Native Foreign

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Nowadays there is an increasing tendency of hiring more and more native English speakers as ESL or EFL teachers. Being a native English speaker and belonging to a certain number of English speaking countries is a required qualification for teachers or graduates who want to work abroad, especially. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Irina P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Of course, nobody can contest that a person who is born or lives in a certain country has the chance to possess accents, pronunciation or intonation that a foreigner cannot have mastery of. But a language teacher is more than a person with a native accent. One...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Most researchers agree that the learner’s first language influences the pronunciation of the target language and is a significant factor in accounting for foreign accents. So-called interference or interference from the first language is likely to cause errors in aspiration, stress, and intonation in the target language. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Vesna A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Some Chinese students tend to have difficulty with English sounds because they are deeply influenced by similar Chinese sounds. However, they are very different from each other. A particular sound which does not exist in the native...  [Read more]

Anastasiia Ovchinnikova TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Back in the days when I was living in China with my British boyfriend, who was born and raised in Oxford, we would always make our friends smile talking about our careers. We always felt it was a bit ironic that out of the two of us, it was me who ended up as an English language teacher. I started to wonder whether he would have been a better English teacher than me, had he decided to work at one of the international schools in China. I feel like it is a common misconception that non-native English teachers (short: NNETs) are not as qualified or skilled in teaching as native English teachers. I've recently gotten disheartened when looking for job openings where they...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences Experience with foreign language is beneficial for both the teacher and the student. If students know that their teacher has some prior knowledge of their native language, it will make early communication easier for both parties. While I feel learning the student’s language is important for early communication, it shouldn’t be used more than needed. The goal of the TEFL teacher is to assist students in their acquisition of the English language. It is possible that using the student’s native language could present difficulties. I believe that commending a student on correctly completing a task in both English and their native language creates another learning opportunity for them. If the TEFL teacher has some...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Destinations If you dream of teaching English abroad but are concerned that jobs are limited to native English speakers only, don’t be as there are many great opportunities waiting for non-native speakers in a variety of countries worldwide. Linda Dunsmore Visa and Legal Destinations Teaching English in France often seems impossible for non-EU citizens. However, if you apply for a French language course, you will receive a student visa allowing you to teach a certain number of hours per week. If you are interested in teaching in France, read on to find out how to legally teach English in France with a student visa. Linda Dunsmore ...  [Read more]

Shanique Hutchinson Destinations TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Throughout my scholastic journey, I have been exposed to various foreign languages such as: Spanish, French, Japanese and Chinese. Apart from learning the lexical and grammatical structures of these languages, I was apprised of other cultural elements of the countries that spoke these languages through various materials as well as interacting with natives from these territories. This deep rooted love affair with other cultures, specifically languages, stirred my future aspirations to become a cultural ambassador. Fast forward to 2017 - when I applied for the Japanese Exchange Teaching (JET) program in that year, admittedly, my perception of...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Throughout the TEFL course, it is clear that teachers do not need to know the language of the host country to successfully teach English. I agree wholeheartedly with this assertion for various reasons. However, there are also certain advantages for teachers who know a foreign language have in the classroom. I will discuss the various ways that knowledge of a foreign language can help and hinder teachers in the EFL classroom. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Allison S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. There are several ways in which knowing the L1 or native language of your students can hinder your teaching ability. It is often...  [Read more]

  These two words are often confused by native and non-native English speakers alike. The key thing to remember is that “accept” is a verb and a synonym of “to receive” as in the example “I accepted all my birthday gifts with gratitude”. “Except” on the other hand is a conjunction and a synonym of “apart from”. For example “When Susan travels she packs everything except the kitchen sink”. Remember, “accept” is a verb meaning “to receive” and “except” is a conjunction meaning “apart from”. 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...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore TEFL Information Alumni Experiences This is a question I’ve asked myself. I'm looking at it from the point of view of an established foreign language teacher. For years, I’ve been thinking about learning to teach English as a foreign language. I’ve wanted to teach more than just French, so I could find more work, and because TEFL appealed to me. As a French teacher—which is a foreign language, of course—my thought was that I already knew how to teach a foreign language. At times I was even thinking, “Why do I need a course? Shouldn’t I just be able to jump into teaching ESL without additional schooling?” I tried not to be naive in thinking “I could just take all the French teaching and do it in...  [Read more]

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Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences Second language acquisition in native English speakers from the United States is one aspect of American culture that is not widely discussed and seemingly overlooked in terms of its importance. Many factors contribute to the United States’ largely monolingual culture despite have a “melting pot” of sorts with a population comprised of multiple ethnicities and nationalities. This culture of English speakers points to strong geographic features of its continental location and debatably its position in the world’s economic index and political landscape. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Adam L. Comparatively, Europe is comprised of multiple countries with strong national identities and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Flashcards are an integral part of teaching English as a second language, and the variety of uses of cards is innumerable. Flashcard-based activities help teachers to make lessons fun, engaging, and therefore more effective. According to numerous studies conducted in different countries, and by various linguists, there are several types of students with varying abilities of memory and types of mind. And usually many of these types are represented within any one class, which leads us to the conclusion that the teacher should address each of them during the lesson. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Stanislav T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or...  [Read more]

Regan McAllister TEFL Information Alumni Experiences In our global and connected world, knowing more than one language serves many benefits. Although technology has enabled communication across countries to be possible through translation apps, these apps fail to account for cultural etiquette and language nuances. Metaphors, figures of speech, and tone get easily distorted, which can lead to altered meanings and giggle-worthy translations. On top of the ability to communicate with more people, many researchers have linked foreign language study to enhanced cognition and behavioral skills. One such benefit that I have observed in adults as both a language learner and language teacher is a deepened understanding of your native...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Learning a new language can be many things: memorizing new words, understanding foreign movies and foreign music, meeting foreigners, playing fun games, enrich our unique culture, exercising our brains, or getting a new job, but overall learning a new language is structuring our thoughts in a new different form. Speaking a new language means thinking about our communication with new structures. Those structures are called language grammar. Thus grammar is the soul of the language. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Luis A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. When a student begins to study a new...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Learning the English language during adult years is a specific process when a student has reached a certain age, got some kind of profession (occupation), and decided for some specific reasons to learn (improve) English language. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Dinara Y. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. For example, the first category of students I came across decided to learn the English language and attend lessons because they needed to pass a governmental exam (YDS English), which could provide public officers with certain advantages such as promotion, salary bonuses and /or appointment abroad. The second category of...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences Nowadays we live in a multicultural world and interact with people from different cultures, of different races, nationalities, and religion. More and more people look for employment or acquire education abroad, co-operate with their foreign partners and colleagues which motivates them to learn English as an international communication tool. That is why teachers should be aware of potential problems that students might face depending on their cultural and educational background as not taking into account this important factor might affect a whole studying process. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Julia G. On the one hand, most foreign language learners face similar problems. Learning foreign...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences When you think of a TEFL teacher you immediately expect it to be a native speaker, but I think it will be surprisingly interesting to have a non-native speaker as a teacher. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Reem A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. English is not their first language so in order to become fluent they would have had to go through the process of learning the language. This means that they have done the exact same thing their students are doing. They will understand how the students are feeling, what problems they may be having and how to keep them interested and motivated to learn. Having a non-native speaker...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Daisy C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. One problem facing many Japanese students learning English is differentiating between countable and uncountable nouns. In the Japanese language, the same word is often used for ‘much’ and ‘many’. In English, ‘much’ is used to describe countable nouns, and ‘many’ is used to describe uncountable nouns. A problem facing many EFL learners, especially Japanese learners, is idioms. The English language has thousands of idioms, which are used in everyday life. These are difficult for the learner to understand the meaning of, and to remember how...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I recently discovered that in countries where English is not the natively spoken language, there is a great demand for learning the English language. Thinking about this fact, and remembering my many friends from high-school and university whose native languages are not English and who consequently took many ESL classes to improve their English, I began thinking about the possibility of becoming an ESL/ EFL teacher. Having been a teacher in the past, this strengthened my belief in myself that this is something that I could do. So I began looking into the possibility a little more. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ashley V. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The United States of America, Canada, The United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. If one is not a citizen of one of the aforementioned countries, they are not likely to be considered as a native English speaker. There are certain countries such as the Caribbean Islands, India, Philippines and Singapore in which English is the official language and which use English as a primary language among the citizens. However, they are not recognized as native speakers of English due to various reasons, mainly accent, even though the use of the English language, including both grammar and vocabulary, doesn’t differ too much from British English or American English. This post was written by our...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In today’s globalized world the knowledge of English is crucial to be able to communicate on an international level. Large parts of today’s communication take place in English, making it one of the most important languages in the world. Its simplicity in grammar, structure, and vocabulary makes it relatively easy to learn and thus more suitable as a world language than, for example, Chinese. In fact, English is the largest language by the number of speakers, which means that a majority of English speakers are non-native. This places great importance on language education. It must be of high quality and ideally, students should acquire the language as quickly and efficiently as possible. This post was written...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The native language in Ecuador is Quichua, an Inca language. It is spoken by the Indian population, but Spanish is the most common, widely spoken language. Besides Spanish, ten native languages are spoken in Ecuador. English is the most spoken foreign language amongst tourist providers and professionals. For this reason, English is taught in most schools as a Foreign Language. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jemma W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Most students find it very hard to learn English in Ecuador as there are very few people to practice with. It is only the most dedicated students who put the effort in to studying...  [Read more]

Mary Blancaflor Alumni Experiences I have been teaching English to local and foreign students and for the most part, I noticed that no matter how much the learners would like to polish their English, some things hinder them to accomplish their goal in speaking the language. Studying a foreign language in a non-native speaking country requires more discipline and motivation. Learning a foreign language is not acquired overnight. It has to undergo a specific type of training and the amount of time to learn. For this reason, I came up with a list of why students find it hard to learn a foreign language and what they must do. Students who feel afraid to commit a mistake never learn. It's easy to understand the fear that might envelop the learner...  [Read more]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word choir. This word is used as a noun and describes a group of singers, often part of church services, that perform in public. Synonyms for choir often include singers or chorus. The word originates from the Latin word chorus. 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. This unit was very helpful in building on the lessons I have already learned in the general TEFL teaching course, and helping me to...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teachers of English as a Foreign Language are often native English speakers. As such, there are many language concepts, especially grammatical ones, that are subconsciously understood due to having learned them in early childhood. One of the most important parts of TEFL training is relearning these concepts from the perspective of one who does not speak English. This can often be one of the most revelatory parts of the process as it can be disconcerting to uncover seemingly unfamiliar concepts and rules to language one already know perfectly. In a monolingual class, this can sometimes be remedied by relating vocabulary and concepts to the students’ native language. In a multilingual classroom, a classroom whose...  [Read more]

Ahmed Taha TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas As an English teacher, who is best? Native speakers of English or non-native speakers? Given the widespread belief that native speakers make better English teachers than non-native speakers, Jennifer Jenkins writes, "we will begin by analysing why this should be true." Is it true that native speakers make better teachers by definition, or just that they have a better understanding of English as a second language? To begin, here are two researchers who argue against the notion that a native speaker is a better teacher: Teachers of English are expected to teach English as a subject, not as a broad linguistic phenomenon, but as a subject that stands...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas There is an old saying. A foreign language is a new person​. Yes, speaking a foreign language can help you a lot. Knowledge of a foreign language; There are many benefits such as getting a new job, traveling freely in a foreign country, working when necessary, and following foreign press. So why English? Although English is not the most spoken language in the world today, it is the official language of 53 countries and is spoken by around 400 million people. Today, in addition to 350-400 million native English speakers, it is estimated that 1,5-2 billion people have at least some basic English skills. It is also the language of science and a language in which international people can speak among themselves....  [Read more]

Federico Riva Teaching Ideas The use of the English language as a global language is unprecedented. With modern technologies like the rise of air travel and the speed of the internet, the world is increasingly becoming smaller. At no other time in human history have so many different nations and cultures needed to communicate. With “About a quarter of the world’s population is already fluent or competent in English” (Crystal, 2017, page 6), it has come to the forefront as the common known language or lingua franca. Teaching a lingua franca comes it’s with its particular challenges and the impacts of your teaching could affect the student’s future business or academic opportunities. This post was written by our TEFL certification...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Learning another language is one of the most powerful tools for connecting people around the world from different cultures. Opening an immeasurable amount of opportunities, learning English has many benefits including but not limited to expanding career options, exercising another part of the brain, and improving the ease of traveling to a foreign country. However, particularly for natives of Eastern countries, learning English may be very difficult due to the exoticism of sounds, writing, pronunciation, and structure. While Japan is unique in a sense, having a booming influence of Western culture after World War II, native Japanese learners face difficulties in learning English due to phonology differences,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Foreign language experience is complexed on so many different levels, it is a window into a different culture, often a different country and even a different paradigm of thinking. There is a multitude of language experiences people can have, each with their own intricacies and uniqueness. As a native English speaker from South Africa, living in China has provided me with extraordinary foreign language experience. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Marlan S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Mandarin, the national language of the People’s Republic of China, as many would attest to is extremely challenging. One could argue...  [Read more]