Teacher Talk Vs Student Talk

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The most helpful teaching strategy that I learned about in this course was ESA lesson planning. An ESA lesson is one that includes three distinct stages: Engage, Study, and Activate. A successful lesson should include all three components, beginning with an engaging stage and concluding with an activated stage. I plan to use this framework for my own lesson planning because it is flexible, yet has enough structure to establish students’ expectations for how they will learn during every class period. I especially like the distinction between study and activate because it helps me understand the role of different types of activities in a lesson. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rachel S....  [Read more]

  Our next consideration is going to be how we actually group our students. There are perhaps three types of grouping arrangements that we can consider and within those we'll have a look at the potential positive and negatives of those particular arrangements. So firstly, what arrangements can we use? We could arrange our group as a whole class so all of their activities will be done as a whole class. They could be working as individuals and the final grouping arrangement we'll consider is that of small groups or indeed the use of pair work. So for each of these types of arrangements what are the potential positive and negatives with that type of arrangement? For the whole class certainly one of the main positive features is that it gives that class a sense of belonging. Secondly...  [Read more]

Shirin Sophy TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas The following features that are briefly discussed in this article can directly affect the quality of the lesson and facilitate generating a more desired outcome. Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Does a year abroad teaching English hurt your career prospects back home? Quite the contrary! In this live session, we discover exactly how teaching English abroad enhances your career prospects - back home and around the world! Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas Do you...  [Read more]

Anna Domiczek Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Songs and music are such an important part of an ESL preschool curriculum. Not only are they fun, but they are also very powerful tools to help young students learn English in a fun and entertaining way. Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Does a year abroad teaching English hurt your career prospects back home? Quite the contrary! In this live session, we discover exactly how teaching English abroad enhances your career prospects - back home and around the world! Shirin Sophy Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas ...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas Do you want your new students to come back again? Do you want students to do homework? Are you looking for fun activities for your online classes? In this live stream, we will look at how to engage and motivate English learners outside the classroom at 100%. Shirin Sophy TEFL Information Alumni Experiences This blog post is a suggested procedure that can be taken into account while teaching productive skills after the engagement phase is applied and learners are ready to start the study phase. Ahmed Taha TEFL Information Alumni Experiences ...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas When teaching reported speech the potential for mistakes, errors, and the general difficulty is enormous due to the number of changes that are made with verb tenses, patterns, pronouns, questions, time expressions etc.. It’s important to cover the subject slowly with lots of verbal practice at every opportunity. There are plenty of standard ‘change the direct speech to reported speech’ activities, but your students will soon tire of these if you overuse them. Here are some ideas which have worked well in the EFL classroom and will give your students a good amount of talk time in a variety of ways. This is a fun dispute roleplay that is ideal when students are split up into groups of 3, although 4 can work too....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When teaching English as a foreign language in a country where the native language is not English, it is easy to assume there are going to be some cultural differences between you and the students. The differences could be as little as what you eat for breakfast and which hand you pass things to someone with, or they could be as large as how you address someone and what you are allowed to talk about in public society. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Shana H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Part of learning a language is learning the slang that goes with a particular language. When I say slang, I do not just mean the words...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” - Mark Antony. I have a tall tale to tell you. A story filled with unspeakable horrors that make men dishonor all they have stood for; that pushes the statement “it is better to be feared than loved if you cannot be both”- Machiavelli. To tales of living in a land down under and learning the language of the locals and communing with them in a peaceful manner. Before ending with a tale as old of time, which is empires rise and fall, similar to teaching materials that are created and become outdated. If we are to succeed we must evolve or we will just get caught up in the churn with the changing tides. Let us begin with what truly motivates the world of men....  [Read more]

Shirin Sophy Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas The activation phase is naturally divided into some steps to facilitate the activation process, including the controlled, semi-controlled, and free practices that are briefly discussed in this post. Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas Do you want your new students to come back again? Do you want students to do homework? Are you looking for fun activities for your online classes? In this live stream, we will look at how to engage and motivate English learners outside the classroom at 100%. Ahmed Taha TEFL Information Alumni Experiences ...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas As a teacher – and it does not matter if you teach kids, toddler, teenagers or adults – you have to think about a wide range of things: the content of your classes, class troubles and discipline, the evolution of your students skills, time management in terms of your classes and in terms of the content development in a period of time, students assessment, schools/professional compromises (either if you work in a language school or if your area a private teacher), how to create a nice learning environment and so on. These are only some of the things that a teacher – in the first years of his/her career or for an experienced professional – has to manage in his/her teaching routine. This post was written by...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching English in the classroom remains a popular educational choice for families and children in decades. However, a lot of students cannot attend in-classroom all the time for many reasons. That’s why teaching online has a potential extension possibility despite their limited competitive advantages in comparison with the general education method. Hence, online teachers need to be more creative in their lessons to increase learner’s interest. As a result, many interactive activities have been developed in online English courses. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Linh Vu T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Firstly, in my...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas When you teach English as a foreign language it’s important to pay attention to details that we sometimes ignore when communicating with other native level speakers, either in spoken or written English. Some people have got into the habit of writing in uppercase/capital letters, use abbreviations, and don’t think much about punctuation. We also tend not to be too critical of people’s spoken English as long as we get the point across. ‘There’s a lot of cars on the road today’ is grammatically incorrect for example. We also tend to enjoy speaking when we should be letting others speak. This is a particular issue in the classroom when you should be maximizing student talk time and minimizing yours. Here are...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Many people who begin teaching English as a second language are new to the teaching world, and thus many times, need basic strategies and information on teaching. For example, I have entered education upon moving to Italy. My previous work experience was in marketing/events for large corporations and nonprofits, with no experience in teaching anything, let alone English as a second language. While I have a very good grasp of the English language and speak it well, how to teach it to others is a different ballgame. Hence, taking the TEFL courses to obtain a certification was essential in my development as a teacher. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Stacy S. Please note that this blog...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In Vietnam, it is so important and popular that English becomes a compulsory subject for students at schools and universities. Working people also need to learn English for their job, to talk to English speakers or get a new well-paid job. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Huyen N. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Generally, verbs and nouns are pronounced differently although they are written the same. There are too many students in every class and the schools don’t have standard classrooms for language classes. The students mostly study read and grammatical rules. They don’t have lots of chances to practice speaking and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Coming into any unfamiliar classroom situation, for newer and experienced teachers alike, can instill a level of apprehension. There are many circumstances where a teacher could easily feel overwhelmed, whether it is butterflies in the stomach on the first day, a sudden syllabus change, malfunctioning equipment, an extremely large class, unmotivated or disruptive students, or unfriendly coworkers. Fortunately, there is a multitude of simple strategies that can help equip a teacher to face even the most nightmarish classroom situations. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Linda K. One essential technique for teachers to increase their confidence is to keep the focus on the teachings. In...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Discipline often comes to the mind at the mention of classroom management, but the crucial component is much more.Classroom management creates a set of expectations used in an organized classroom environment. This will include routines, rules, and consequences. Effective classroom management paves the way for the teacher to engage the students in learning. Classroom management is important because it allows learning to flow effectively some important elements can be considered such as Effective teaching, Efficient use of time, fewer behavior problems, community building and many other elements when a class is managed well by the teacher. Just to elaborate more on the elements mentioned as to why classroom...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker TEFL Information Job interviews are traditionally one of the most daunting prospects that we face in our working lives and interviews for TEFL jobs are generally no exception. Although no one looks forward to a job interview, the whole experience can be made less intimidating if you have some idea of what to expect. As with any type of job, interviewers for TEFL related positions have certain areas that they want to cover to assess your suitability for the position. Because these areas are normally much the same worldwide, it is possible to have a rough idea about the kind of TEFL interview questions you need to prepare for. Armed with this knowledge you should be able to enter the interview room feeling positive and in a good...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Who doesn’t love a story? Stories are universal. Stories connect us all. Stories also transcend caste, creed, color, and age. From the beginning of time, to-date the medium may have changed but stories engage us with others because it is easy to see ourselves reflected in them and understand the message conveyed easily. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Shaimuna C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Teaching English using stories can be very effective in class. As an English teacher, I have used stories for classroom activities from Year 1 to 6 at the primary school level. The different age groups need diverse styles. Below are...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences Whether speaking at a public event where thousands have gathered, or talking politics around a table with friends, this simple piece of advice is well-known to anyone who has ever done any public speaking. But, it is also critical advice for the aspiring teacher—whether those teaching English as a second language, or those teaching chemistry in high school. The more well-acquainted a teacher is with his or her classroom, the more successful he or she will be in engaging their minds in the topic at hand. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Emily B. So, of course, this is a vital component to any teacher who is seeking to help students wanting to learn English. It is important that the teacher asks...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas There are many important things for an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher to consider when designing a seating arrangement for the classroom. Every teacher desires to create an atmosphere where good interaction can take place between the students as well as an atmosphere where attention can be focused on the teacher during times of teacher instruction. Of course, many limiting factors can affect the seating arrangement of the classroom, and the teacher may not end up having the ideal seating arrangement due to these factors. The two primary limiting factors that affect seating arrangement include the class size and the room size. Here we will look at the positives and negatives of a classroom arranged by...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences A Turkish proverb infers: "One who speaks one language is one person while one who speaks two languages is two people." It refers to the cultural influences of language learning. It signifies the fact that with learning a new language comes a change in the way the mind works. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Isiaka O. The process of transmitting pre-learned, coded, audible and inaudible messages from one person to another and receiving acknowledgment, understanding, and most times, elicit a response in kind. It is unique to humans. Also Read: Guide to Teaching Receptive Skills in the EFL Classroom 1. Directive Use They are special forms of communication that mostly include a body of...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences English is one of the most widely spoken languages and it is taught in a lot of countries. Globalization, fast economic development makes many people study English. People learn English for different reasons: business, education, life abroad, traveling, personal interest. Chinese students are not an exception. With the growing economies of China, the need for learning English increased dramatically. What challenges do Chinese students face when learning English? What challenges does the teacher meet teaching Chinese students? What teaching approach can be found? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Darya M. Let’s talk about the most typical challenges when teaching Chinese learners and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas A method of teaching contains the techniques used by teachers to impart knowledge to students. These strategies are determined partly on the subjects to be taught and partly by the nature of the learner. In this task, I will give some examples of different teaching methodologies, compare these techniques, and explain why it is important that teachers, mostly who are teaching in a foreign country should know these methods. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nathalie L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. One of the most effective methods of teaching is ESA (Engage, Study, and Activate); this teaching method allows your student to be...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Japanese is certainly one of the most interesting languages in the world thanks to its three types of writing (hiragana, katakana and kanji). This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Desiree I. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. After the outbreak of intercontinental travel (therefore with the appearance of commercialization and missionaries around the world) many terms of different languages, including English ones, also became part of the language of Japan. The main problem is that many sounds present in the English language are non-existent in the Japanese language; this means that the pronunciation of many terms has been adapted...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Several surveys, such as EF (Education First), have shown that France has the worst English level in the European Union. We shall explain, firstly, why French students have problems in learning English and what these problems are. Then, secondly, we shall share solutions to these problems. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Mohamed S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Indeed, the difficulties that French students face are not recent but have deeper origins which are historical. As you may know, there has been a rivalry between the French and the English dating back to the Hundred Years War (1337-1453,) when the two countries...  [Read more]