TEFL Green Grass

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I taught my first class when I was 22 and just entering graduate school in upstate New York. I had graduated from college in 1991, took a year off and decided to go back for my Master's degree in Theatre in 1993. Looking back, it was one of the best choices I ever made. Not only did I get a full teaching assistantship but I was given the opportunity to teach--something I had never done before but something I definitely wanted to try. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Alyssa T. When I taught my first class (which was an acting class for non-theatre majors), I was not much older than some of my students. In fact, one or two of my students may have been older than me! I got around this...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences With a flash of exasperation my Colombian friend, José, inquired, “Why do you always say it like that?” I paused unsure to what he was referring. José continued, “We're the same age and you’ve lived here for months but you still greet me like I’m a long-lost grandfather.” As I prepare to teach English abroad, this interaction forced me to confront the question of slang and idioms (SI) in the classroom. Is it appropriate to teach slang and idioms to learners of English as a foreign language (LEFL)? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Conor J. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The widespread prevalence of English SI...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas J. K. Rowling once said: "All a writer needs is talent and ink." I agree. But she might have forgotten a crucial factor that made Harry Potter forever etched in our mind ---imagination. It is always said that writing is natural, so a good writer is someone who can write without conscious effort. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Anthony R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. A real writer, however, will tell you things are just the other way around. There can be no doubt that a good writer endlessly seeks perfection in words. Not until they mirror the thoughts in their brain does the process stop. From a pedagogical perspective,...  [Read more]