve grammar. Some students even at the higher levels are lacking automatic habits, which are really important for grammatical skill. Basically this activity is a grammar drill and it is supposed to be used as a warmer or as an ice-breaker activity. The main objective is to help your students automate some grammatical skills. An example would be to use this activity to practice different forms of verbs, for example ‘do’ versus...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The role of a teacher is to help students acquire knowledge so that eventually, they can be competent in understanding and communicating in English. A good teacher is a successful teacher. The success or failure of a teacher lies not only on his/her teaching styles, but more importantly, the learning of the students. To a certain extent, the personality of the teacher may affect the learning of his/her students, but what is more indispensable is the relationship between the teacher and the students. A non-threatening relationship with the students can help to build the students’ interests in learning, and create an atmosphere that is conducive and light-hearted for learning. A good teacher is also a...  [Read more]