TEFL Birch Creek Colony

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas As an EFL teacher, one is expected to create a proper and culturally sensitive atmosphere in the classroom at all times. Unfortunately, this does not happen in every instance because many different errors can occur. To prevent possibly contract terminable offenses, a special mindset and system of preparation must be instituted. When approached correctly, discussing difficult or even controversial ideas in a foreign country can be both culturally sensitive while also not needing excessive censorship. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate James S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The first and arguably single most important way to...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas As a children’s English teacher, course materials are very important. There are many kinds of materials that we can use in the classroom, flashcards are the basic one. We can present the new vocabulary and practice with flashcards, and children can understand the word directly through the picture on the flashcard, which is very effective. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate YULUN H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Besides, there are many games with flashcards that we can use as activities in the classroom. Here I will list 5 of these games I often use in my classes. The musical chair is a fun game for group classes which need...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences British versus American English is a subject that encompasses a number of fields, including linguistics, history, archaeology, geography, and the study of the history of the English language. British English has a deep foundation that stretches back into time to the advent of the Indo-Europeans, and while America can claim this as well, the language was, for the most part, very close to its modern form by the age of exploration. That being said, many archaic forms of words and grammar were still in use during the age of exploration and spelling was not standardized when the great voyages and colonization of the Americas began. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Aaron T. Please note that...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The birth of a child creates a new set of roles, relationships, responsibilities and emotions among family. This happening affects all the members of the family. The mental readiness of the family members helps them to get over the difficulties and the new changes. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Veysel Y. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. It is possible to examine a newborn’s effect on each family member. The reaction of the newborn depends upon the quality of the family itself. If the family gives the necessary importance to pregnancy that has an imperative effect on the development, the baby will have better mental and...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences We must up our game as ESL teachers in the 21st century – both figuratively and literally. I use games to engage students and promote learning in my classroom for a wide range of learning objectives. Below is a short list of icebreaker games that I regularly use in my classroom, and I will discuss the learning target(s) that each game aims to facilitate and deliver as well as the context in which the game is used. Since I work with high school age and adult students, the games are geared for English Language Learners in these age groups. As learning communities become more globalized and data give more information on how people learn, one major challenge I find with gamifying learning in the ESL classroom is...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas What are children capable of learning at various stages in their development? How do children develop the intellectual skills to react and interact with their environment? How do these cognitive abilities develop, and in what order? Birth through to about two years: During this stage, children learn about the world through their senses and the manipulation of objects. Ages 2 through to 7 years: During this stage, children develop memory and imagination. They are also able to understand things symbolically and to understand the ideas of the past and future. Ages 7 through to 11 years: During this stage, children become more aware of external...  [Read more]

1. Introduction 2. Importance of ESOL in Hong Kong 3. Benefits of Learning ESOL in Hong Kong 4. Opportunities for ESOL Teachers in Hong Kong Hong Kong, a vibrant and bustling city known for its rich culture and diverse population, offers a plethora of opportunities for individuals seeking to learn English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). As the global language of business and communication, mastering the English language can open doors to a wide range of academic and professional opportunities in Hong Kong and beyond. In this article, we will explore the importance of ESOL in Hong Kong, the benefits of learning the language in this dynamic city, and the opportunities available for ESOL teachers. In Hong Kong, where East meets West, English plays a crucial role as a bridge between...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences "Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves." - Horace Mann Volunteering is one of the most satisfying human experiences. It gives one a feeling of relevance, of giving freely to those whose live those skills one has will be of an immense benefit too. A volunteer has been defined by the Business Dictionary as a person that that actively takes on a task, responsibility, or project on his or her own accord without needing to be assigned, ordered, or told to do so. Often a volunteer is not paid for the work that they provide. For example, a volunteer may desire to work at a company's charitable events with or without pay and may even request to do so without being asked or told to. This post was written...  [Read more]

Anastasiia Ovchinnikova TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Back in the days when I was living in China with my British boyfriend, who was born and raised in Oxford, we would always make our friends smile talking about our careers. We always felt it was a bit ironic that out of the two of us, it was me who ended up as an English language teacher. I started to wonder whether he would have been a better English teacher than me, had he decided to work at one of the international schools in China. I feel like it is a common misconception that non-native English teachers (short: NNETs) are not as qualified or skilled in teaching as native English teachers. I've recently gotten disheartened when looking for job openings where they...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences English is learned and spoken by a large number of people worldwide. In Shakespeare's time, the number of English speakers in the world is thought to have been between five and seven million. According to linguist David Crystal, "Between the end of the reign of Elizabeth I (1603) and the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth II (1952), this figure increased almost fiftyfold, to around 250 million" (The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 2003). It's a common language used in international business, which makes it a popular second language for many. English as a global language has made it impossible for cultural diversity to develop. English is easy to learn, has a high usage rate, is universal in...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Anyone who has tried to learn a language as a second language is likely to express at some stage or another how difficult it is. We speak of absorbing our first language and having to work hard for our second. We will often look towards those who have learned more than one language at the same time, bilingual for example, as being lucky and that the path was easier for them. So, is the first language easier to learn and why, and can we use those techniques to learn or teach a second language? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kevin A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. We start to learn a language from birth with the sounds made...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas "Parents are the ultimate role models for children. Every word movement and action affects…" this opinion expressed by Bob Keeshan is supported by many people worldwide. Is this true? What are some of the roles they model? How do these roles impact their child's education? Henceforth let us take a look at some of the parents' education in the education of their children, then briefly look at some of the impact observed in students' attitude in an English class? Parents play many roles in education, and that role begins on the day of the child's birth (Although there are many studies out there that argue that it starts in utero). Studies...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas As the world has become more interconnected, particularly with quick international travel, modern communications, and globalized trade, the argument for a “global language” is often used. Arguably now more than ever, a global language or single lingua franca has never been more important. There are many international bodies such as the United Nations, World Bank, and UNICEF, which create a certain amount of pressure to establish a worldwide global language. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Tim W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. In the past, there have been many constructed languages to try and provide a solution to the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Language is one of the most significant aspects that differentiate humans from other species. The method of human communication is considered unique as it incorporates both spoken and written communication. The use of language in communication consists of the use of words in a structured or conventional way. Language acquisition is considered one of the most unique and impressive aspects of human development both psychologically and cognitively. However, every human acquires the language they encounter as children. It is from this point that they can learn multiple languages, although these languages will always be unique from the first language they were exposed to. The uniqueness of the first language from...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas For a class to be interesting and beneficial to both the teacher and the students, quite a lot of things have to be taken into consideration. Smooth sailing of the classes and success of the students in acquiring the English language can largely be attributed to the teacher’s character and/or behavior. The confidence of a teacher has great meaning as it gives birth to students’ confidence in learning English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Tendai K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The Cambridge English Dictionary defines confidence as the quality of being certain of your abilities or of having trust in people. The last...  [Read more]

  The next thing we should look at is how our consonants are arranged for the top two rows we have P and F at the left side of our chart and G and J at the right side of our chart. They're arranged this way because if we analyze the way we speak we're using the front of our mouth to use these sounds as in ?p? and ?f? and I'm using my lips and my teeth to produce those sounds and as we move to the right on the chart slowly but surely we're making those sounds it towards the back of our mouth. We can use the examples of ?g?. The sound ?g? is produced further back in our mouth than ?p?. The next thing we'll notice about our chart is that some of our symbols are shaded. Notice that none of the symbols in the vowel sections are shaded but only a few are in the consonant section. The...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In my summative task, I would like to speak about child development, covering some points why it is important to pay attention to the development of the kids while they are at the age of being taught. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Susanna M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. But saying child development we mainly understand physical, language, thought, and emotional changes that occur in a child from birth to the beginning of adulthood. During this period a child progresses from dependency on their parents to increasing independence. Child development also is strongly influenced by genetic factors. During my teaching years, I...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences From the time of the American revolution and onward, there has been a distinctive trend for American English and British English dialects to move away from each other. Whether taught in American English or British English, most people of either type will have little trouble understanding each other. Unlike the many dialects of China, English is a pretty ubiquitous language across the board, with a spattering of unique regional words. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jeffrey G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The 2 most prominent English dialects were intertwined throughout their collective histories because the British...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Imagine you are a teacher of English, working in Russia. Your students are a small group of preschoolers starting their educational journey for the first time. It's September and the first day of school. All the children are dressed like little dolls. Parents quietly placed flowers on your desk in the morning, a traditional act of respect. Autumn is in the air, days are getting shorter, and the native birch trees are itching to turn golden yellow. Many Russians know this is the calling, the calling of long nights and snow-filled landscapes. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Lauren A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Your direct...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The parent’s role in education is important because the root of the development of every human started in the family. It is important for our society that parents be the primary role models for their children because children can easily be inspired by what their parents do. When parents become involved in their children’s education, the teacher can focus more on the educational content, and teachers, parents, and students can work together to help the students to succeed. From birth to adulthood, education can come from a mixture of different sources of influence, such as family, school, church, neighborhood, and social media. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Pamphile Y. Please note...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas There are a lot of teaching methods. Some of them are more popular, some of them less. But the theme of this summative task is about efficiency, not about the most interesting or the most popular method. So, is drilling an effective teaching method? If we want to ask this question, first, we need to consider the following question: “What is drilling?”. After this, we can discuss the pros and cons of this method. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Dmitry S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. In short, drilling is a classroom technique that used to practice a new language. In common sense, it involves modeling a word by the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Learning English is a continues process and it starts right after the birth of a baby. Parents are the first teachers to the kids. So they must need to understand the importance of the English language. Children are adept at picking up on the family’s’ attitudes. If they realize that in their family it isn’t important they won’t give importance to it. So it’s the parents’ who’s responsible for making the environment at home and let this skill nourish and nurture the kid. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Abdul s. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The first three years’ age of any infant decides the habits and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Today, the importance of studying English by native speakers has been understood more and new regulations have been made by some countries. One of the most effective and undisputed factors that make learning English easier is to carry out English learning with native English tutors. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate liping z. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Our most important sense of learning is our sense of hearing. It is our sense that makes the most contribution to learning. Sometimes we realize that we have memorized the lyrics of a song without realizing it. The reason for this is that even if you do not pay attention,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas This paper will answer the question, "What are five flashcard activities for teaching English to young learners?" Young learners are defined as students attending elementary school, aged between six and twelve. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Tristan K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. This activity is a great warmer and an effective way to introduce or review vocabulary. This activity works well with both small and large groups. Students sit in a circle with the teacher. The target language is elicited and chorally drilled. The teacher then shows one...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Education is a core part of our life through the socialization process from birth to death. It affects a person’s capacity and thinking about defining what is right and what is wrong and also provides us to criticize the information which is taught by the community, family, school and so on. Moreover, there are many alternative paths to get an education at every age. We will examine the child’s age and the effects of the parent’s role in developing themselves. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate ARCA B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Every child has various learning styles all around the world because they have kinds...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Child development is a process in which human beings grow and mature from the stage of infancy to the stage of adulthood. Child development focuses on the changes that take place in human beings as they get mature from the age of 1-8yrs.In further we are going to study how human beings learn to talk and understand different languages and able to play and respond according to the different stages. How can a teacher help in the development of a child? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Sonia P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. This is a very early stage that begins at birth and lasts until 2-3 years of age. This is the only period...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Alumni Experiences People say: “Children today, the world tomorrow “. So, what is child development and how do you develop foreign language abilities for children? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Anh P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Child development is the sequence of physical, language, thought and emotional changes that occur in a child from birth to the beginning of adulthood. During this process, a child progresses from dependency on their parents to increasing independence. At the same time, child development is strongly influenced by genetic, environmental factors and the child’s learning capacity. Some age-related development...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas What qualities should a teacher have? Personal or professional qualities, and which ones are more important? For example, is it possible for a teacher to be charged with a duty to love children, or is it enough that he treats them with respect and good knowledge of his subject? Should a teacher be an outgoing leader? Which teacher is better - kind or strict? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Alla S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Nobody will argue that the desire to learn from a professional who knows the subject is natural. Every English teacher must know the language. It would seem obvious! However, the simple truth is often...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Destinations TEFL Information So you are taking the leap and moving abroad to teach English. That’s amazing! It’s definitely not an easy task to pack all your belongings into one suitcase and just leave - but working abroad, getting paid to travel and meeting new, like-minded people is definitely worth the hassle. Once you have all your necessary documents in hand, you can think about the actual moving part of the ordeal. It’s definitely not the same as going on a vacation and there are many things you need to think about. Here are ten things you need to know when moving abroad to teach English. Unless you already speak the language of your new destination, it wouldn’t hurt to learn some basic words and...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences Child development is an extremely complicated process that can be broken down into many different and well-defined stages. When attempting to further examine and analyze these, countless internal and external factors need to be taken into account. Most (evolutionary) psychologists and biologists would agree that child development involves the prenatal period and the life of children that extends all the way to the end of their adolescent years (those being 18 and/or 19). This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Zalan P. Although many of the changes, both mental and physical, that take place in individuals during these periods are genetically and biologically predetermined, expected, and "natural",...  [Read more]