How Long Does It Take To Become An English Teacher

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas “The role of grammar is perhaps one of the most controversial issues in language teaching” (Richards and Renandya, 2002, p.145). From the past to the present, there have been so many changes in methodologists’ views on which grammar items should be taught and how to teach them. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Man C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. In the past, in a traditional classroom, grammatical competence and explicit knowledge of language rules were emphasized. Grammar teaching held such an essential part in language teaching that other aspects became either ignored or downplayed. People assumed that if the...  [Read more]

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Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I think the teacher plays an important part in teaching English. And to be an English teacher needed professional teaching methods and cultural background. Because for many learners, the teacher is the font of all knowledge on English grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, and in these areas, they have particular responsibility and authority. At the same time, in different lesson parts, teachers need to switch roles to help students learn English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Shu Y. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. During a different lesson, the teacher will have a different role. And different roles have different effects...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas As a teacher, we often find ourselves daunted with the task of capturing our students’ interests and also equipping them for the future. Not only do we seek to train better students, but we also want to produce better citizens, workers, and future teachers. Teaching is still held the same purpose throughout all these years: bettering our future through the lives of our students. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Madison R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Although our methods need to continually be more thought-provoking, entertaining and motivating, our objective has not changed. We need to incorporate storytelling into...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences So, you have decided to become a foreign teacher and move abroad. Start a new journey and perhaps a new career or just using this experience to see for the world and take a gap year. But have you thought about all the other things that go along with going to another country? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jacq-Pierre B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Yes, you are there to work and enjoy your time, but there are a lot of extra things that you need to. How are you going to communicate with people? How are you going to get around in your new town? What will everything cost? Will you meet other foreigners in your city? Will...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences One of the most crucial roles of the teacher is to improve students’ performance. In daily lessons, teachers are engaged in different classroom scenarios, performed teaching duties, and rendered extra effort to help maximize students’ learning. Another thing that adds to this noble task is the diverse roles of the teacher he/she has to play. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Glen Mar L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. With this, I thought of three basic roles that teachers need to portray in the 21st century. This Engager-Servicer-Activator (ESA) teacher roles serve as an important reminder for the teacher to this...  [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 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 Teaching Ideas As we all know, English has become a global language spoken as the official one in many countries around the world. Because of its importance, nowadays English is taught at school to children from a young age because it is a skill that it is looked for by many employers and will be very useful in the future. At the moment it is very important to speak and understand the English language, especially because it gives you the ability to travel, work or have connections abroad in different fields and be able to communicate in a language that it is not your mother tongue with colleagues, clients, or customers. For this reason, I think that studying and knowing English will help and enhance a person’s life and career....  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore TEFL Information One of the routes you might want to think about taking after your TEFL course is to train other people how to teach English. It can be very rewarding seeing people who have never taught before gain in confidence and ability over a short space of time. What does it take? The first step to becoming a teacher trainer is to complete your TEFL certification course. Don’t feel that only people who do particularly well are cut out to be trainers. You need to empathize with your trainees, and it can be advantageous to have struggled through and only just about passed the course as long as you’ve then developed your skills with experience. Taking an entry-level course is only the very beginning of the journey, but the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Over the years I have pondered whether or not to try and teach English as a career. Watching countless online videos and reading travel blogs of 'wandering teachers' and articles on sites such as ' Dave's ESL Café, I sort of got mixed emotions about ESL teachers. That is of course until I took the chance and became one myself. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Leon G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. In the two years of being a teacher I have certainly learned a lot, I've experienced extreme highs and extreme lows in a country where basic English is a rare find. With no prior experience or knowledge of how to educate, my...  [Read more]

Zareena Younis Alumni Experiences Teachers in the Middle East are used to the traditional method of teaching, the teacher-centered approach, because this way is easier to manage the class, and it is what they are used to. However, over the last few years, there has been a greater shift towards the student-centered approach, which is still new for both teachers and students. The traditional way of learning starts with memorization, the lower level of Bloom’s taxonomy, and focuses on “learning to pass” rather than being able to independently use the knowledge in the long term. Thus, the teacher is the focal point of the class, and the student’s role is secondary. The teacher will prepare the lesson based on content to cover and not...  [Read more]

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Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Arranging seats in your classroom can be an important task, though it may not seem like it when you first are thinking about it. There are so many different options when it comes to how you can arrange seats. There is the full circle, semi-circle, giant square, U-shape, grouping tables in several desks, two desk pairs all facing forward, or the single file rows facing forward, just to name some of the many you can choose from. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Brandie K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. All of these arrangements have good and bad points to them. The circle is good because it is easy for all the students to see...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Deciding whether to teach individuals or group classes can be difficult. There are many similarities as well as differences. The perusal of these two kinds of classes led to charting each difference and similarity. Many of the differences fell under three categories. These three major differences between teaching one-to-one and groups are the class set up, students’ goals/motivations and available activities. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jade B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Teaching individuals can be nerve-racking itself; the class consists of just the teacher and one student. The traditional dynamics of a...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Becoming a teacher of any nature requires a good amount of skills, but becoming an English as a foreign or second language teacher requires a special batch of skills. All types of teachers should have the same general qualities; communication skills, patience, good listening skills, the ability to connect and build relationships with students, hard work ethic, preparation, and organization, and be friendly, personable, and approachable. Being a teacher means interacting with people for most of, or part of the day, and understandably sharing your knowledge, with the students. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Bailey E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Motivation is perceived to be one of the key factors of any success story we know of today. It implies hope and a desire to act upon a task that may not look so appealing to us, on the contrary, motivation is usually needed when we face challenges. Whether it’s trying to climb a career ladder, get rid of bad unhealthy habits or even force yourself to go to the gym a certain amount of times per week. All these activities require a tremendous level of motivation and the desire to act upon it in the first place. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Vadym L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. For example, studying a new language is no...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences In Crystal (2003) the statement "English Rules" is said to present a scenario wherein the English language spreads continuously and becomes universal. This is a real possibility in the next century, as the technological and socio-economic developments are improving the quality of life and are enhancing the way we live and learn. The English language is well on its way to become the world’s first "lingua franca" if it has not already. It is said that a language achieves a genuinely global status once it has developed a special role that is recognized in every country across the planet. However, caution should be taken, as according to Crystal (2003) the special role has more than one meaning. This post was...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Successful acquisition of a first language (otherwise known as an L1) has almost a 100% success rate. Aside from a few people that are unable to read or write everyone can communicate fluently in their L1. Successful acquisition of a second language, however, does not occur nearly as often. Why is this so and can anything be learned from first language learning to improve second language fluency. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rebekah I. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Firstly, it must be noted that among native speakers of a language there is a high amount of variation inabilities to write concisely, to use grammar...  [Read more]

Maria del Carme Domínguez Félez TEFL Information Alumni Experiences I moved to Argentina almost 2 years ago now, and, surprisingly to most of my family and friends, I started teaching Catalan in a language school. I say “surprisingly” because they have made fun of my Catalan accent since I can remember, as it is more of a mix of accents put into one. Fun fact: you can’t really tell from which part of Catalonia I am only from listening to me. Although I try my best to speak “standard Catalan” when I teach, my accent does slip away sometimes, which makes it quite interesting. The sentence “all’s well that ends well” comes to mind in this situation. I ended up turning this into an opportunity to teach about the...  [Read more]

Zareena Younis Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Is it possible to do something without passion, commitment, and enthusiasm? Some choose a career path purely because it leads to great material wealth and security. It means the norms of the so-called expected and society’s accepted way of life for each age is fulfilled, such as buying a car, getting married, house, holidays, etc. Others choose to do something because it places them in a high position in the so-called social class system in society. Many careers are perceived to be the best because they are paid highly, also come with a lot of respect and pride within the community and society. Then you have those individuals that simply choose to do what they love with their...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In my summative task, I would like to speak about child development, covering some points why it is important to pay attention to the development of the kids while they are at the age of being taught. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Susanna M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. But saying child development we mainly understand physical, language, thought, and emotional changes that occur in a child from birth to the beginning of adulthood. During this period a child progresses from dependency on their parents to increasing independence. Child development also is strongly influenced by genetic factors. During my teaching years, I...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore TEFL Information Having a form of structure has always been a vital element in order to perform any task to my best ability. Therefore, lesson planning was a subject which I knew would be a large factor in order for me to become a successful teacher. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jessica M. The two main principles of a successful class are direction and flexibility; flexibility relies strongly on the teacher's experience and personality, but the former is attained by a structured lesson plan. A primary function of a lesson plan is to keep the class on target with the lesson goal, however, it has other important functions which I will elaborate on below: This does not mean that every teacher will be...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences At the cafeteria during lunchtime, a student of mine approached and asked me, “Why did you become a teacher?” Dumbfounded by this brazen question, I did not know what to say. I could have chosen motherhood statements like “I want to make a difference in the world,” “to have a positive impact on my student’s lives, “or that “I love children.” I ended up saying to him, “Well, I am good at teaching.” However, the truth of the matter is, I needed a job and there was an opportunity so I took it. You can say it was fate that called me to be a teacher. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine myself being a Grade 3 homeroom teacher! After having experienced a variety of jobs in my life from...  [Read more]

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Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas From both my experiences as well as what I have learned from this course, I believe seating arrangement in the classroom is very important. I remember always remember one teacher in college because her class stuck out from all of the others. In her greek history class, we were forced to place our desks into the form of a circle a vast majority of the time. She warned us from the first day of her class that this would be a class far different from the normal teaching style. She told us that this style would help ensure we stay engaged, listen to others as well as her and would help to keep us accountable for our previous reading assignments. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Daniel B. Please...  [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]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas As an aspirant teaching English to Chinese children, I chose ‘Pronunciation problems of Chinese people’ as the most attractive and the most useful topic for my summative task at this moment. As resources of this joyful and useful research on the internet, I have used three videos on Youtube made by the three experienced teachers of the English language. Only one of them works with children. And only one of them (accent coach from London, Luke Nicholson) gave a lot of live examples of the flaws in pronunciation that Chinese people, in general, make when speaking English, by showing the interviews with the Chinese actor Jackie Chan who sometimes manages to confuse his experienced interviewers. This post was...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Young children, even when they are learning their native tongue, learn the words before they learn how to apply them correctly and as a result, children often make mistakes in their grammar, however, even when they do, it is mostly the vocabulary or the order of the words which still provides a degree of context which makes the message they intend to convey understandably and thus susceptible to improvement. It is exactly because of this fact that in this essay, I would like to dive into teaching vocabulary. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Johnny B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. About teaching vocabulary, I could say that...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences As a developing country, Vietnam currently has an urgent need for the international language English to attract foreign investment and to promote the economy, especially after becoming a member of the World Trade Organisation (Nguyen T.T, 2007). With this growth of international trade and an increasing number of foreign tourists, the ability to communicate in English has become a passport to a better job for many Vietnamese. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Stuart B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. English is taught in schools, universities and foreign language centers across the country. There are now more teachers and...  [Read more]