How Does Accuracy Impact Reading Rate

  Our next category in our series of teaching special groups in ESL is English for specific purposes. This video focuses specifically on teaching business English. How is business Enligsh different to general English? Will you be able to teach business English? Find out in this video. 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. When teaching how to speak English the teacher must work on accuracy and fluency at different times in order to let the student...  [Read more]

Amanda Stern Alumni Experiences Globalization has been changing our world. Once foreign cultures have become more and more familiar, and some even hit the global mainstream, such as Bollywood film and the recent wave of K-pop. One thing aiding in bridging this gap would be the rise of interest in bilingualism and multilingualism. Many children are in education systems where a second language is mandatory to study from a young age. For example, In Canada, my home country, French is taught in the Anglophone provinces from grade 4 (about 10 years of age). In Japan, my current address, the English curriculum is changing, and now students will begin learning from 三年生 sannensei, about 9 years of age. Of course, many more curriculums of multitudes...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Fears of declining reading rates have long plagued the United States. In 2007, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) released To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence, a report showing that reading rates for all demographic factors had declined. The report shed light on the potentially devastating effects that such a decline may have: this was not about mourning the loss of book sales, but about reading’s impact on citizens’ abilities to comprehend written material, improve their socioeconomic standing, and maintain a successful career. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Veronica B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Productivity could be described as what someone or something creates or in other words produces. In the world of education, and reference to students, most tangible progress can be seen and heard through two specific means of production, the productive skills of speaking and writing. However, it is important to ask, how important are these productive skills? From the perspective of the teacher, they must understand that in the instances that individuals wish to converse with one another there is a cause, they have a purpose, a need to say something, a need to listen to something, or they are interested in what is being said. (ITTT, 2011) When a teacher can understand this, they can conjure and create a...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Communication is essential for everyday life activities. It's impossible not to communicate. Even when you don't speak a word, you communicate. That's because communication represents the way we express put thoughts, our ideas, and our opinions. It is as much about effective listening and reading as it is about speaking and writing. Communication is built on these four important skills which are divided into Productive Skills (speaking and writing) and Receptive Skills (reading and listening). This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Valentina D. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Of the four skills, speaking is the most important but...  [Read more]

  Before we move on to the planning of a lesson for speaking skills, something that we need to look at first is the idea of the accuracy versus the fluency of speaking. Accuracy relates to the correct usage of grammar and vocabulary, whereas fluency relates to our ability to continue speaking without any interruption. Now, ultimately within a whole ESA lesson or within language learning itself fluency and accuracy are equally important. Within an ESA lesson, however, depending upon which stage we're at in that lesson, then we're either focusing on accuracy or we're focusing on fluency. Remember in the ESA lesson, in the study phase, this is where we're looking at the target language where we're doing our language learning, so it's very important in this stage that we focus on the...  [Read more]

  In this video diary entry, Chantelle discusses unit 4 of her TEFL course. This unit covers the present tenses; present simple, present continuous, present perfect and present perfect continuous. The structures, usages and possible teaching ideas for each tense are outlined in the unit as well as common errors made by learners. The tenses are an aspect of the language that many native speakers of English struggle with as they are not explicitly taught in schools and, as Chantelle mentions, this was one of the more difficult units she has studied so far in the 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...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas One of the most challenging contradictions I had to face as a high school language and literature teacher in Germany was the principle that each child should have equal opportunity when, sadly, the inequality often starts long before high school, and that as a teacher, you should give every student the chance to achieve excellent performances when, in reality, the latter also depends on factors outside of the classroom. In conversations with parents, I often pointed out specific deficiencies in their child's essays as I was taught to. I made suggestions on how to improve them, hoping in vain that next time, the student would get a much...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In the realm of English language learning, whether grammar is important or to what extent grammar should be learned has been the most debatable topic. As a non-native English speaker, the questions alike once have been circling in my mind like the “To be, or not to be” soliloquy uttered by Prince Hamlet. Compare to practice speaking, listening, and memorize vocabulary, learning grammar appears to receive less emphasis. Is it true learning grammar is not that important? Of course not! When it comes to a second language or foreign language acquisition, learning grammar is extremely vital. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Chiang M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The use of reading in the course of language acquisition is valuable and often underrated. Before undertaking a detailed explanation, I will first offer a general example to demonstrate the problem of teaching without it. Imagine you are teaching the word “ball” to an older student. You could ask them to say “ball, ball, ball” in a drilling manner. This can be inefficient and above all, boring for the student. But suppose that you do teach it enjoyably. How many words might they learn? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Peter C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. For most teachers, they will give one or sometimes two...  [Read more]

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

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas There are two Receptive language skills; Reading and Listening. English speaker’s use both of these are used for the same two purposes, for entertainment, or to help us to achieve a particular goal. Reading and listening are not just as simple as opening your eyes or ears, each student will have different problems areas to target and understanding the received language will vary from country to country. For example, a person from England who saw the headline "Magpies destroy Red Devils" would know that the article was referring to Premier League football, and not an actual event. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate George C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the...  [Read more]

  Greg took the 120-hour online TESOL course with ITTT to improve his teaching abilities. In his TESOL review video, Greg introduces us to some of his English students from all over Latin America and shows us some of the resources he is using in his lessons. Greg and his students seem very happy to be teaching and learning English together. 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. In this unit I was able to review the basic parts of speech and what each...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The study of language acquisition has long been a topic of interest to both psychologists and linguists alike. The manner wherein we acquire language is broken into two categories, depending on the developmental stage of the student being thought. First language acquisition refers to how children learn their native language. Second language acquisition refers to the learning of another language differing from their native language. This essay is concerned with the effect reading has on language acquisition. Reading is a core area in the acquisition of language. However, the statement is interchangeable as the language acquired by a student greatly predicts their reading acquisition. This essay will discuss briefly...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The productive skills are Speaking and Writing, They are also known as active skills. While speaking and writing are substantially different in many ways, they both are used for the same purpose to communicate. In many ways writing is the more difficult skills, requiring a greater degree of accuracy. When speaking, any misunderstandings can be cleared 'up on the spot', Whereas this is not possible in writing. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Gayathri D. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Speaking, on the other hand, requires a greater degree of rarely have to think and plan an answer. There are a lot of speaking activities in the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Learning a foreign language is quite challenging and reading has crucial importance in learning the vocabularies of the language and also learning vocabulary can affect reading texts. Knowing vocabulary is an important factor in language acquisition. Although grammar is very important too but to understand the meaning of the text, the students need to know the meaning of the words first. So reading offers the learner a wide range of words, different grammar and makes them more successful in speaking a language compared to those who don’t read much. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Mercan H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The productive skills, in my definition, are skills that require the students to articulate or produce words, sounds, speeches, or sentences either in written or typed form. The productive skills are speaking and writing. The productive skills are essential and are needed for communicative purposes in our day to day activities. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Taiwo B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Other skills are being taught in the English language, which is reading and listening (receptive skills). However, while these other skills are important, the most important of them are productive skills, particularly speaking...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Learning a language begins with developing the receptive skills, either consciously or subconsciously, to get familiar with how the language is used and later for producing the language learned or observed. The sensory abilities include two modules: reading and listening. Of them, reading skills can have a wide variety of impacts not only on the individuals' overall language learning but also on the development of them as individuals. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Md. Mahfujar R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. For the learners of the language to use...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Admittedly, learning grammar may not be the most appealing part when learning a new language. It usually connects with conjugations, tenses and in some languages, the position of the verbs, for example, German. Grammar itself can cause a huge problem for both the teacher and students to carry out the language class smoothly. People might argue that unconscious imitation is the best approach to learning a language since it is the most natural way. I would like to say this is the idealist method. Truth speaking, not many students are able to enjoy the bilingual or even multi-lingual background. Moreover, even with the mother tongue, people will encounter grammar courses in school. This essay focuses on the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Learning a new language is an inherently challenging task. One important way for ESL teachers to help beginner students learn English is to focus not only on teaching language concepts but on building their confidence to experiment with the language and persist with their learning. This essay will firstly examine why building confidence is important in ESL teaching, and different strategies teachers can employ to do this, including how they interact with students and the content they choose for classes. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Emily U. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Different groups of beginner learners might be...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Teaching skills can be summarized in four key concepts: communication, critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. Of course, when describing these skills we aren’t just talking about teaching English but these skills can be used to prepare students in order to be able to express and communicate themselves independently and with groups in a globalized world as well as being capable to be adaptive, flexible and think creatively. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jorge P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. This might go beyond the basics of the English language classroom but teachers are not just teaching a language or a...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching skills in the classroom can be a very challenging experience, but it is essential (at least for any English teacher) to learn how to do it properly and effectively. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Lucas B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. As it was shown in the Units 7 and 8 of this ‘60-hour’ ITTT course, there are 4 (four) basic skills in the English language (and in any other language as well), and these skills are divided into two groups: Receptive skills, which include reading and listening. And productive skills, which include speaking and writing. Both groups (and all of the skills) are very important and...  [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]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Nowadays, an increasing amount of people have taken on a liking on English for various purposes, thus causing heated discussion about learning English, grammar learning especially. Some contend that we shouldn’t learn grammar. While others attach great importance to English grammar. Personally speaking, English grammar is of great essence like the foundation for the skyscrapers. Everyone who wants to master a language must have a solid grammar foundation. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Hóng Méi Z. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Firstly, nothing can be accomplished without norms or standards, so for English learners,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences According to the website “Master in special education degree program guide,” the most common learning disorder is Dyslexia. The condition affects 10% of the global population, which translates to roughly 2 to 3 children in every class. Many types of dyslexia can interfere with different basic learning skills, such as reading, memorizing, learning a foreign language and some may also have trouble understanding jokes or expressions. Depending on the person, the impact on skills will be different. The psychological explanations for Dyslexia involve the cognitive understanding of short- and long- term memory, which suggests the idea that people with Dyslexia have a shorter phonological loop span than...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Learning is always hard especially learning something new such as English learning. English is a different new language compared with Chinese, so when we are learning, definitely we will meet all kinds of difficulties in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate XIAO J. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Due to the lack of vocabulary, beginners can not get the main idea of a story. They usually expect to know every single word and if they miss some words, they will become extremely nervous so that they lose their confidence at all. The best way to avoid it is to pre-teach some potentially...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The best thing I’ve learned from this course begins with the EFL teacher as an instrument of facilitation. The creative spark that ignites a flame in every student that is trying to master a new language. A teacher doesn’t need to be perfect but must be fully present and prepared with a positive, supportive vibe. The successful teacher is a role model, a subject matter expert, and a skilled conductor of English language learning and immersion. Course books aside, from the very first lesson, a teacher identifies the level of learners and builds rapport with students through engaging activities that aim to reveal the students’ needs and interests. These interests can then be incorporated into future lesson...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Most TEFL interviews are now conducted online. Whilst it is very important to think about what questions you may be asked and how you will answer them, of equal importance is being correctly physically set up for the interview. Here we will consider some of the major factors you need to consider before you say, “Hello”. Ahmed Taha Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas This blog post explores what criteria should be used to evaluate activities in an ESL classroom. Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas One of the most...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Once I arrived in Vietnam to teach the English language, I realized that poor pronunciation is common in Vietnamese students as well as teachers. These mistakes are similar, as it was obvious the Vietnamese teachers passed them to the students. In this essay, I am going to deliberate on the causes of the problem and suggest a few solutions. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Mohammad E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. First, we will start with the problem origin. The Vietnamese language is monosyllabic. Vietnamese people are familiar with pronouncing monosyllabic words, thus it is considerably hard for them to pronounce...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Change is coming to the way that English is taught in Japanese public schools. The changes to the curriculum by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) increase the teaching of English at all levels of schooling. The goal of this change is, in the words of Ikuko Tsuboya-Newel, founder and chair of Tokyo International School, “The government has decided that beginning in 2020 all high school graduates must achieve a level of English equivalent to B1” (“Why do Japanese have trouble learning English?”, The Japan Times, October 29, 2017). To achieve that goal, high school entrance exams are expected to include more testing of productive skills in English. Therefore, junior...  [Read more]