TEFL Badger

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Games are great tools to motivate students and encourage them to learn things informally. However, ESL classroom games must have a purpose and support the learning process and not distract from it. In this blog post, our ITTT TEFL expert shares seven steps to gamify your ESL classroom effectively. Before starting a game with your students, ask yourself what you want your students to achieve by the end of the game. Do you want them to learn a linguistic point or some particular behavior pattern? If you know your students' needs, then it's easier to choose an appropriate activity that will be purposeful to the learners. Also Read: Playing...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences To many students, the school can feel like more of a chore than a pleasurable experience. Whether it is struggling to pay attention to lectures or to complete homework assignments, all students will lose focus at some point or another. One way to make the learning process more pleasurable is by transforming the classroom into a game-like environment. This does not necessarily mean playing games in class, but it does mean applying similar concepts to the classroom. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Heather H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Many of the games we enjoy also happen to build real-life skills such as...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Walking into a classroom for the first time can be an intimidating experience! It can be even more intimidating if the teacher has moved to another country to teach English, as communication can be quite a challenge. Also, the teacher is often in an unfamiliar environment and dealing with cultural differences. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Janet K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. So what makes a good teacher? Well, personality-wise, a kind and patient person who loves teaching and has a lively and entertaining personality would be an ideal candidate. Of course, a good knowledge of the subject and an ability to create a good...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Games are a useful tool for teachers of EFL students because they help with motivation, engagement, and graceful failure (Plass 260-261). I will present a successful example of a teacher using games in an adult grammar class from Indonesia. Second, since I plan to teach online EFL students, I will present free digital games online teachers can use in their virtual classrooms. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Christopher C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Many professional articles have been written showing the importance of game-based learning theory for EFL students. Games have an element of ‘play’ in them, and so differ...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Developing Language Skills is a key enabler in the global economy; even as the rise of the Internet, Smartphones and other technology the world is becoming smaller; but as it always has, language can present itself as a Barrier. As English is still the ‘de-facto’ global language thanks to its common business use are it time that TEFL providers adapt to the modern world and embrace new media to not only improve existing techniques but develop new ones and embrace existing online communities? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Matt F. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. What is New Media? New Media is defined as “products...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker TEFL Information Teaching Ideas In the current climate, more and more EFL teachers find themselves teaching English in an online environment rather than in a traditional classroom and it can sometimes be a difficult transition. It is also important to remember that online learning is often a new concept for many students and they too might find it difficult to adjust in the beginning. Online English students can easily become distracted by a range of outside forces, or simply become tired after spending long periods in front of their computer screen. This can be a natural occurrence when working online and is not necessarily a reflection on your teaching or the content of the lesson. However, in order to avoid...  [Read more]