How Old Do You Have To Be To Teach

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  We can see that this particular usage of the unfinished past can be used for both the present perfect and the present perfect continuous. Where we've got action verbs, we usually prefer to use the present perfect continuous. However, there are state verbs which don't usually go into the continuous form, such as 'know'. We would say 'I have known her for 10 years,' not 'I have been knowing her for 10 years.' So when we have these state verbs, such as 'know', 'be', 'seem' and 'appear', we would usually put these in the present perfect but with the action verbs, such as 'play', 'cook', 'work', we will use these in the present perfect continuous. Normally, we also use the present perfect continuous fairly frequently with words, such as just or recently to express a recently completed...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Teaching has been my dream since a very young age! This should be the normal and most common answer when you ask a teacher about his childhood dream job. For me, It was absolutely the opposite. I have never seen myself teaching anybody even my closest friends and relatives! I have always considered myself an introvert. My best friend used to be a book I’m reading! I have never liked crowded places or getting to know new people! Going to a wedding or a party was more like a nightmare to me. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate MANEL R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Anyways, all of this has changed when I helped a friend in...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas By the time a child is a year old, they can differentiate between the sounds that make up their first language but can’t distinguish between sounds that aren’t found in their first language. Even in the case of sounds that children may not be able to correctly produce until they are six years old, such as the /r/ sound. So, it would make sense that by the time a child is just a year old the way they learn language changes, as stated in Dr. Ryalls’ class. Further on when a child is finally in school they have some grasp of grammar, even if it isn’t complete by the time the child is school-aged. This means that by the time a child is in school when they would most likely start learning a language, they...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Five years ago, I didn't have the experience, nor the knowledge to teach English. However, I have the skills to speak like a Native Speaker. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Amina C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. At first, I have 3-4 students between 2-3 years old. I was given lesson plans to follow and instructions on how to teach this group and I simply followed it. Teaching 2-3 year's old non-Native speakers were both difficult and fun. It's difficult because they are not familiar with the English language. Moreover, I am not familiar with their native language either. It is fun since typically all they want is to...  [Read more]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word "inculcate". This word is a verb and describes the act of teaching something through frequent repetitions. The word can be traced back to the Latin "inculcare", meaning "to tread on." 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. There are many factors to consider in teaching vocabulary, grammar and functions. Base on experience, the pace of the learning process depends, most of the time, on what the...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences The majority of children turning 5 years old attend kindergarten for two years in preparation for primary school. Some kids enter kindergarten earlier at the age of only four. This actually varies according from state to state and also from country to country. In China, most kindergartens combine childcare with teaching so that the children will develop physically, morally, and intellectually in a harmonious way to get ready for their formal school education. A good environment is assured for the kids to have a conducive place to learn actively. Teaching English in China can be overwhelming considering that English teachers are also assigned to teach kids as young as one year old or even younger. Chinese parents...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences My teaching experience began in a whirlwind. I graduated from college a semester ahead of my class, married, lived with my husband in my sister’s basement for two months, and moved to South Korea. We had no idea what to expect. Sure, we’d read the blogs, talked to the director of our school, and even talked with people we know who had lived and taught in Korea. It still didn’t fully prepare us for what to expect, how amazing it would be, and how hard. We lived in South Korea for 19 months teaching three through seven year olds daily and first through third graders several times each week. This post was written by our ITTT graduate Sarah S. When we first moved to Korea, our head teacher had to teach us how...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas When students hear ‘vocabulary’, they may expect to hear the word ‘list’ next. More often than not, we associate the word ‘list’ with ‘boring’! We think of 2 daunting columns of black letters on white paper: one with the native language and one with the target language. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and for teaching young learners, it cannot be that way. Certainly, teaching vocabulary will involve lists that help learners to receive language methodically and thoroughly. But what a teacher does with the vocabulary lists can be creative and fun and, most of all, memorable! This post was written by our ITTT graduate Roxanne L. When teachers hear ‘vocabulary’, they should pair it with the word...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Motivation in the classroom is the biggest reason why I teach students in a high school setting. I am a public-school teacher and I get English as a Second Language students all the time in my classroom. I am a 10th-grade teacher but my students' ages range from 14 years old to 19 years old. The number one factor that I teach is for motivation. My students are already matured and have seen things they probably should not have at their ages. Once they get to my classroom, they are mine to teach. I do my utmost best to teach my students. I have students from all over the world, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Egyptian, Asian, Africa, to name a few countries. I now have wonderful scores. I...  [Read more]

  The two most common usages for the present continuous tense as it relates to speaking about things in the present. We have actions in progress at the time of speaking, specifically right when it's being said. So I can say ?I am teaching right now.? However, we also have actions in progress around the time of speaking. ?I'm reading a good book.? Now, of course I'm not reading a book just now but I started reading a book in the past I am reading it perhaps today sometime and I'll finish reading the book at some point in the future. Again, I'm not doing it just now but around the time of speaking. 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...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas At a very early age, I was amazed by the sounds of English. I used to listen to songs in English while one of my parent’s friends was cleaning his car. He used to play them out loud and I wanted to know what the lyrics said. Several years later I had the chance to go to China to be part of a cultural exchange program to learn Chinese. My accepting interview was completely in English rather than Chinese or even my native language Spanish. All paperwork was done in either Spanish or Chinese depending on where I was. Either here in Latin-American or on the other side of the world, the medium of communication was English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Andres G. Please note that this blog...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas What if students don’t like me? What if I forget my planning and ruin the whole lesson? What if I trip and fall flat on my face? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Lizelle K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. What if this and what if that, these are the type of questions that go through a new teacher’s mind before they enter their first classroom. Stepping into a classroom for the first time can be overwhelming and a new teacher can easily feel lost when all the attention in the class falls on them. When studying to become an educator, be it for 3-year olds or 30-year olds, practical exposure to an active teaching environment...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching is a very enjoyable job and can also be highly rewarding. I had the opportunity to learn that by having an eighteen-month religious experience in which I shared all my beliefs with the people in Ecuador. Even though it wasn’t a job I gave it my full commitment and that might be why I gained so much knowledge and life lessons from it. After returning home, I realized that I wanted to keep having that feeling in my life. I wanted to teach people. Now, the question was what to teach. After talking to some of my close family members and friends, I remembered an old dream that I had when I was younger: Being an English teacher. I started having a passion for this language since elementary school or maybe...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore TEFL Information Teaching English abroad is one of the most interesting career paths one might take up. You get to move to a new country and even get paid for it! However, too many people are unsure whether teaching EFL is right for them. This article highlights 6 things you will miss out on if you don’t teach English abroad. When routine becomes a ball and chain, you know it’s time for something new. Moving to a new country to teach English is the perfect opportunity to discover a whole new world. Whether it’s cherry blossom season in Japan, Chinese New Year festivities in Taiwan, Christmas markets in Germany or the Carnival in Brazil - there are new experiences ahead of you on every corner! It’s not only large cultural...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Until now, I have been an English teacher for 6 months. Before that, in 2016 I was a teaching assistant. That is my part-time job. And this is a journey even though I have not yet taken a TESOL class but I am still confident that I can become a teacher. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Tieu T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. For the first half of the year, I was an assistant tutor for the preschool. I had very little contact with kids before so I was very confused at the time. I told the teacher that I couldn't make them obey. She is a master of special needs education. She told me to play with them and not to care about...  [Read more]

Sahil Gazi TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Lingos are of significant interest to linguists because they exist within the subsets of linguistics, by observing the significance of individual words or sentences through semantics and their meaning in a broader social context through pragmatics. In this scenario, the subject is in a particular group of lingos. They are a repeating phenomenon, and, as such, they are referred to as being in a "limbo." It happens everywhere globally, and their development starts and stops on average around the same age groups. Primarily, the vocabulary changes with popular culture, based on location and time period. Pragmatically, it determines how connected one is...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences Description: Teaching English as a foreign language in a kindergarten can be a dynamically different experience than teaching students in older age groups. Teaching in a kindergarten has advantages such as motivation, smiles, and the ability to learn the material in short bursts. It also has disadvantages, such as; short attention spans, diapers, and tantrums. Teaching young children can be extremely rewarding and extremely demanding. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate William K. Teaching Children between the ages of two and five has some advantages that can be very rewarding. My first class ever was teaching children between the ages of two and a half and three and a half. I was quick to...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences This is an interesting article written by one of our TEFL alumni who shares her thoughts on the importance of observed teaching practice for ESL teachers. This post was written by our ITTT graduate Roxanne L. When I think of having my teaching observed either by an inspector or by a teacher-in-training, I think of the Christmas song, which impels its listeners, “He knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake!” The reason is simple, when we know we are being scrutinized, we do a better job! In reality, students observe their teachers every day, and even without expertise in the field of education, students know implicitly a good teacher from a bad teacher. Still, having your teaching (or...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Being a teacher, you should know that children learn language differently from adults. Although grammar does play an important role in language learning- especially in the early stage of the process where a new language can seem very contradictory, lacking structure and rules and disorganized where grammar teaching comes into its own. So I think we should find “how to teach grammar for young learners?” This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Hien N. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The children can imitate very quickly. With me when we teach grammar for young learners, we must make them funny and feel comfortable. There is a more...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences There is no overemphasizing the importance of the English language in the world. English is likely the most widely spoken world language. Hence, it is of optimal importance that the teachers of English language measure up to the status bequeathed the language in the world. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Abubakar M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. First and most importantly, a good English teacher must be well-versed in the language they teach, the English language. An English teacher who doesn't profess knowledge in the language shouldn't take a classroom in the first place. Knowledge can come from reading and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Visual images aids can add interest and often add meaning in a way that words can’t. This is especially true for ESL students who don’t have sufficient words to understand detailed spoken explanations. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate JunCui Z. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. People learn in different ways. For example, some people learn well by listening, some by movement and touch and many people respond well to seeing things. There are many different learning styles, so having variety in your presentations gives attention to these different styles and helps everyone succeed. Bringing something of interest in the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Readers are for sure leaders, not just merely for the fact of reading, but for the thinking process that comes with reading. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Gentiana H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. As an individual, I love reading. I love the smell of the book paper, the tiny letters and turning another page is something that I enjoy deeply. However, I didn't become an avid reader by chance. I become a reader because I was born in a family where reading was a natural thing. My father was a university professor and was reading all the time. My mother, an accounting expert, used to read laws and regulations to ensure...  [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 TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas When starting a teaching career, it is necessary to be aware of the different difficulties groups of learners one will encounter. This includes young learners, beginners, multilingual, adults, and many more. Each group has a different class attitude and learning ability. While there are hundreds of different teaching activities and styles, not all of them will work with each group. It is important to distinguish the most useful from differing classes. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kellyann E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. When speaking of adult...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Destinations When deciding to go abroad and teach English, one of the first questions that follows is often: Where in the world should I teach? A quick Internet search reveals that China is among the most popular destinations for teaching English abroad. Here are 5 reasons why you should teach English in China. With a population of more than 1.2 billion, it comes as no surprise that China also has a high number of English learners. In fact, there are currently over 300 million people learning the language. The reasons for learning English can vary from case to case. Some start as young as 1 or 2 years old at English speaking kindergartens, while others learn English through their company as business professionals. One thing is...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I’ve been teaching for almost two years in China as an English teacher. At first, I was only assigned to teach preschool children, due to the sudden leave of their last teacher. I was nervous and didn’t know whether I would be able to teach them. They were very young and were absolute beginners. I had to teach letters with paired vocabularies every lesson. But as soon as I got to know them, all my worries disappeared. They were supportive and eager to learn. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate CONNIE L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I would start my class with the greeting part, by asking students their names and how...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Destinations It’s not hard to see why Spain is one of the most attractive countries in Europe for teaching English as a foreign language. Most teachers head straight to Madrid or Barcelona but there are many more stunning cities in Spain for teaching English abroad. While it’s true that it can be a little difficult for non-EU citizens to secure a work permit in Spain, there is a legal way to still be able to live and teach in this European paradise. Check out our detailed guide on how to legally teach English in Spain to find out how to go about it. The capital of Spain’s Catalonia region, Barcelona is among the top destinations for English teachers in Spain. The city is known for the arts and architecture, including the...  [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 Alumni Experiences The Moroccan ministry of education based its formation of the curricula on the view that sees culture and language as interwoven parts that cannot be separated from each other. This view is supported by Brown (1994:165) 'A language is a part of a culture and a culture is a part of a language; the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Auroi A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. We cannot deny the importance of teaching culture to English language learners in sharpening their understanding of language...  [Read more]