How Can We Make Our English Class More Interesting

  In this TEFL review video another group of trainees share their experiences during the TEFL/TESOL four-week in-class course in Corinth, Greece. They talk about the challenging and rewarding aspects of the course. ITTT's in-class course covers grammar, phonology, teaching methodologies, and lesson preparation techniques. You will also be given the opportunity to teach real students. Our course will give you the confidence to stand up in front of a class of students, we will also teach you how to plan lessons and help you to create and select activities and teaching materials that will make your lessons interesting and productive. 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...  [Read more]

  In this TEFL review, Tatjana talks about her experience taking the 120-hour online TEFL course with ITTT. Tatjana thought the course was very beneficial, providing her with plenty of teaching ideas. She also found the videos that come with the tutor support course to be informative with regards to the theoretical side of the course. Tatjana recommends the course to all who are thinking about taking a TEFL course. 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. ...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences As we all know, motivation is a core aspect of teaching and learning a language. Lack of motivation is perhaps the biggest obstacle that we face as students and teachers. If a student lacks motivation, he/she will not pay attention in the class or will simply find it boring. At the same time if a teacher lacks motivation to teach he/she will be unable to attract students’ attention and give them all they need. Let us be honest and say that intelligent students are those, who always eagerly attend class and enjoy the process. Here we need a highly motivated teacher who is willing help them. In this article I divide students into several categories because different situations require different approaches. This post...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Reading is one of the key elements for all English learners. By reading authentic stories and books, not only do we learn reading and understanding the text we are working with, but we also expand our vocabulary by discovering new authentic words you wouldn't be able to find in your course books, and more importantly, you can see it in context which makes it easier to remember and use those words and structures in the future. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Julia P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. It's important to know which stories to choose based on your student's age and English level. Younger learners would find...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The year was 1992, I was going to my first English class. I was so excited to begin. I’d always wanted to learn that language. The movies, music and everything I loved the most was in English. I was ten years old, my whole class was the same age, but the only thing I didn’t know was they were much ahead of me. The course placed me in a classroom with kids that were already speaking English since they were six years old. They spoke all the time and I couldn’t understand anything. I felt so disappointed and ashamed, I couldn’t even comprehend the difference between him and her. Even my teacher made fun of me. As a result, I got out of the course after lots of swollen eyes and arguments with my parents....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Vocabulary, as one of the three main elements (The other two are pronunciation and grammar) of a language, is essential in language acquisition. Teaching vocabulary is always being a great concern for any English language course. Quite a lot of teachers are really focused on how to make a vocabulary lesson more interesting and memorable for students. New vocabulary has to be introduced in such a way as to capture the students’ attention and place the words in a practical way. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Haiqiong L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Vocabulary learning can be often seen as a laborious process of memorizing...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Ever have someone try to establish rapport with you? When we think about it carefully, the answer is affirmative. You need to build rapport with people to make friends. To do business with establishing rapport, as well as sales. Establishing rapport makes things much easier than you don’t. Imagine meeting someone for the first time and you are not interested in him. What is your next move？Obviously you will end the conversation with him? Let us focus on the importance of building rapport in class. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jiajia Z. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. In my point of view, the good relationship...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The lesson plan is a structure of the course that you will give to your students, a clear guide as to what you want to achieve and how you are going to do it. A good lesson plan generally consists of learner objectives, personal aims, language points, procedure, phase, and interaction, etc. It is of great importance because it can help teachers to have confidence in class, make the class go more smoothly and help to improve the course. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Yanfen G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Firstly, it can help teachers be full of confidence in class. As is well known to everyone, people will easily get...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences I have been a teacher with 51 Talk for three years now and to improve my career and teaching skills I have learned some things on this TEFL course that will help me brush up my skills in teaching. Though I have been a teacher’s aid before, as well as a bright student who used to tutor others during my school years, it was now that I realized how hard teachers used to work for us to become good learners in school and understand the subjects. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Saba S. Also read My Experience Taking the 50-hour Teaching English to Young Learners TEFL Course from ITTT I used to not really like tests that much but now I realize how important they are for teachers to learn about where...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Nowadays, English is becoming more and more popular and significant in China because of globalization. In big cities, parents send their kids to all kinds of organizations/schools to study English in their early three years. Some capable parents even use English as their communicative language from the first day the baby was born. No matter how early Chinese starts learning English, it’s still not our mother language and the atmosphere is still in Chinese, which makes learning English not as easy as those in English countries. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Yixun C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. In my point of view, here...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Teaching Ideas Learning foreign languages is a very exciting and very responsible deal. A significant role in teaching foreign languages, in particular, English, belongs to games in the classroom. Games enhance students' mental activity, helps them consolidate material of the lesson, therefore it’s a very important activity. The developing value of the game we can find in itself, because where is a game - there is emotion. Where is emotion, there are attention improvisation and imagination. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ivan S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. There can be different usage of the game - it can be entertaining, training aims...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The English language is the most spoken one as a second language in the whole world. It has become the international language of business, science, technology, international relations, and diplomacy. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Askarbekkyzy K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Songs can be used to develop students’ listening skills. They improve listening skills ‘because they provide students with practice listening to different forms of intonation and rhythm. Songs can be really helpful in practicing listening skills “warm-up work can provide a basis for students to make predictions before listening; listening...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas How can I be a good teacher, that is the question that we, as prospective teachers should be working on and should never stop asking ourselves. It is important, first of all, to know what makes for a good teacher. What kind of skills do you actually need to succeed in your goal and what things should you keep in mind walking towards it. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Vjorela P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. You should want to improve yourself otherwise everything else might become pointless. Be kind and patient with your students, don’t make them feel inferior, rather make them see mistakes as a way to improve and learn....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I guess we all have been there. Sitting in a classroom where the teacher never stops talking. How did it feel? Was it interesting and motivating or was it perhaps boring and discouraging? Did you have the feeling of having learned something when the lesson was over? Whereas getting students talking in the classroom has proved quite a challenge to many teachers, having them verbalize what they are thinking about is very important. Even when the learning has been handed over to the students, it is still very tempting to spend far too much time giving directions, repeating important information and instructions, and telling students how they did rather than asking them to reflect on their work. This post was written...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In a large class of 40 or 50 students, it is not easy for the teacher to take responsibility for coordinating the activities, attention, and study of so many students. Students are the most rapidly developing people in their life stages. Potential for development and plasticity. How to carry out class management at primary school and improve students' overall quality is an issue every teacher must face. Therefore, it is necessary to make a series of classroom management rules. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Yingqian J. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The establishment of rules can make the classroom more orderly and teachers...  [Read more]

  So speaking activities will come in many different forms but we can generalize them into three basic types. Control activities tend to be used in the study phase and here, the teacher will be helping the students in terms of what they need to say and how they go about saying it. So, there's a high level of structure within a controlled activity. A guided activity has slightly less structure than this and it can be used in either the study or the activate stages themselves. The final type of activity or class of activity is called creative activity and this one would be used in the activation phase. In a creative activity, we're giving a scenario or a very small amount of structure and we're asking the students to actually create their own answers to this particular question....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I think being a teacher it is not only to study. This profession includes so many roles such as being a friend, parent, psychologist, etc. It depends on many factors like age, nationality, size of the group of students, or individual student. One more very important factor is motivation. To find out why motivation plays a key role in building rapport between teacher and student first we need to define the meaning of it. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Alina S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Motivation is the word derived from the word «motive» which means needs, desires, wants, or drives within the individuals. It is the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences One of the most important problems encountered while learning a foreign language is undoubtedly pronunciation. Knowing a language fluently may not always be enough. Fluency level may be open to discussion if an accurate pronunciation is not used. Therefore as teachers, we must teach our students how to use the correct pronunciation. However, pronunciation can be a nightmare for some students, especially for young learners. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Selin K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. There are some languages, in particular, no matter what language they speak, we understand where they come from by hearing their...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas As we all know, students will be eager to learn and be more active during the class if they are properly motivated and interested in the lesson. There is no better way to motivate and engage students to learn a new lesson than the ESA method. ESA method is very useful for students as well as for teachers. With ESA method teacher can present a lesson to the class in a variety of interesting ways. ESA method has 3 stages: Engage, Study and Activate. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Darko R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Engage is the first stage and in this stage, the teacher can use different kinds of methods to inspire and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences There are many types of multiple intelligences such as (Visual intelligence-Musical intelligence – Kinesthetic intelligence – Verbal intelligence – interpersonal & intrapersonal intelligences … etc.) we must take care of our students' types and design our lesson according to their intelligences. The verbal intelligence involves knowing which comes through language. Mathematical intelligence uses numbers, math, and logic to understand any topic. Visual intelligence represents knowing through shapes, patterns, and pictures. Intrapersonal intelligence is showing people who prefer to work individually. Also, kinesthetic intelligence is based on physical movements. Interpersonal intelligence is learning...  [Read more]

  In this video we explain the difference in using "bad" and "badly". The key difference is that 'bad' is used as an adjective and 'badly' as an adverb. Therfore, 'bad' describes that something is not good, while 'badly' refers to something that is done in a bad manner, harmfully or in correctly. A good example sentence for 'bad' would be "Jenny had a car accident today. This is bad". Let's look at an example for 'badly': "Austin behaved badly". I'm sure you'll never confuse the two words again. 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...  [Read more]

  Now we'll have a look at the teaching ideas for the future simple tense. As we said earlier, the future simple tense can be used for threats or promises or, in this case, for predictions. Here, we'll have a pair of students working together. One has a prompt to say something and the other will begin it with a certain comment and then make a sentence using the future simple tense. Here, 'I'm taking my driving test tomorrow' 'Good luck. You'll pass for sure'. 'I lost at tennis again.' 'Cheer up. You'll do better next time,' so on and so forth. Of course, having a bit of feedback at the end. Some additional ideas for the future simple tense include things like horoscopes. Here you'll divide your class up into groups, provide them with zodiac sign, they'll create a horoscope for that...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Discipline is an essential part of any classroom. It is the key component to effective classroom management. But how do teachers establish and implement a discipline plan for the class? The answer is simple. We’ve got to teach it! This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jeande J. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Yes, discipline in the classroom, like all the lessons from the textbook, should be taught to the students from day one no matter what the level is. I remembered doing a “new student” recruitment demonstration class a few years back. There were five new students aged around three to four years old. Most of them haven’t...  [Read more]

  Outlined in the video above are some of the possible jobs teachers can take in order to move on in their EFL career. Below we expand a little more on what each role involves. Teacher Trainer – This position is one that some teachers move onto after teaching for a couple of years. Duties often include teaching a particular module of the course such as grammar, phonology, lesson planning etc. Teacher trainer jobs can be found advertised online but your best bet may be to remain in contact with the centre where you completed your initial training. Director of Studies – The Director of Studies (DOS) is a senior managerial position that includes overseeing the academic program, managing a successful teaching team, providing support and training for teachers, helping...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences When starting any class, if you expect that your students will be motivated to learn a new language, at first, you have to be primarily motivated and enthusiastic. We have seen that we can have self-motivated students and also reluctant students, it’s the teacher’s role to make the best to involve providing an interesting and pleasant class when you show passion to the subject that you are teaching, it can be contagious for most students, who will model your positive behavior. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Thamiris M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Your approach and your attitude in class will reflect on the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In 2019, it is difficult to imagine an ESL lesson without the use of modern technologies. Every tutor, language center or school tries to use audio and video presentations, interactive whiteboards, smart toys and so on. With the help of modern technologies, the learning process becomes more interesting, dynamic and informative. It is promoted by the developing market of educational services, growth of the competition, and also inquiries of students. In this article, we will try to find out how a modern teacher can use technology in his lesson. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Andrei B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. A good...  [Read more]

  There is no simple answer to this question as it depends entirely on which type of TEFL course you choose to study. At ITTT we have a range of courses that are designed to suit the various needs of our trainees, each with its own time scale for completion. Please see below for a breakdown of our various course options. Online courses are often the quickest route towards TEFL certification. If you are in a real hurry a course such as our 60-hour introduction to TEFL may be a good choice as you can conceivably complete it in as little as five days. Even those who prefer to study at a slower rate should find they can complete the course within one month. However, it is worth remembering that the majority of employers worldwide insist on job applicants having a TEFL certificate of...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I was an English teacher in Japan for over three and a half years. In that time, I gained a lot of experience teaching young learners. My students were aged from two to fourteen. As I taught these students, I learned a lot about how songs can be used effectively in the classroom. Songs can be used to teach sentence structure, routines, vocabulary, and help aid the understanding of instructions in the classroom. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Megan B. Before students can even grasp the language, they can understand rhythm and music. When teaching the youngest students (two years old), we used a lot of chants. Chants are not necessarily music but work much in the same way. Generally,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas One of the things of the English language that can make English hard to get to grips with. Vocabulary knowledge is highly correlated with reading comprehension and reading achievement. Vocabulary is required for students to achieve cognitive academic language proficiency. All good reasons to make sure that your vocabulary teaching is interesting, useful and effective. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Thao N. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Make it interesting: this is often the hardest part of teaching vocab. We often use the flashcards (FCs) for teaching vocab to young learners. So we can use these techniques for vocabulary...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences To begin with, I’ like to say that I’m pretty excited about writing this summary since this course was an interesting online journey and there are some things to share, indeed. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Denys L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The games play an extremely important role in teaching and particularly/especially during my classes! I consider this to be not just one of the teaching techniques, but the solid, essential, natural, and extremely useful part of the whole world of education. All of us, no matter how old we are, find ourselves enjoying the game. We have a playful nature either it is on the...  [Read more]