Icebreakers For Teachers

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas As you have learned during your TEFL certification course, a good lesson starts with an engage, or warm-up phase. This usually consists of a fun and interesting activity to get your students going and speaking in English. For new teachers, it’s often these more casual moments of a class that are a challenge because of their lack of teaching experience. However, these top 5 icebreakers for new TEFL teachers will help you to get your class energized and ready for your lesson. This is a great activity for your very first lesson with a new class. Basically, the students each write down three statements. Two statements are true but one of them is a lie. Next, the students either present the statements to each other or...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas What are ice breakers and when and where do we use them? In this blog post, we will cover these issues and give actual examples of activities you can use with your classes. Icebreakers are games or activities that are designed to ‘break the ice’. Typically you would use these kinds of games or activities at the beginning of a new school year, when you have a new set of students, or a new class that you don't know and they don't know you. You also can use icebreakers to get your students going at the start of the lesson speaking in English and that's really important as you don't want to come into the classroom and say, “Open your books to page five” and then start studying....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I have been teaching ESL classes professionally for two years. In addition to this experience, I have several years of experience as a volunteer teacher/mentor with ESL students. Through my experiences, I have learned that importance of establishing immediate rapport in the classroom. In this short article, I will talk about why it is vital to establish rapport from the very first day between the students and teacher as well as among the students. I will offer advice from my own experience of teaching both young learners and adults. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Michael S. Establishing rapport between the teacher and student is something that begins on the first day of class and it...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences We must up our game as ESL teachers in the 21st century – both figuratively and literally. I use games to engage students and promote learning in my classroom for a wide range of learning objectives. Below is a short list of icebreaker games that I regularly use in my classroom, and I will discuss the learning target(s) that each game aims to facilitate and deliver as well as the context in which the game is used. Since I work with high school age and adult students, the games are geared for English Language Learners in these age groups. As learning communities become more globalized and data give more information on how people learn, one major challenge I find with gamifying learning in the ESL classroom is...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas No matter how well-prepared a teacher may be, every classroom is different, which means each student is different, and each teacher needs to be able to adjust and be able to establish rapport with the new class. For some teachers, working in a foreign country may cause them to feel uneasy; however, a teacher needs to overcome this feeling to be successful in the classroom. Indeed, building rapport with all students will help. Although this is a continuous process throughout the term, the key to establishing a friendly learning environment starts on day one. Thus, the best way to build rapport is to know the students’ names and interests by the end of the day or week (depending on class size). This post was...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas Use these 10 tips to encourage your students to follow directions in the classroom. These tips work for students of all ages in EFL classrooms all across the world. Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas Think adult students don't enjoy a good EFL game? Think again! These 5 best TEFL games For adult students will make your lessons interactive and fun! Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas These top 5 icebreakers for new TEFL teachers are ideal for every classroom setting and all levels of students. Get your students thinking and talking in English to start your lesson in an effective way!  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas As an ESL teacher, getting your students talking can be one of the most difficult things to accomplish. English learners often lack the necessary confidence to speak openly and freely in English. The following activities are perfect for getting your students out of their shells! Here are 7 go-to activities for your ESL conversation class. Catia Pereira dos Santos Teaching Ideas What kind of teacher do you want to become? Can you picture it in your mind? Well, I did! When I first started my journey as a Portuguese and English online tutor, I asked myself this question and it landed me on a few ideas which are also present over some units of the ESL...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences This blog post was written by our TEFL graduate who shares their experience of working on their professionalism. Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This blog post is devoted to the problem of teaching receptive skills. Our TEFL graduate shares their thoughts and ideas. Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences In this blog post, our TEFL alumna shares their story of working in Japan. They explain how they built relationships with the students and what helped them. Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In this article, our TEFL graduate shares their...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas How to start your very first lesson or transition to study after a long summer vacation? The following activities help you easily break the ice with your English students. Students of all ages love interesting games that encourage interaction. Try one of them as a starter or as an icebreaker! Ask students to draw an self portrait and display them on a bulletin board in class. Each person writes a positive adjective describing each of their classmates on a sticky note and sticks it to the portrait. Do this activity in 1 day or over a period of time, let students take their portraits home. It’s a fun and engaging activity for the first day of school. You can also adopt it to the online activity by using Google...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Online teaching has experienced a huge boom in recent months and many teachers have to teach online. The 6 ideas below will help you with engaging your students and grabbing their attention through the computer screen. These activities can be used as icebreakers and transitions between other tasks to cheer the learners up. For this activity, you need to prepare a shared Google document with several groups of three words depending on your students’ English level. Have them figure out what those words have in common. You can use cards from the “Tribond for Kids” game with younger students and more advanced vocabulary for teens and adults. E.g. French Fries, Cabbage, Soup (Food) Also Read: The Most Common...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas These top 5 icebreakers for new TEFL teachers are ideal for every classroom setting and all levels of students. Get your students thinking and talking in English to start your lesson in an effective way! Linda Dunsmore Destinations TEFL Information Japan is an exciting location with prospering career opportunities in English language teaching for many around the world. Here's our step-by-step guide to legally teaching English in Japan. Mark Crocker Destinations Japan is a destination that has drawn large numbers of foreign teachers to its shores for decades and that is unlikely to...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ma. C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The assessment of drilling is to monitor students learning and identify strengths and weaknesses. the teacher helps recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately. The goal of this drilling method is to evaluate students learning and at the end of the lesson, the students will be able to drill the language properly and for the teacher to identify if the drilling method is effective. Also Read: How do I choose a TEFL course? first, define the definition of drilling, types of drilling and drilling, and fluency then gives students a...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences Teachers play vital roles in the lives of the students in their classrooms. Teachers are best known for the role of educating the students that are placed in their care. Beyond that, teachers serve many other roles in the classroom. Teachers set the tone of their classrooms, build a warm environment, mentor and nurture students, become role models, and listen and look for signs of trouble. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Charles I. The most common role a teacher plays in the classroom is to teach knowledge to children. Teachers are given a curriculum they must follow that meets state guidelines. This curriculum is followed by the teacher so that throughout the year, all pertinent knowledge is...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences As the world becomes increasingly globalized, EFL programs are nearing ubiquity. A substantial portion of EFL participants are young learners. Although there is a lot of crossover between techniques used for young learners and those used older children or adults, there are certainly strategies that can be employed to get the most out of a classroom of young learners. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kara C. A teacher’s initial lesson will help set the tone for the semester and should be warm and fun. Teachers should avoid teaching from the book and instead focus on making connections between teacher and students, as well as peer to peer. Icebreakers and simple games are a good way to...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Nowadays, English is becoming popular due to advanced technology and more people receiving higher education. That Goods, capital, services, people and even knowledge travels around the world make a common and standard language necessary. English is an ideal one. However, when people do business, they still talk most. A standard or conceivable accent is the first step towards a successful deal. This passage aims at emphasizing the importance of pronunciation in teaching business English. Generally speaking, teaching pronunciation specifically is good for students learning and career development. It is also good for teachers to earn more popularity as well as the long-term trust of students. This post was...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas Teaching new tenses to students of a foreign language is often not as easy as you might anticipate, especially when the tense you are trying to teach them does not exist in their native language. The following 7 activities for teaching the present perfect for the ESL classroom will help your students pick up the tense in no time! This is a great warm-up activity to make your students understand what the present perfect is all about. After teaching the structure of the tense, have your students write down 2-3 things they have accomplished in their lives. When they are finished, have your students share their statements with the class, for example, “I have won a speech contest,” “I have traveled to America,” or...  [Read more]

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Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas For this essay, I have learned that teaching a second language can be challenging especially when teaching a younger group of students. Before taking the TEFL course I have had numerous experiences in tutoring and mentoring, which is quite different from actually being an English Language teacher. In the past, I have taught small groups that focus on one subject as well as one summer teaching an art class at my local Boys and Girls Club. Most of my personal teaching experience has been limited to small groups of four to eight students, who all speak the same language and are around the same level and skill of reading, writing, and math skills. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Bryan S....  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas Teaching grammar patterns often involves a lot of classtime and the more activities you have up your sleeve as a teacher the better. The following 7 activities for teaching the past progressive for the ESL classroom will help your students pick up the tense in no time! Pull up an image with a lot of actions going on, for example, people engaging in different activities at a park or another public place. You can either hand out printed images or show it to your students on an overhead projector or TV. After having your students analyze the image, turn off the TV or collect the prints and start asking what the people in the photo were doing. Also read: 5 Reasons Why Teaching English Abroad Enhances Your Career...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Whether a large class, a single student, with children, business people, online, or in person, a teacher needs to form a bond between them and their students. Though every class has different needs and methods to be taught, the teacher’s ability to create trust and assist in the student’s learning starts during the first interaction and carries on throughout all subsequent lessons. As such, establishing rapport with students helps not only with warming up the students to their ability to learn the subject, but also to improve themselves as well. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Andrew S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT....  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas ESL teachers often encounter difficulties when teaching grammar patterns to students abroad. The following 7 activities for teaching the simple present for the ESL classroom will help your students pick up the tense in an easy and efficient way. This is a very good activity for when you start discussing the simple present and how it’s used for routines and regularities. You can place the students into groups or pairs and have them discuss their daily routines. What do they do in the morning? In the afternoon? In the evening? You can then also have them write up a schedule of their daily routines and share their findings with the class later on in a class discussion. Also read: Top Online Lesson Plan Resources for...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences From both taking this course and my experience in teaching Japanese children English, I have seen the importance and impact of establishing rapport with students right at the start of the class. Starting from the first lesson, a teacher must establish what kind of relationship they desire to have with the students. That relationship must often be with a relaxed atmosphere where the students can feel that they are supported by the teacher. Thus from the very first lesson, the teacher must get to work on getting to know basic information about the students. What kind of interests do they have? Why are they learning English? At what level are they currently in with regards to their English skills? Knowing this...  [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]

Federico Riva Teaching Ideas It is undeniable that rapport between the teacher and students and between students themselves makes the class successful and enjoyable. However, some teachers face problems trying to establish rapport with the students. Being an experienced EFL teacher, I keep facing the same problem: it is hard for me to create a relaxed atmosphere in the classroom and keep a balance between being students’ reliable friend and their authority. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Elena K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. To begin with, it is important to create a warm relationship from the very beginning. Therefore, the first lesson should be more...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Teaching Ideas One of the first things you should learn during a TEFL certification course is that delivering interesting lessons goes a long way to keeping your students happy and motivated in the classroom. And, if your students are stimulated by your lessons they are likely to progress quicker, which also makes the teachers job that much more satisfying. So what exactly makes a TEFL lesson interesting? There are many things you can do to make your lessons stand out, but one of the main ways to pique the interest of your students is to focus on things that they can actually relate to in their own lives. In this post we show you 5 great activities based on movies that you can use in the classroom, because everyone loves a good...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Classroom management refers to the wide variety of skills and techniques such as organizing and managing class, maintaining discipline, being friendly and relaxed manners that teachers use to ensure that their classroom runs smoothly, without disruptive behavior from students. Classroom management is also the techniques teachers use to maintain control and discipline in the classroom. Discipline plays an important role to manage the classroom. To maintain discipline depends on the respect between the students and the teacher, the student’s levels and ages, the environmental problems, etc. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Vahide T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences Throughout my ITTT TEFL course a specific teaching concept persisted, entitled “ESA”. This methodology has been proven over several years to be effective in teaching English to students in the classroom. A precursor to this concept was “PPP” (Presentation, Practice, Production) which has been used by many teachers, though it lacks in engaging the students resulting in a less successful environment. Jeremy Harmer noticed this and in turn put forth a new and improved model, labeled “ESA”, consisting of three steps; Engage, Study, and Activate. This methodology has continued to remain relevant to this day through its flexible and fluid approach to teaching English. This post was written by our TEFL...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Games and fun activities are a vital part of teaching English as a foreign language. Whether you’re teaching adults or children, games will liven up your lesson and ensure that your students will leave the classroom wanting more. Games can be used to warm up the class before your lesson begins, during the lesson to give students a break when you’re tackling a tough subject, or at the end of class when you have a few minutes left to kill. There are literally hundreds, probably thousands, of games that you can play with your students. EFL games are used to test vocabulary, practice conversing, learn tenses - the list is endless. Also read: The 5 Best TEFL Games For Adult...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Teaching Ideas For many new and experienced EFL teachers, one of the most challenging aspects of their career is coming up with lesson plans that are both engaging and effective. Even if your employer provides a specific textbook to follow as a curriculum, you will often find that this can be rather dull for the students unless you spice things up by adding in some fun and original ideas from an outside source. By searching online you will find a huge amount of sites offering all manner of resources of varying quality and relevance. To save you the hassle of searching through them all, we have listed our 5 favorite websites that you can use to find quality lesson plans free of charge. This very useful website offers teachers a wealth...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Effective teachers not only possess expertise in content knowledge but they are also great classroom managers. If teachers cannot manage their students then they cannot teach their students. Learning will only take place when the classroom is well managed. The first day of school is the most important day for teachers to create 'rules' in the classroom. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nikki D. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Classroom management must happen on the very first day of school can be effective and successful. An effective teacher manages to create a 'task-oriented' environment in the classroom. Teachers should...  [Read more]