Student Teacher Talk

  There are some other classroom management issues that we need to consider and they may include issues such as writing on the board, giving students individual attention, the use of teacher talk time, the way in which we should give instructions to our students, the building and maintaining of rapport with our students, and finally the one that perhaps most new teachers particularly spend a lot of time worrying and thinking about, is the issue of classroom discipline. So what we'd like to do is to take each of these in turn and look at some of the major issues surrounding these classroom management issues. 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]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Self-confidence is not an easy trait to gain, especially when we talk about teachers. Self-confidence is obvious and easy to observe from all people, whether students or other teachers. When the teacher has a lack or weakness in self-confidence, their students or their coworkers will see that during the explanation, when she/he talks in front of the students and answering some questions in the class. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Walaa S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Self-confidence is also associated with creativity, whenever the teacher is confident of himself/herself then, he/she will show the creative aspect of...  [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]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Lesson planning for an individual ESL student can be successfully adapted from lesson planning for a group once the teacher recognizes the differences and similarities between teaching a group and teaching an individual in a one-to-one setting. My first teaching experience was volunteering to teach a multilingual, adult class. After the class ended, Yordanka, one of the students, approached me for private help with her English conversation skills. I kept the following concerns in mind when conducting one-to-one sessions with Yordanka. These concerns address seven issues: student needs, student talk versus teacher talk time, trust between teacher and student, scheduling, lesson duration, the timing of lesson...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas A student coming into a classroom every day looking at the board and listening to a teacher talk for hours can become mind-numbing. This can increase the chances of a student daydreaming or potentially even falling asleep. One way of preventing a student from becoming disengaged or having his or her learning hindered is by incorporating games into the classroom. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Robyn W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Games can be played with any age group which makes them very flexible, and they can be used in a variety of ways when learning a new language. Just by playing games, a tremendous amount of...  [Read more]

Mohammad Jabary Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Speaking of the students in class has always been an issue for the teachers and the institutes. We often question how we teach and remodel our teaching methods so we can make it possible for the students to talk more, while sometimes it has happened that even the teacher loses track of time, thus leading to an only teacher talk class style. After spending many times recycling the idea of why I, as a teacher, should talk or even how much and when to talk strikes me every time I make a lesson plan for my class. But first, let us consider the reasons why it is important to let the students talk more rather than just be listeners. The very first moment we start our approaches and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences For a class to function properly it necessitates the teacher to put his /her student in a confident position, in this sense the teacher must know when to be firm with students and when to give them liberty. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate CHIFON R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Classroom here refers to a room in a school or an establishment where a group of students is being taught by a teacher or a group of teachers. Classroom administration, on the other hand, is the process of ensuring that classroom lessons can run smoothly without any disruptive behavior from students comprising the delivery of instructions. Below...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Is it appropriate to punish younger children in an ESL classroom? No, there is no need for that. Punishment is such a strong word to use for children when trying to learn a new language. Learning a new language may be difficult for everyone. It requires patience towards the children you teach and patience towards yourself. Punish us not the word that I would use, discipline is. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kathrina M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. At some point, the children in your class would misbehave during a lesson. Yes, it would disturb the flow of the class. Others can also join the other student and misbehave as...  [Read more]

  http://www.teflonline.net The teaching idea covered in this video is a fun group game that should generate a good deal of student talk time using the Present Perfect tense. The students will be in small groups and each student will have the question sheet with a number of pictures and word prompts. Students take turns forming their question with the aid of the prompts. The groups then give their answers using the Present Perfect. The prompts include: win/a competition, go/scuba-diving, meet/ a famous person The questions would be: Have you ever won a competition?, Have you ever been scuba-diving?, Have you ever met a famous person? Group members would answer, Yes I have...., No I haven't... After a given amount of time each group share their answers with the class. The...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Most of the teachers like to arrange the seating arrangement. The aim is the only one which is to make sure all the students focus and understand what is going on in class. Even no arrangement is perfect but yet it helps. As a teacher in a lower primary in one of the international schools in Indonesia, I do like to arrange my students’ seats. With English as a daily basis language and students are from different Asia countries with mixed language ability, the seating arrangement is one of the keys. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Johanna S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. For daily, I prefer my students to seat in a group...  [Read more]

  In this TESOL review, Ben from South Africa talks about his experience of taking an online TESOL course with ITTT and how he is looking forward to starting his teaching career overseas now he is a qualified English teacher. Earning a TESOL qualification with ITTT gives you the opportunity to see the world while also earning a living. 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. The unit explains the best ways of teaching receptive skills to student. Both...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In this essay, I am going to talk about how students can be motivated, more specifically, how to encourage shy or reluctant students to participate in class discussions. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Bertram R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. With the possible exception of mental "problems" such as being a mute, most of the time I find that a student who is unwilling to talk is either not confident in their abilities, or waiting for somebody else to answer the question. Also Read: The Benefits and Pitfalls when Teaching One-on-One What I have found to be a good way of encouraging students to talk who are shy is to teach...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I have years of teaching experience and during my teaching years, I have been working with individual students and with different groups and would like to speak about the differences between teaching these two groups. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Meri V. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. When I started my career I did it with teaching one to one student as it was easier and as I didn’t have teaching experience then I decided to start from individual students. Teaching individuals is easy as you are concentrated only on one student and you just need to find out his or her needs. We spent all your time with one student and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Kindergarten students are at the "Beginner" phase of learning English. Therefore, you must treat the students and the learning experience in a fun and appropriate manner. Being kind, friendly, and entertaining is vital for young learners and your rapport as a teacher. Building a good rapport is essential to truly provide the best English course and helping the Kindergarteners progress throughout the semester. Since the students are so young and open to learning, talking only easy, simple words are beneficial to them at the moment. Do not go into further detail in the time being. They are beginners and need to learn the absolute basics before going into further detail about grammar. Your role as a teacher will be...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences In this essay, I will not only take a closer look at how to deal with difficult students and how to properly react to and solve challenging situations in the classroom but I will also highlight possible solutions outside the classroom. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Dennis S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. First of all, teachers need to be aware of cultural differences that might spark conflicts within the classroom. So it is vital to study the local culture in-depth and make sure one is familiar with the dos and don’ts of the particular society before starting to teach. This also includes gestures that may be normal...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The previous teaching method in Malaysia used to be chalk and talk. Chalk and talk method are much more on teacher talking rather the students. The teacher will be the one who talks and students just to listen or receive the information from the teacher. In this case, it will become a problem for those students with shorter attention spans and the other students will lose attention easily as well. This method also cannot evaluate a student’s understanding of the lessons that have been taught. The teacher should plan a lesson that includes explanations/elicits, activities to strengthen student’s understanding and evaluate student’s understanding. Usually, students with shorter attention spans easily get...  [Read more]

  Sairi from Mexico was already teaching English when she took the ITTT online course. In this TESOL review video she talks about how the course has helped her develop her teaching skills. 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 has been a very short unit but nonetheless fulfilling; it has been interesting to learn about the reasons why students may talk in their mother tongue and how to address this problem. It has also been worthwhile to learn...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The main goal of reducing teacher talk time or TTT is to have the teacher speaking less and the students engaging more. This essay will explore the benefits of doing this for the teacher and student, complications that could arise and how to deal with them, and how this can be implemented into any ESL lesson. It will cover a few key areas in an ESA lesson such as planning, questioning, student participation, silence, and instructions. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Benjamin R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. One of the first things as teachers that we can do to reduce teacher talk time is to give clear instructions....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This topic excites me the most as I am seeing myself becoming a teacher in the coming future, so why not explore it. As a teacher being confident can improve the overall effectiveness of the class because it’s very easy and quick to judge the teacher's confidence by the student. Lack of confidence can lead to issues with classroom management. Whether it is someone’s first teaching job or someone who is well experienced, everyone feels a bit nervous sometime or the other because of various reasons especially when you meet new challenges, the education landscape shifts or you find you need to make changes to your teaching practice. There are some simple things that one can do to feel more confident while...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences To be a great teacher is always my dream. In order to gain more experience in teaching, I started to teach my foreign teachers' Mandarin when I was a freshman in university. After I graduated, I chose to work as a teacher without any hesitation because I love the English language and I really enjoy teaching. So far, it has been for about 11 years. I have taught so many students. My youngest student is a 6-year-old boy and my oldest student is 76 years old. My class types range from tutorial classes to big lecture classes. How time flies! This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ling Y. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Teaching is...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Teachers play important roles in the lives of the students in their classrooms. Teachers are best known for their role of educating the students. The best teachers possess excellent communication skills, understand classroom management and appropriate discipline techniques to ensure a positive learning environment. As with all skills, teachers need to continue to improve their teaching skills by sharing with other teachers, continuing education and classroom experience. There are five important skills that teachers need in the classroom to set their students up for success. The focus needs to be on strengthening these skills to increase the effectiveness of the lessons. This post...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore TEFL Information Teaching Ideas I’ve worked as an online tutor with VIPKid since 2017. I have also taught ESL in a traditional classroom setting. My experience dealing with parents in these two settings drastically differs. When I made the switch to teaching online full-time, I needed to adapt to this new way of interacting with parents. Some online teaching companies offer classes with multiple students. Working for VIPKid, however, I only have experience in the online classroom where the teacher is one-on-one with the student. In a one-on-one classroom setting the teacher will either be alone with the student, the student and a parent, or in some cases the student and multiple parents. I’m going to talk...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences At its core, the same teaching principles and skills must be required and initiated for teaching one student or a group of 30 students. However, the key difference is time. An academic hour is 50 minutes, take 5 minutes to warm up and five minutes cool down, and this leaves 40 minutes for a class of 30 students. If one was to speak directly with every student, this equates to 1.33 minutes per student. Obviously, it would be pointless to do this, as not alone would each student get such little time as not to be of benefit. With one to the one, you get to spend the full 50 minutes with one student. Learning a language, be it a person’s native language or a second language, it takes time and practice. This post...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Classroom management can be referred to as the wide variety of skills and techniques that teaches us to keep students organized, orderly, focused, attentive, on task, and academically productive during a class. The strategies and the instructional technique used by the teacher to manage student behavior and activities related to learning can also be termed as classroom management. To keep the students organized, orderly, focused and attentive, the teacher must create a set of expectations that will be used in the classroom environment. It includes routines rules and consequences. In managing the classroom, the teacher must develop some management techniques that will support the teachers' expectations. This post...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I think of a teacher I had back in junior high in South Africa that made my learning experience memorable and that in turn earned me a diploma for achieving honors in my year-end examinations. He spoke little and allowed us as the students to discover and solve problems partially by ourselves. So, my aspiration is to apply the same or similar principals in teaching. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Candice F. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. When teachers talk too much, students lose their concentration, they become bored and find the tedious explanations hard to follow sometimes. Teachers should give students time to answer,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This is a subject that many have spoken of at length before however new perspectives are put forward all the time which can and do have positive outcomes. This can happen even in an area such as “student motivation”. This is an area that has been under the academic microscope as far back as we can remember. I will now put forward my perspectives and hopefully add something new to the equation. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Padraig O B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I would like to complete an assignment encompassing all areas that affect student motivation which may include but not exclusively: genetics (nature),...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When teaching English, teachers need to be aware of the issues that students will be dealing with. For my summative task, I would like to explore one of the biggest issues that I experienced while studying English, which is a ‘confidence issue.’ This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Mitsuki O. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Generally speaking, the issue of not being confident in language learning enormously affects students, especially when they are actually trying to use English for output exercises in both speaking and writing. To minimize this confidence issue and increase their confidence level, from my teaching...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Anyone could learn a syllabus and regurgitate it to a group of people, however, teaching involves more than just the transference of information. Teachers must learn to be able to engage their students with the content, while also building a rapport with the students and managing the classroom as a whole. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kate M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Rapport building with a new group of students or an individual student is a vital first step as well as an ongoing task for any teacher. Encouraging students to introduce themselves to you as the teacher as well as to the rest of the class is a great way...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When working with a large group, it is important to maintain class management to ensure all students can learn the material. A class can easily become off task due to a lack of dominance within a teacher. I had the opportunity to manage a group of six and seven-year-old students in the past and I am aware that it can be rather difficult to keep children on task. Throughout my internship, I was able to see what skills worked and what needed improvement. After reading unit 5, from the online course, I was able to connect concepts and thoughts I had from managing my class. Now that I am aware of new concepts it is easier to see how teachers can manage a classroom in a friendly but orderly manner. This post was...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas According to the type of activity during a lesson, a teacher could have diverse roles in the classroom. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Eleana V. A teacher can be a manager/controller meaning that the teacher is responsible for managing a class, giving guidelines and explanations in front of his students. He is the person who must stand in front of the class with the aim to control the pace of the lesson, balancing out the flow of the course and giving instructions whenever it is necessary. Some teachers feel comfortable with this role, but others appear quite shy and stressed out because the attention is placed exclusively on them. Another important...  [Read more]