TEFL Fort Dick

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas As a new teacher, grammar was initially very difficult for me to teach. It was difficult to demonstrate grammar patterns succinctly. Luckily, the school that I work for has provided help by having an established curriculum. The key to teaching grammar, however, has been teaching variable inputs in otherwise unchanging structures as part of student-centered games. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Stephen W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. If I were to teach the pattern, “What does Billy like?/ He likes _____”, then I would have several options. I could read the pattern and have the students listen. This would be ineffective...  [Read more]

Simon ITTT Teaching Ideas The number of combinations of modals and usages is enormous, so TEFL certified teachers often spend a lot of time trying to find an activity that suits their particular teaching point. Here, we give you some adaptable ideas which should save you time thinking or searching, assuming you already have good grammatical knowledge of the subject and a little bit of creativity. It’s often better to spend a bit of time creating your own material rather than looking fruitlessly on the internet. You will also be able to personalize the content for your students, improve your own skills, and build up a great resource bank. If you need to improve your knowledge of modal auxiliary verbs, look at your ITTT course materials. A...  [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 Teaching Ideas Let's begin with this - classroom activities are useful. Teachers need to use suitable games for students based on their level and that way students can train their vocabulary and language. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Sandra S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. They are fun! It's important because nobody wants to sit in the classroom and be bored. Doing games in the classroom, educators can make a great relationship with learners, while learners can gain confidence, build self-esteem, so they will feel free to speak and participate in the class. Games boost students' energy, which makes the class more dynamic, more...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas People say that language is a tree and the vocabulary is the leaf of that tree. Therefore teaching vocabulary items are indeed an essential part of any English learners’ growth. Especially for younger students, who are motivated to learn the basic words, they need to get by in the language. There are many different ways to teach vocabulary. Using flashcards is one of the most suitable media in teaching vocabulary. Because learners can easily memorize and understand the meaning of vocabulary through flashcards. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Huong Hoang T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Students sit in a circle with a...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Hello everybody, my name is Liza and I welcome you to the weekly live stream run by ITTT. Today's live stream is going to be slightly different from the previous ones because I'm going to share my screen and show you technical things in real time. So this live stream is going to be devoted to the best tools for designing online English lessons and to make sure everything is clear to you, I want to show you in real time how I design my lessons. As I have already mentioned in some of my previous streams, I've been using a couple of useful tools to deliver my classes. The first is Mira which is an online collaborative whiteboard, and another one is...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Teaching Ideas Hello everybody and welcome to the ITTT weekly live stream. It's Liza here and I'm super excited that this stream happens every week and we can talk about teaching and TEFL and stuff like that. So welcome and thank you for joining me. Today, we are going to talk about online ESL game design. Last week I started showing you the game I was designing, it was Monopoly. Today I'm going to show you the outcome of the game and also tell you a little bit more about online game design. Thanks a lot for letting me know that you are watching and right now please let me know at what stage of your ESL career you are at. As for me, I'm an online ESL teacher currently. I used to teach in a real classroom several years ago, but then...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas In a previous post, we looked at various teaching ideas for future simple and here we’re going to describe some fun ideas for teaching three other future tenses. There are a wide variety of usages for future tenses and it’s always important to make sure your activities focus on the usages that you’ve taught in your lesson. For example, future continuous can be used to talk about an ongoing action at a point in the future, a fixed future event, polite enquiries or to predict the future or the present. Predicting the present is one that students often have trouble conceptualizing, so we might as well start from there. When someone we care about is going on a long journey we often think about what they might be...  [Read more]

  http://www.teflonline.net The teaching idea covered here is one that would be particularly appropriate for more advanced English language learners, those who can use different tenses accurately. The activity is a board game that focuses on comparing and contrasting the tenses, focusing on the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect Continuous. Each student takes a turn at rolling the dice and moving around the board. For example a student could land on a square that says "Something you have been learning for a long time." An appropriate answer for the student could be "I have been learning English for a long time." The next student takes a turn and could land on a square that says "A beautiful place you have visited." This time the student could use the Present Perfect rather...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas First of all, I would like to mention that I am very happy about successfully mastered units. I am sure that the acquired knowledge will help me in further work and upgrade my teaching skills. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Dragan M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I met the importance of teaching skills and what they mean in general at the beginning of my teaching career, a long time ago. I have to admit that at the beginning of my career, I understood the job of the teacher not quite full and in the right way, that is, what is required of me as a teacher. Already after my first classes, I realized that I would be required...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas You will find the web full of ideas for teaching vocabulary and, although most of them are undoubtedly good activities, some are only suited to a particular level. Here are some tried and tested activities that can be adapted to suit any level of student and a variety of class sizes. This is a great activity that can be used as a warm-up at the beginning of a class, or as a game at the end of a lesson. It’s suitable for any class size over 4 students and requires minimal preparation. Divide the class into two teams and have two chairs at the front of the class, set up to face away from the board. Have one student from each team come and sit in the chairs and tell them not to turn and look at the board. The premise...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Flashcards are a proven way to learn new information. Their use however, does not need to be monotonous or boring. Make your own, play a game, show the card, and combine it with art, put them in sequence, or create and fill-in sentences. These ideas will stimulate both sides of the brain by combining thinking and doing. This will also keep the students attentive. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Corby K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The students will get twice as much exposure to the words if they create the flashcards themselves. They learn while creating and also later when using them. One way to use this idea would be...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching English online is a huge growing market in today’s globalized society. According to the British Council, there are over a billion people who are learning English (750 million English as a foreign language learners and 350 million English as a second language learner). The difference between EFL and ESL learners is that EFL learners live in a country where the language of the community is not English and English is used by a learner in rare instances such as for business or pleasure; while ESL learners live where English is either a primary language or has an established role in the society and the language is used daily. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nina S. Please note that...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas Most EFL teachers abroad will - at some point in their career - teach children. The English education market catered to young learners is a billion dollar business and many countries hire teachers to fill this need. What you can do to brace yourself besides taking our 50-hour specialized TEFL course in Teaching English to Young Learners is to take the following 10 tips to heart. Teaching numbers and colors seems like the easiest job in the world, right? Wrong! The truth is, teaching children demands a great deal of energy and creativity. Kids are always on the go and will keep you on your toes. These classes can be exhausting but also extremely rewarding! Also read: 5 Activities for Using Movies in the ESL Classroom...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas There are a myriad of ways to talk about the future in English, so it’s important to have a variety of activities for students to practice what you’ve taught them. Here we’re going to focus on various usages for future simple and describe some fun teaching ideas that match them. One of the most common ways we use future simple in our day to day lives is to make spontaneous or unplanned decisions. For example, when choosing food from a menu, (I’ll have the fish please), or if you have to make a change of plan (a friend calls to say they can’t pick you up to go out and you might say “It’s ok, I’ll take a taxi”). A fun way to practice this is to have card prompts with scenarios on, and have a game of...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences A teacher has an important responsibility to get to know his or her students to ensure that they are engaged with the lesson on a daily basis. Learning another language is not easy so it is imperative that a teacher does everything in his or her power to get to know their students and become as familiar with them as possible. One of the most effective ways a teacher can begin to do so is by establishing rapport with their students. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kathyrine L. Establishing rapport with students is ideally something that should happen at the beginning of the course. It is better to get to know your students as soon as possible rather than later. There is much to be...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences English is the language of the modern world. All people around the world know the English language in our life, because we need it in our work and sometimes when we meet other people from other cultures, maybe they are not from Britain or America but we almost think they are talking English. That doesn't mean our language isn't important. Sure all people love their language, but the first language now used as a global language in the world is English agree or disagree. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Doaa E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. As global communication expands throughout the world, so does the need for a global...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences English is the language of the modern world. All people around the world know the importance of the English language in our life, because we need it in our work and sometimes when we meet other people from other cultures, maybe they are not from Britain or America but we almost think they are talking English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Doaa E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. That doesn't mean our language isn't important. Sure all people love their language, but the first language now used as a global language in the world is English agree or disagree. As global communication expands throughout the world, so does the...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas Having to organize and hold a winter camp is a daunting task, especially for new teachers who haven’t done it before. For these kinds of English camps, teachers typically create up to 10 lesson plans for the duration of the camp. Winter camps can last anywhere between one week to a month or even longer. The main goal of an English camp is to have a fun and memorable time with the students while practicing their English. However, there is a lot more to an English camp than just playing some games. Since most teachers need to create and prepare their lessons in advance, we have compiled a list of games and fun activities for teaching English winter camp abroad. Props will make your winter camp a lot more fun and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas English is the language of the modern world. All people around the world know the English language importance in our life, because we need it in our work and sometimes when we meet other people from other cultures, maybe they are not from Britain or America but we almost think they are talking English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Doaa E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. That doesn't mean our language isn't important. Sure all people love their language, but the first language now used as a global language in the world is English agree or disagree. As global communication expands throughout the world, so does the need for a...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas English is the language of the modern world. All people around the world know the English language importance in our life, because we need it in our work and sometimes when we meet other people from other cultures, maybe they are not from Britain or America but we almost think they are talking English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Doaa E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. That doesn't mean our language isn't important. Sure all people love their language, but the first language now used as a global language in the world is English agree or disagree. As global communication expands throughout the world, so does the need for a...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas Holding a summer camp can be an intimidating challenge for new and experienced teachers alike. For these kinds of English camps, teachers typically create up to 10 lesson plans for the duration of the camp. Summer camps can last anywhere between one week and a month or even longer. The main goal of an English camp is to have a fun and memorable time with the students while practicing their English. While this might sound easy, English camp is so much more than just playing a couple of fun games. If you want to hold a successful camp session, you’ll have to do a lot of research and preparation. The following games are great activities for teaching English summer camp abroad. Props will make your summer camp a lot...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Legendary musician Paul McCartney once said, or rather sang, “When you’ve got a job to do you’ve got to do it well. You’ve got to give the other fellow hell.” I don’t believe anybody wants to be the middle of the road teacher, who just gets through each day, though I have seen many teachers who are. Before I started, I asked myself what makes the best kind of teacher and who were the best teachers in my life? There are many styles of teacher, but the answer I came to is the inspiring style of teacher – the teachers who made me WANT to learn and to go out and read and study on my own. The way they did that was by using their skills to make learning interesting and irresistible. As a teacher you need...  [Read more]

Francesca Marchi TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas From my experience, when you deal with older ESL learners, you have to take into account the fact that they do not want to look bad while practicing their English skills. Actually, activities and exercises should make them feel at ease and confident in their learning, as well as satisfied with the goals achieved so far. It goes without saying that the teaching techniques that include a direct confrontation between an adult student and the teacher or a classmate as a judge of their performance should be avoided so as not to make them feel uncomfortable. Here are a few ideas for you to try. Unless your learners are really shy, almost all of...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Today, as English teachers, we have better equipment and materials, improved teaching methods and techniques, endless ideas and tips on how to maintain discipline and keep our students motivated. Sounds impressive, doesn’t it? It seems that we should just enjoy our classes and drink some nice tea during the breaks. However, along with all these improvements come greater demands. Each year more and more parents would like their children to learn English to ensure a better future. In our time, knowledge of English no more is your advantage, but the number one requirement for a good position. That is why our students are getting younger, sometimes to a point when they don’t...  [Read more]