Target Teacher Deal

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Autonomy is the ‘’ the ability to take charge of one’s learning”. Benson P. and Voller P. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Dean R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. One-to-one teaching often gives the teacher a satisfaction that can be difficult to achieve when teaching a group. The student learns from the teacher, but the teacher can also acquire and gain a great deal from their interactions with students. For the teacher, there is the satisfaction of helping the student to progress quickly in the language since the individual approach allows the teacher to target the student's exact needs and requirements which is...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The best thing I have learned from this TEFL course is that teaching methodology is no longer dominated by the framework of translation/grammar-based learning, but newer, more holistic methods are starting to be used by teachers, such as the ESA method. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Leslie H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Grammar/translation learning primarily uses the practice of finding equivalents of the students’ language in their target language. One of my main criticisms of this method is the auto-translation it encourages in students. Instead of looking at a sentence and automatically grasping the meaning,...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences Lesson planning is an indispensable part of successful lessons. Generally speaking, lesson plans have various functions that are conducive to the classes. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Juan W. First and most importantly, lesson plans can help teachers think and deliver classes logically through different stages of the classes. It can also give teachers hints needed. When teachers plan lessons, there are several aspects that need to be taken into consideration, such as lesson objectives, possible difficulties and skill and so on. Second, It’s a record of classes that have been done and materials have been used. On the one hand, even though teachers have good memory, it is almost impossible...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas It is true that following a lesson plan may make the class rigid and lack flexibility. But for some inexperienced teachers, we may get panic when there are unexpected things arising in the class. By preparing a lesson plan, firstly we will have a thorough idea about what is going to happen so we can be mentally ready to some degree. Secondly, each step from the lesson plan has it a specific reason to exist to assist an inexperienced teacher to learn about how to manage the class. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Wu Z. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Having a plan at hand with the learning objective listed clearly can help us...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences This academic discourse will examine the concepts of motivation in an ESL classroom, through the lens of some motivational theorists such as John Schumann and John Keller. According to Kreitner ( 1995 ), “Motivation is the psychological process that gives behavior purpose and direction”. Dalton E (1974) stated that “ Motivation refers to how urges drives, desires, aspirations, and strivings or needs direct, control or explain the behavior of human beings. From the definitions quoted above, one can conclude that without motivation, there’s inertia at the level of human ability and energy. There are four kinds of motivation: intrinsic, extrinsic, instrumental, and integrative. This post was written by...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Effective praise builds a student's character and strengthens their attempts at all tasks they encounter. The keyword to this point is useful. When credit is targeted at the wrong aspect of a student's work, then a negative effect has a chance to take over. So is it normal after all to praise students, and if so, how should a teacher go about the task? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Richard B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. First, it is very typical to praise students. It's even encouraged and appreciated. Praise can give the students confidence, make them feel happy, and provide them...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Games are one of the most important components in an EFL classroom. Foreign language learning games can be considered as a framework to provide a meaningful context for language acquisition. Students can improve their understanding of written and spoken English via games, as well as learn new words, structures, pronunciation, and spelling, all while having a great deal of fun. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Shiva R. 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,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Lesson planning is very important for all teachers but is especially useful for a teacher at the beginning of his/her career. A lesson plan is an aid for teaching, a working document, a record, and a guide for what should be included in the lesson or entire subject during the term. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Costas P. Aid to planning will help the teacher decide what he/she wants the students to achieve by the end of the lesson and how the teacher will make that possible. For example, your objective could be that by the end of the lesson students will make sentences using the affirmative form of the present continuous tense. This can be done by having fun activities such as...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences How many of us have had to call into customer service only to struggle to understand the employee’s English? The simple process to find a solution to a problem often becomes increasingly frustrating and exhausting for both parties. While monolinguistic persons may not appreciate the struggle to learn and master a new language, as instructors to those individuals working to learning English, phonetics is key. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Antranik D. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The modern-day English alphabet does not visually represent the range of phonetic sounds utilized by the language and this presents...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences When an English speaker is traveling in the Philippines, it is not uncommon for a friendly conversation with a local to end with the local stating they have a nosebleed and escape from the conversation. In Filipino culture, nosebleeds indicate that the brain is too stressed. Although Filipinos pride themselves in being fluent in English, many are not as confident to speak it when the time requires. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Terence L. This phenomenon of foreign language speaking anxiety is not limited to just the Philippines. Anxiety is one of the vital factors when learning any foreign language. Multiple studies have shown that ESL learners struggle with the language because of the...  [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 Alumni Experiences "Our lives gain meaning only when we tell our story". -David Steindl-Rast. In our case, stories not only add meaning to our lives in general but are very important in rendering language learning interesting and creative as our specific subject essay will demonstrate. Stories are an effective model for learning the English language through which we can develop the four language skills writing, speaking, listening, and reading. So why and how stories can enable us to effectively learn the English language? First of all, the fact that we have nowadays a vast ocean of stories that tackle a variety of subjects and issues, makes it quite impossible for someone not to find a story that would captivate their passion...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas It is an undeniable fact that English nowadays has become the most influential language in the world. Many throughout the world seek to learn it as knowing it is now a must to find a good job or find good opportunities in one’s life, which is why we can find countries that are rife with various English courses. This is especially true in Turkey. Where English is in high demand as everyone in the country is starting to realize its importance. It is also worth noting that the vast majority of the country do not have adequate English skills, especially in speaking, mastering said skill is a dream for many Turkish people. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Melisa N. Please note that this blog...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Teaching Ideas When you decide to take a TEFL certification course with the intention of teaching English abroad, in your home country, or online, it is difficult to know who you will actually end up teaching. Once you have finished your training you could end up teaching primary aged children, teenagers, or adults. They could be from any country worldwide and they could be at any level of English language from beginner to advanced level. In many ways it is a bit of a lottery, so you should ensure you are ready to deal with all types of environments. After a while most teachers develop a preference for the type of student they prefer to teach, however, the beginner EFL student is often the most feared. So what actually defines a...  [Read more]

  Before looking at the methods or approaches themselves, there are some terms that we need to define. These are the approach, the method or the technique. Basically, these are hierarchical. The approach is an overriding set of principles that a method can actually make use of, whereas the technique are the things that we actually do in the classroom to approach that method. So, these three words are going to appear during the presentation. Again, for each of either the approaches all the methodologies we're going to ask four questions. So be it an approach or a method for each of those things: Where did it come from? What's its background? What does it involve when we're talking about actually in the classroom, in other words techniques? What is positive about it? What appears to...  [Read more]

Shirin Sophy Alumni Experiences Despite the rising parents' education attainment and the high level of awareness, they show towards their offsprings' nurture, students' misbehavior is still a controversial aspect of pedagogy. As teachers, what we are dealing with today is supposed to be a generation of well-brought-up juveniles craving for personal development, but the truth appears to be slightly different. Even though some believe that teachers are simply losing their authority as a result of lax school discipline approaches, many reasons hidden behind students' misbehavior can easily be recognized and dealt with. There is, of course, a very wide range of reasons for students' misbehavior, but we're going to go through some of them and try to...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In the following essay, I consider something like a continuum from task to the game to assessment, but only in the bookend learning moments of “input” and “output.” I often think of learners in my classrooms as a gray box—not quite a “black box,” the inner workings of which are completely mysterious, but a thing into which we only ever have uncertain, provisional insight. We can do all sorts of theorizing about language acquisition and psychometry but will never have anything as exact as a litmus test. However accurate my notion is, it motivates me to focus on things that are much more knowable and observable: the inputs and outputs of a learning situation. This post was written by our TEFL...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences The majority of children turning 5 years old attend kindergarten for two years in preparation for primary school. Some kids enter kindergarten earlier at the age of only four. This actually varies according from state to state and also from country to country. In China, most kindergartens combine childcare with teaching so that the children will develop physically, morally, and intellectually in a harmonious way to get ready for their formal school education. A good environment is assured for the kids to have a conducive place to learn actively. Teaching English in China can be overwhelming considering that English teachers are also assigned to teach kids as young as one year old or even younger. Chinese parents...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching beginner students is a very challenging task for anyone. Personally, I have always found teaching English to beginners as a tough prospect, whether it is monolingual group and you know nothing of their language or it’s a multilingual group and the only common language is English. However, with some work and knowledge, everything is possible to teach beginners the English language. And I believe this is one of the most rewarding to teach. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Melinda K. The question now is How to teach English to beginner students? Here are the basic tips and techniques. In making instructions clear and simple, don’t use or say ten words if you can say or use only...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Apart from cognitive development, there is the moral and social development which are very important as well. Because, very young children do not understand that people have different feelings and experiences, but these perspective-taking abilities develop over time until it is quite sophisticated in adults. Kohlberg’s divided it into three levels. The first one is the conventional moral reasoning which is based on personal needs and determination and other rules to avoid punishments. The second’s called the conventional Moral Reasoning which is based on the family’s expectation, traditional values, the laws of society and loyalty to the country. The third is called the post-conventional moral reasoning...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences It is a truth acknowledge in all cultures that our parents are our first teachers. What the adage means is very simple but profound. Learning begins at home. Learning is bolstered also at the home. The success of a child’s educational endeavor later in life also owes a lot to the home. In learning the English language and the different language skills, parents can also be of great assistance to their children. Below are some ways parents can provide help to their kids and boost their chance of succeeding in their English language learning endeavor and a majority of the support that parents can provide to their children may take place as early as a few months after birth. This post was written by our TEFL...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Grammar, the key element to all languages, is, by all means, the first thing which everyone must have a clear understanding of before acquiring such language. From parts of speech to sentence structure, the complexity of grammar doesn’t seem to have a sign of decrease as ESL students’ vocabulary range increases. In all respects, the fundamental problem to all learners who treat English as a second language is that they never take it as a first language but try to understand the meaning behind every word with the aid of their mother tongue, their first language. In this essay, I would like to focus on one of the smallest parts of grammar - syntax as the starting point, to shed some light on how teachers can...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore TEFL Information Many people around the world dream of moving abroad to teach English. It’s exciting, it’s life-changing and it can seem like a never-ending vacation. I have taught English abroad since 2015 in China and South Korea and together with fellow teachers with years of experience, I’ve compiled this list of 10 pieces of advice that every new EFL teacher needs to know. So many people want to live abroad and a large percentage of these choose the path of teaching English. The demand for teachers is huge around the globe and you can find positions in virtually all corners of the world. While that’s great news, there’s one thing to keep in mind, being a native or fluent English speaker does not make you a great...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching is probably one of the most rewarding professions that can exist. I've always dreamed to be a teacher, being able to make a difference and be the one students can look up to. This opportunity was given to me when an English training institute from China called Web international English (also called Web) hired me as an ESL teacher. The web is a private English school which provides different class sizes such as VIP(1 to 1), Private(1 to 4), Salon(1 to 10) and Social(1 to 25+). These various courses helped me to differentiate and experience the difference between teaching one to one and groups. Hence I will detail in the following paragraphs my personal observations between both types of classes. Starting...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas My interest in ESL began without the intention of becoming an ESL instructor in the first place. It was mostly born out of curiosity and interest in relocating to a foreign country which at the time (2009) was China. At the time I had been deeply contemplating a career living abroad. The contemplation came more from a cultural motivation than from a financial or career-minded motivation. Throughout my childhood and beyond, my parents were both avid travelers. Both my Mother and Father had spent considerable periods traveling in Asia, East Asia and Central Asia in particular. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ethan J. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching is something very important. It is a wonderful and interesting job and teachers play a vital role in students’ lives. There are different kinds of teaching. Specifically, there are one-on-one lessons and group lessons. Each category has some advantages and disadvantages. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Argyro K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Tutoring students one-on-one is very challenging and teachers have to think carefully if they want to spend their time on that important duty. Regarding one to one lessons, there are several advantages. Teachers don’t have mixed classes and they focus only on one student...  [Read more]

Shirin Sophy TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teachers' ability to manage their time, relationships, attitudes, material, students' rapport, and the progress happening in their classroom is referred to as the art of classroom management, which undoubtedly is one of the most significant requirements and features of a successful teacher. All of the decisions a teacher makes in terms of lesson planning, seating arrangement, monitoring, reacting to critical moments, working with other people, and all of the actions based on these decisions eventually lead to lessons that can be fruitful or dull based on the quality of these decisions. In order to manage a successful course, a teacher also needs to have management skills and...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker TEFL Information Teaching Ideas The world of teaching English as a foreign language can take you into many different types of classrooms, and teaching business-related English is one of the fastest-growing areas worldwide. Despite a rapid increase in demand in the business sector, many teachers are reluctant to go down this route for a few common reasons. Although teaching English in a business environment is a professional undertaking that needs to be taken seriously, you should not overlook opportunities in this area because you are intimidated by the prospect or don't have the necessary background to achieve success. Teaching jobs in the business sector are widespread and potentially very lucrative, so we have...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Nowadays educators and CEOs are doubtful about the efficiency of the current educational contents and system. The question which keeps us alert about our performance as teachers is “Are we preparing our students to face the working demands of the century?” This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Laura A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. It has become evident that new abilities should be developed in the classroom-adaptability to be able to fit in new, probably unknown or unimaginable situations, creativity, and innovation, and collaborative work among others, involving the use of the social media, on-line easy access to...  [Read more]

Christian Davey Destinations Alumni Experiences What do you envision when you see yourself teaching English abroad? Depending on your point-of-view, it could differ considerably, I bet. For instance, you may picture yourself eating local food on your lunch break with your colleagues, or you might begin to ponder what your students are talking about in their native language during the break time. Whatever you picture, I can happily say that the experience of teaching English in Taiwan is packed with so much joy and satisfaction. The students are so passionate about learning English that they make you feel so welcome when you are there, and that is what it is all about: feeling comfortable and excited to be there. In the next...  [Read more]