Speaking Activity

  The final stage of the lesson will be the activate and the activate phase is going to form the main speaking activity within the lesson. So, it's very very important that here, we do a good demonstration of what it is that we're expecting them to do, that we elicit the type of target language we're expecting them to produce from the activity. So, one way we could go around it is to, firstly, form pairs. Each pair is going to be given a card and onto that card they're going to write the country and a month. What the teacher can then do, just to add a little bit of spice to it, is to collect all of the cards and shuffle them around and then redistribute them to the pairs so that they get a card that doesn't have their country or their month on it. What they're then going to do is...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information In this blog post, we will consider three different categories of speaking activity. For each we look at where each individual type is used and then look at some general ideas for delivering any of the three types of activity. Speaking activities will come in many different forms but we can generalize them into three basic types. Controlled activities tend to be used in the study phase and here the teacher will be helping the students in terms of what they need to say and how they go about saying it. So there's a high level of structure within a controlled activity. A guided activity has slightly less structure than this and it can be used in either they study or the activate stages themselves. The final type of...  [Read more]

  So speaking activities will come in many different forms but we can generalize them into three basic types. Control activities tend to be used in the study phase and here, the teacher will be helping the students in terms of what they need to say and how they go about saying it. So, there's a high level of structure within a controlled activity. A guided activity has slightly less structure than this and it can be used in either the study or the activate stages themselves. The final type of activity or class of activity is called creative activity and this one would be used in the activation phase. In a creative activity, we're giving a scenario or a very small amount of structure and we're asking the students to actually create their own answers to this particular question....  [Read more]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word nepotism. This word refers to people in power favoring and giving powerful positions to friends or family. Some synonyms of the word include favoritism, bias, partiality, or partisanship. 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 is basically about productive skills which are Speaking and writing, and the purpose of speaking and writing which is for communication. learnt the guideline...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Speaking activities are essential for English learning as they give a chance to learn new linguistic points, including grammar and real-life listening skills. Unfortunately, teachers often omit communicative tasks in the classroom because they feel that it is difficult to manage them. There is also a lack of time to practice speaking; many course books provide ESL speaking activities only at the end of a unit. The educational system requires reading and writing skills to succeed in tests, so the value of communicative speaking is often underestimated. In this blog post, we offer you 5 engaging ESL speaking activities for English learners to enhance their communication skills....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas For this Summative Task, I will be discussing the topic of teaching productive skills in the classroom. As opposed to receptive skills learned previously (reading and listening), productive skills focus on speaking and writing. Regarding writing, this function of language education is often the most neglected in the TEFL world, due firstly, to the fact that teachers and students don't want to monopolize class time with quiet individually driven work. Writing skills are mostly practiced in the form of homework which can often be neglected and completed without necessary focus and effort. Concerning speaking, this function requires a higher deal of language fluency as well as an understanding of the accent and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The more a teacher speaks the less attention the learners will pay. Decreasing teacher speaking time can be done with a few practical steps and wonderful teaching methods. It all starts with proper planning. When designing a lesson plan be sure to include assignments and activities that will engage your students and do not call for a teacher dominant role. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Johnelle M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Using activities in the classroom that engage the students is very important. For example, instead of going right into a lecture, using a pass the ball activity allows the students to get engaged...  [Read more]

Mudita Yajnik TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Setting up the classroom is often overlooked by teachers - but it's oh-so important! In this blog post, we take a look at the importance of the ESL classroom setup. Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas What are some of the most important reasons for planning our lessons? Covering these ideas will then inform us as to what we should actually put on our lesson plan. In this blog post, we cover both these aspects of lesson planning. Federico Riva TEFL Information In this blog post, we will consider three different categories of speaking...  [Read more]

Mudita Yajnik TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Setting up the classroom is often overlooked by teachers - but it's oh-so important! In this blog post, we take a look at the importance of the ESL classroom setup. Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas What are some of the most important reasons for planning our lessons? Covering these ideas will then inform us as to what we should actually put on our lesson plan. In this blog post, we cover both these aspects of lesson planning. Federico Riva TEFL Information In this blog post, we will consider three different categories of speaking...  [Read more]

  For the lesson that even takes place, there are a number of things that you need to have considered. Obviously, you need a very clear idea of what it is you're expecting the students to have to do and they need to know why. It's very important before you ask them to do an activity that they have an understanding of the purpose of that activity. You should, secondly, have had a thought about what they already know. Linked to that is, will it be necessary to do any form of pre-teaching before I can expect them to do this activity and finally, we need to make sure that we have prepared all our materials and our instructions for this particular activity. So, we'll consider a straight arrow ESA lesson, the focus of which is to be speaking skills. So, we'll start with our engage and in...  [Read more]

  The second conditional is used when speaking about dreams, fantasies and hypothetical situations. This video is specifically aimed at teaching the second conditional in an ESL setting. 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 a great reminder about conditionals. I really liked the activity ideas in the unit, there were some great examples of activities that would be fun for students and help them learn conditionals and reported speech....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Imagine a classroom where the teacher is lecturing the entire class time. Student’s attention span starts to flee, they begin looking for any source of entertainment. They are now distracted and unable to apply the lesson the teacher is demonstrating in the real world. Teacher lecture time should be supplemented with other methods of teaching. Students need mental breaks and activities to engage them in the lesson. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Abigail A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Learning a new language is an engaging activity, it needs to be practiced and repeated for communication to become second nature. The...  [Read more]

  These 10 teaching ideas for the past simple tense will encourage your students to use the language in fun communicative ways. Grammar lessons can often be quite daunting and boring for students so it is important to have activities that students will enjoy doing. These ideas offer plenty of student-to-student interaction and allow students to draw on their own life experiences as well as encouraging them to use their imagination. 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...  [Read more]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word inveigle. This word is used as a verb and refers to the action of persuading someone to do something through flattery or deception. The word comes from aveugler in Old French meaning ‘to blind’. 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. In this unit we learned about resources: songs, chants, music, games, stories, arts and crafts, seasonal activities, drama and movement. We learned what...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I would like to introduce five flashcards activities which I found fun and practical to enhance a student's vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, listening, and speaking. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate MOHSEN H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. This activity is designed to teach vocabulary as well as practice listening. It can be used for teaching various categories (animals, food, fruits, …) or a mix of them. The teacher gives each of the students a set of flashcards and asks them to show him/her the correct card when they hear the item spoken. For example: “Show me a pig” “Hands up if you’ve got a banana” “Stand...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Have you ever had the experience of saying a fictional character's name out loud to someone for the first time and they don't know whom you are talking about even though you're reading the same book? I have and it was a confusing feeling. The thing I have learned about English is that to truly learn it, you need to speak it. When we learn English by speaking it out loud we can avoid the mistakes of mispronouncing words that we have only ever read in our heads. This is the primary reason I think we need to decrease teacher speaking time in class and dramatically increase student speaking time when we are teaching our students English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jennifer A. Please note...  [Read more]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word "phreaker". This word is a noun and refers to someone who one who gains illegal access to the telephone system. The word become widely popular in the mid-1980s and is likely a combination of the words "phone" and "freak". Modern phreakers are very specialized hackers breaking into the phone system of large companies and corporations. 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. Drilling is a good...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teachers who want to have good performance in class should have good lesson planning. Teachers should answer these questions before preparing lesson planning: what am I teaching? Whom am I teaching? How will I teach? And how will I know if the students understand? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Phuong T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Writing a lesson plan is very important for all teachers. A lesson plan helps the teacher to keep on target during the lesson. Writing lesson plans following each topic will create the connection of course. Teachers and students will not confuse when teaching and learning. Also Read: What are...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas While it is true that many students crave consistency in the classroom, it can also be argued that students of all ages and levels tend to lose motivation and interest if lessons become too predictable or repetitive. For this reason, many teachers choose to incorporate outdoor activities into their lessons. In addition to maintaining interest, some possible benefits to taking your students outside the classroom (especially in an English-speaking country) include opportunities to interact with locals, experience culture, and practice in “real life” scenarios, all of which can help build students’ confidence. Even if students are learning English in their home countries, there are still benefits to changing...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas In this blog post, we will consider some important educational background theoretical and practical knowledge. The planning of a lesson for speaking skills (one of the two productive skills) requires us to look first at the ideas of accuracy versus fluency. We will start by defining our terms. 1) Speaking accuracy relates to the correct usage of grammar and vocabulary. 2) Speaking fluency relates to our ability to continue speaking without any interruption, such as thinking what the next word should be. If we consider language learning in general and an ESA style lesson in particular, then within the whole lesson fluency and accuracy are equally important. With an ESA lesson however...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Teaching Ideas It has been noted that the function of the brain is separated into two sides (hemispheres) commonly known as the left and right brain. What specific functions are included in the two sides of the brain and how did this information become incorporated into a mainstream ESL teaching methodology. Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas What are some of the most important reasons for planning our lessons? Covering these ideas will then inform us as to what we should actually put on our lesson plan. In this blog post, we cover both these aspects of lesson planning. Federico Riva Teaching Ideas ...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Although all parts of a lesson are equally important, the "engage phase" may be the most important. The “engage phase” is the departing point of the lesson, and where you will focus the attention of the students away from the other occurrences of the day, and make them focus on learning the English language. Choosing the activity in which to grab the students' attention can be a challenge, as it must grab the students’ attention within one or two minutes. The best types of activities are those in which students are fully engaged in a cognitive, critical thinking process. Through various studies, music has shown to be an activity which utilizes many parts of the brain at once and therefore is a great activity...  [Read more]

  http://www.teflonline.net The teaching idea covered here is one that would be appropriate for adult English language learners. It involves students writing a CV including personal data such as where they were born, their education history and their work experience. This activity could be a precursor to a job interview activity where students interview each other for different jobs using information from their CVs. By taking one of ITTT's TESOL Courses you will learn useful teaching ideas such as the one covered in this video. There are number of options available to study from short 60-hour introductory courses to longer 120-hour TESOL Courses. It is also possible to take ITTT's TESOL Courses in-class at any one of our training centres around the world. Please visit the link...  [Read more]

  This episode of Chantelle’s TEFL video diary looks unit 12 of her online course. Unit 12 focuses on the two productive skills speaking and writing. The unit looks at the difference between accuracy and fluency and also discusses activities that can be used to encourage speaking and writing in both controlled and more creative situations. The unit discusses issues specific to writing such as handwriting, spelling, punctuation etc. It also looks at how games can be used in the classroom and encourages you to think about how to adapt different games for different language points. 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...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The most widely used language throughout the world is English. Some countries use English as an official language. English is a major subject In China. Most of the Chinese students start to learn English from primary school or middle school. In recent years, more and more students start to learn English from kindergarten. They put a lot of time and effort into learning English. The majority of Chinese students learn English for over 10 years. But there is a strange situation. They still can’t speak English fluently, even though some simple English conversations. But they can get high scores in the exam. Why is it? Because Chinese students are too stupid? Or not hard-working? No!!! The biggest cause is that...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Having undergone a process of teaching and based on my knowledge and experience, today I can give a sense of an area or topic that I think of any of you. I agree with the same opinion. "Teaching vocabulary" is the topic I am talking about today. As a teacher, I have failed in teaching vocabulary for students, complex because I do not have enough knowledge or knowledge, my students have Remembering a word that day, I was very sad and thinking about my teaching method. I asked myself. What do students need to learn when learning vocabulary? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Thuy D. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I thought about...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Establishing a positive rapport with their students is one of the most critical factors of creating a successful classroom environment. While establishing rapport is a process and takes longer than a single class session to do, it all starts with the introduction to the classroom. A teacher who enters a classroom of students with an energetic attitude and expresses their enthusiasm for teaching and eagerness to get to know the students is likely to have much greater success with their students than a teacher who does not positively present themselves. This is not to say that all teachers must be extremely energetic and outgoing in personality to be effective, but there are ways for people of even more timid...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas First of all, I notice that adults have a bigger focus on what the teacher is saying and doing during the lesson, than the kids or teenagers. It is because, in my opinion, adults realize why they need to study English. For example, they will be able to find a better job or they may get an enhancement. So they know it is one of the important goals for them for a particular period of their life. And speaking about kids, they are too young first of all. They do not have a clue what is a goal and why they need it. The only thing they know is that their parents want them to study well, but it’s not enough in a lot of cases. And sometimes the kids don’t even speak their language well yet, but they need to learn...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teachers of ESL will often find themselves in charge of a class with students at different levels of proficiency. When this happens, the teacher needs to know ways to adapt and manage the class and activities in a way that benefits all the students. The stronger students could become bored if the teacher caters to the weaker ones, and, reversely, the weaker students could become demotivated and feel forgotten and left behind when they cannot keep up with the advanced students. So how can a teacher make sure all the students get what they need from the class? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Leigh K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of...  [Read more]

  Teaching English abroad is a great way to travel the world and experience other peoples and cultures. As English teachers it is important that we take the time to learn about the countries we choose to live and work in not only to show respect to our hosts but also to help our students to learn more productively. Understanding the cultural or social reasons behind why people in different countries behave or react in particular ways can help us to prepare better lessons and activities for our students and develop better relationships with our colleagues. Being aware of the subtle social cues that exist in any society can mean the difference between a truly rewarding experience and one that you wish never to repeat. When considering regions such as Latin America it can be tempting...  [Read more]