TEFL Rachel

  In this TEFL review video Rachel from Australia shares her thoughts on our TESOL courses. She just graduated from university and wanted to start a career in teaching English overseas. That's why she decided to complete the 120-hour online course and had a great time taking the course. After completing the course, she immediately found a job teaching English in Vietnam.  [Read more]

  Rachel is from Australia where she had been working as a school teacher. She decided to take the four-week in-class course in Buenos Aires to further her education and opportunities to teach English to speakers of other languages. In her TEFL review, she speaks about her experience at the training center in Buenos Aires. Since she is a primary school teacher back home, she enjoyed working with local children during the course. At the same time, she also enjoyed teaching adult learners and highly benefited from the teacher trainer feedback sessions. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When teaching a class of students of different ages, genders, religions, and cultures, a teacher must take each of these things into consideration to be sure that all of the students feel that they are being provided with a safe learning environment. Of each of these, one of the most commonly discussed topics that teachers need to be aware of is cultural sensitivity. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rachel O. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. There are many different situations in which a teacher can ensure that students not only feel that their culture is being celebrated within the classroom but also have an opportunity to...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Course materials are the foundation of an English as a Second Language class, as they are a key component for moving the course forward and are essential for the student’s success. Thus, the materials that an educator selects significantly impact the outcome of the course for teachers and students. Whether choosing a textbook, authentic materials, or created materials it is important for the teacher to consider the benefits, disadvantages and how best to use the materials they have selected. This ensures the creation of an engaging program where they, as educators, may grow along with their student’s English language abilities. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rachel M. Please note...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences During my stay in Japan, Japanese people often told me how they can’t communicate in English despite studying the language for six or more years in school. In Japan, students in junior and senior high learn English grammar and vocabulary in compulsory formal English classes. English is also taught in elementary school as foreign language activities. Yet despite spending several hours in English classes, many Japanese people graduate high school with poor English communication skills. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rachel M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. One of the issues that hinder the Japanese people’s ability to...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas “We say Yes more than No. We remain curious and stay open to others’ ideas. We learn by doing. By following an idea. By experimenting with our hands. By taking risks. By trying, struggling and failing forward fast. - City Studio Vancouver Manifesto” This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rachel S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. My teaching experience comes from a background in the visual arts. I have worked as a teacher's assistant for visual artists and designers who facilitate collaborative social practice projects for youth and young adults. Social practice is a theory that attempts to link practice, and context with...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I have eight years of experience teaching English to children in Japan. I was usually the sole teacher in the classroom. I taught at an eikaiwa. An eikaiwa is when the children come to study English after school or on the weekends. Many personal qualities were important for me to develop as an English Teacher, to become successful and confident in the classroom. I will discuss these personal qualities, and how they improved my English lessons for my students. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rachel S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I learned how to stay calm in all situations, often I taught young children who would cry...  [Read more]

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]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching English as a foreign language can be an intimidating task, especially for non-native English speaking teachers. This is true for many of my coworkers who are homeroom teachers at elementary schools in Japan. English has recently become a formal subject in elementary schools here and many homeroom teachers are intimidated by the sudden responsibility to teach a language they are not fluent in. Many feel that native speakers are better English teachers since native speakers have natural pronunciation and excellent command of the language. Co-teaching with a native speaker can put added pressure on homeroom teachers to speak perfect English in front of their students. Therefore many homeroom teachers feel...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Language is rarely uniform. Especially when spread out over a great distance, rifts form in a language which causes dialectical differences, which are sometimes extreme. Such is especially true of the English language: several qualities divide American, British, and Australian English. Many of these differences developed inevitably over time, due to geographic and cultural separation. However, several factors contributed to the language differences between these areas. This paper will examine these differences and the reasons for them, focusing on the dialects of Britain and America. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rachel B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily...  [Read more]