I Taught English A Long Time Ago

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas I have been teaching English in Ukraine for over five years. I started at Greenwich school as a native speaker, but there was not much training involved. I was in the travel industry, so I wanted to fill up some of the free time I had earlier each day. My work with Canada was mainly after 4 pm each day. After teaching part-time, I began to enjoy it, so when more and more companies and students needed me, I filled up fast. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Darren S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Teaching at Greenwich was a decent job, and they helped me...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences This story is written by one of our TEFL course alumni who discovered their passion for teaching by accident and decided to pursue a career in ESL. This post was written by our ITTT graduate Qiankun Y. About 2 years ago, I was working as an English tutor and taught adults in China. I graduated with a science major and had little teaching experience but I was keen to try out teaching. Before my first class, I was sent to a training program which taught me how to structure a class and how to teach with adult students. However, even after I completed the internal training program I still did not feel confident to be a tutor and I considered teaching English only as a temporary job. When I held my first class, I had...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas A consideration for the categorization of your language learners is actually their language level. So within any class the language level the students should all have, (assuming that your class is not a mixed ability class) is usually at one particular level. Typically your students will have had some form of level test to put them into one of the levels and in ESL teaching there are often five different levels of grouping described. Level one, the most basic level is called Starter. Moving on from that the Elementary level, the next one beyond that is level three, called the Pre-Intermediate level and then on to the Intermediate level and finally level five, which is called the...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas The first thing to bear in mind when we're looking at the category of beginners is that beginners can be of any age and experience, so really what we should do is to break the beginner category down into a number of sub categories. Our first group we may call the absolute beginner, the second group we could have are called false beginners. The next category may be the adult beginners and therefore the category of young beginners and our final grouping called beginners without the Roman alphabet. The absolute beginner as the name implies are those people with no language knowledge of the particular language being learnt, so they've never been taught it and they probably have had no...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Alumni Experiences In my past, I have lived in many different countries and language environments. I have come to learn that the best way to gain an understanding of a new language is to be absorbed in it. In countries where English is widely spoken as a foreign language (Scandinavian countries for example), learning the language of the country can be much more difficult. It is uncomfortable not being able to express oneself, so English offers a cane of comfort, but also a disservice. Unless one goes through this part of the learning process where speaking is hard for you and maybe even for your listener, fluency can never be achieved. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Eija R. Please note that this blog post...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When I first signed up to take the TEFL I thought it was going to be about very common words and phrases we use in the English language every day but it taught me so much more than I ever thought. I learned so much about what’s the best way to deal with misbehaving students, how to teach past tenses, and so much more. When I first thought about getting my TEFL and to hopefully one day be in a classroom of my own teaching English to students, I never thought about everything that comes with the title of being a teacher. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Hallie M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I remember being in school and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Establishing a rapport with my students has been the most ‘natural’ part of my teaching experience. When I started my teaching career about ten years ago, ideas like classroom management and lesson planning were alien to me. I struggled immensely trying to learn strategies to excel in that area of education. Establishing relationships with my students was easy and always seemed to just happen for me. As the years have passed, I’ve been able to reflect on my time in the classroom and I’ve discovered some common denominators relating to me why exactly students are drawn to me (and me to them!). I think other people can learn from my interactions with the students who have passed through my classroom. This...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Having previously been a small business owner, I began teaching an English conversation class as a volunteer at my local library just over two years ago to fulfill a community service requirement for my degree program. The experience of teaching English as a second language has been so personally rewarding that I am now pursuing it as a career change. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Daniel E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Being in the United States, it is a multilingual class. The students are all adults from a wide variety of countries, though the majority come from Latin America. I found that the students are very...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences A lesson plan is the instructor’s road map of what students need to learn and how it will be done effectively during class time. Then, you can design appropriate learning activities and develop strategies to obtain feedback on student learning. Having a carefully constructed lesson plan for each 3-hour lesson allows you to enter the classroom with more confidence and maximizes your chance of having a meaningful learning experience with your students. A successful lesson plan addresses and integrates three key components: Learning Objectives, Learning Activities, Assessment to check for student understanding. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Elorm D. Please note that this blog post...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I came to China 4 years ago to teach English. I have not managed to learn Mandarin in that time frame but I did learn quite a bit about the differences in pronunciation between Mandarin and American English. The most common errors made by Chinese students generally come from the habit of translating to their native language. English and Mandarin share some similarities such as word order and sentence structure which also complicate the issue. In this essay, I will discuss teaching pronunciation, the problems that can occur when teaching pronunciations, and the issues that occur with Mandarin speakers learning English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Paris S. Please note that this blog...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Learning a language is acquiring the ability to produce the language and to produce the language accurately, a student needs to learn the grammar of that language. So, what is grammar? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Sheila A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Grammar is the study of the way words are used to make sentences. It is a set of rules that provides the structure we need to organize our ideas and convey our messages fully. It determines how words are arranged in a sentence for understanding. It gives us the ability to comprehend and produce language. When trying to acquire a language, learning the grammar of that...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas As a teacher, your job is to give your students the best education that you can give them. This is achieved by a number of different methods and techniques. When I was teaching before I did this course I just used a bund of different techniques but I never realized exactly what they were called or their importance to the classroom and the lesson as a whole. One of the things I have now learned is the art of managing equipment and teaching aids. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Prudence R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Teaching aids are any object that is used by the teacher to enhance a lesson. Еhere are many different...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences My first language was French –-the language of my Cajun-born mother. She wanted to pass on her cultural heritage and therefore spoke to her first-born child, me, only in French. However, once I was put into kindergarten and was unable to communicate or understand any of my teachers or classmates, my parents reverted to English because they feared to set me back in school. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Madeleine K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Despite understanding their fear, I did not appreciate my parent’s decision. I was very vocal about that fact, in true teenage fashion, especially when I had to spend hours...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences Looking back at my teaching life, I’m very proud of the teaching experiences I’ve had. Even though my teaching experiences are limited to one culture, Korea, still they are all very special and unique in their own ways. I started my journey as an EFL teacher a couple of years ago, thinking that I could learn other languages myself. I thought that I would move from place to place, possibly different countries, and learn different languages and get various teaching experiences in different settings. However, it turned out to be Korea only. I could soak up Korean culture and learn the language more easily because of my origin. The more time I spent teaching, the more I got to love teaching children and feeling...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences My own teaching experience, though not as extensive as many seasoned teachers, is quite diverse. I have taught English class to middle and high school students in the US public school system, worked for an alternative school for students with behavior problems, taught in a language training school, taught in a bilingual Montessori kindergarten, tutored numerous students one-on-one, and I’ve taught many different kinds of online classes. Currently, I work as a course designer and an actor, filming fun videos to teach Chinese students English through an interactive online app. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Christy N. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences I worked as an Emirates Airlines flight attendant for over 6 years. In order to be accepted you need to pass multiple group exercises, a written exam and a two person interview. There are always over a thousand applicants but they only accept a very small number. Two years ago I left the company and moved to Vietnam where I noticed a great interest in younger people wanting to become flight attendants, but many were fearful of the Open Day, a two day process of interviews and exercises because they were not sure if their level of English was good enough. It didn’t take long for me and two friends, who had also worked for the same airline, to decide to put together an 8 day course for people interested in becoming...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Lesson planning is at the heart of being an effective teacher. It is a creative process that allows us to make our understanding of second language acquisition and language teaching pedagogy with our knowledge of our learners, the curriculum, and the teaching context. It is a time when we foresee the learning we want to occur and analyze how all the pieces of the learning experience should fit together to make that learning a classroom reality. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Eddy P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. There are several benefits to writing a lesson plan. First, lesson planning produces more unified lessons It...  [Read more]

Tho Nguyen Destinations Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Home tutoring in Vietnam can play a crucial role in helping students reach their full potential. With the traditional method of education being limited in its ability to cater to individual student needs, 1 on 1 tutoring can make a significant impact in the learning journey of students, especially those with learning disabilities and special needs. In this blog post, we delve into the benefits of 1 on 1 interaction in education and why it's a must for students. So if you're looking to find out how you can make a difference in a student's life, read on to discover the missing pieces of the puzzle that could prevent them from becoming the best version of...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Hello everybody, Liza here and I'm super glad to welcome you to today's session. I'm excited that it didn't take long after the previous one and by the way if you didn't see the previous live stream I strongly recommend you do because last week we discussed teaching in China. I know that many people are interested in going abroad to teach and to discover new cultures. So if you want to know a little bit more about it feel free to check it out. Today we are going to talk about a slightly different approach to teaching which is online teaching. Today's session will take approximately 45 minutes. First we'll cover some of the teaching modes in online teaching because there are actually a couple of them. Then we will...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences English is the language of the modern world. All people around the world know the English language in our life, because we need it in our work and sometimes when we meet other people from other cultures, maybe they are not from Britain or America but we almost think they are talking English. That doesn't mean our language isn't important. Sure all people love their language, but the first language now used as a global language in the world is English agree or disagree. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Doaa E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. As global communication expands throughout the world, so does the need for a global...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences When I moved to Japan over two years ago, I had no formal teaching experience. I hit the ground running, visiting five different elementary and junior high schools in my small town, and getting to know the students and teachers I would work with there. I made many mistakes but also learned a lot about teaching along the way through my own experience, observing the teachers I work with, and taking an online TEFL course. I hope to use this knowledge to further improve my teaching skills. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Anna G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. There are many things about teaching that I was able to learn...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Destinations TEFL Information Welcome to another live session. My name is Linda from ITTT and you can find me on social media at @lindagoeseast. Thanks for tuning in, let me just see that everything's working. If you can see me and if you can hear me, please leave a comment as always. I have been living in South Korea for five and a half years. I am about an hour and a half South of Seoul in a city called Cheongju. It's kind of in the center of South Korea. We are the only province that doesn't border the ocean but it's really great and it's actually snowing right now. I’m excited to be here today as you probably already know what the topic is going to be about today the best countries for teaching English in...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences From the time of the American revolution and onward, there has been a distinctive trend for American English and British English dialects to move away from each other. Whether taught in American English or British English, most people of either type will have little trouble understanding each other. Unlike the many dialects of China, English is a pretty ubiquitous language across the board, with a spattering of unique regional words. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jeffrey G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The 2 most prominent English dialects were intertwined throughout their collective histories because the British...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Destinations TEFL Information oday’s exciting topic is the top hiring seasons for teaching English abroad. We're going to go over different countries on different continents and what their hiring seasons are, so when's the best time to go job hunting. Also there will be some tips for job hunting in those places as sometimes you need to get hired in advance when you're still in your home country and you can do online interviews, but in some countries you need to apply in person. So we're going to talk about that as well. Thanks so much for tuning in and as always please don't forget to like and subscribe so that you never miss a live session. We go live twice a week, one time with me on Fridays, or Thursday...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Welcome, my name is Linda nice to see you. I’m a TEFL and TESOL professional at ITTT and I’ve been living and working in Asia since 2012-ish and I live in South Korea and I’ve been here for five and a half years. I also taught English in China and here in Korea as well and I also work for ITTT and we have a guest so to speak but also from ITTT but joining us for the first time my colleague Lisa. My name is Liza. I’m a TEFL and TESOL expert at ITTT as Linda and I’m also a former ESL teacher. I’ve been teaching online this year but before I worked in China as a lead teacher in a kindergarten so that was quite fun and I'll share my...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Budget and Salary TEFL Information Welcome, I'm Linda from ITTT, and we are doing a live Q&A session today, so let me just check if this is working. Is anybody here if you're here, if you can see me if you can hear me. Please, leave a comment. That would be great so that I know that you are here. And, please, let me know where you guys are tuning in from? I would be super interested to see where you are tuning in from. I'm in South Korea. I'm about an hour and a half outside of Seoul, like in the middle of South Korea in a city called Cheongju. It's not that big. It is quite big, but it's not pretty well known, but um, I've been here for five and a half years already. So, hello, some people are here great! Hi,...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Destinations TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Hello everybody, Liza here and I'm super happy to welcome you to this ITTT live session. It's a bit of an unusual time to meet because my sessions are usually on Tuesdays and today is Saturday. Anyway, I'm super happy that you could make it. Today's session is going to be slightly different because we are going to talk with my good friend about teaching in China. I know that many people are interested in this topic, so stay tuned because in a moment he will join me to talk about working in China and stuff like that. If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask them via the comment section. As for the timing for today, we are going to talk for...  [Read more]

Laura Payne Destinations TEFL Information The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program is not the only means to teach English in Japan, but it is one of the most popular programs out there both for aspiring teachers and those who wish to pursue other fields. I first joined this program a little over a year ago. In the short time since then, I've gained incredibly valuable experiences through my work as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT). Local prefectural governments and larger government bodies, including Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, manage the JET Program. They hire ALTs from English-speaking countries all over the world to increase Japan's international understanding at the level of local communities. Japan is an...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore TEFL Information Teaching Ideas All right, looks like we're live! Awesome! This is great. So thanks so much for tuning in today for our actually very first Facebook live and I'm super happy to be here with Jessica today from GoOverseas. We're gonna talk today about all things teaching English abroad, online, and everything in between. All things TEFL and TESOL and all that good stuff and I'm actually tuning in live from South Korea where it's 9 00 am Friday and I think Jessica is in Southern California. Right, yep it's 5 p.m here so just starting to get dark. I've actually just realized I'm probably going to need the light before the session is over so i'm going to run and do that now while Linda just explains...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas Today, we are talking about setting realistic goals, basically having a realistic timeline for how long it takes from actually taking a TEFL course to going on to teaching English either online or abroad. If your goal is to teach English in 2021, what do you need to do? What are the steps? Okay, let me add this little graphic here, so that's what I've prepared for you guys. Setting realistic goals for teaching English in 2021 and as always please leave your comments at any time. There's also going to be a Q&A section at the end of the session so there will be plenty of time to ask questions and for me to answer them. I am working this whole live situation by myself so I might...  [Read more]