TEFL Rand

  Now, let's move on to our adverbs. Rather than describing nouns, our adverbs describe our verbs. There are four types of adverbs when describing verbs. They are manner. These describe how things are done. Two examples are: quickly, cleverly. We have adverbs of place, describing where the action happened. Two examples are: here or there. We also have adverbs of time, describing when the action happened, two examples being now or recently. Finally, we have our adverbs of frequency telling us how often the action happens, two examples being often or never. There's also another type of adverb but here, we're going to describe adjectives or other adverbs instead of verbs themselves. These are called adverbs of degree. If we were to take the adjective "intelligent", we could easily say...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences From 2018 to 2019, I taught two eighth grade English classes in the rural Thies area, experiencing some of the challenges and advantages to teaching students who were just embarking on their language study. I was paired with a long-term Senegalese teacher who walked me through the basics of teaching a foreign language: engaging the class, developing study materials, and creating activities. What stood out to me was his emphasis on showing up as a role model for the students, as well as integrating other modes of learning into the classroom, such as art, singing, and dance activities. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Elise L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas First impressions can be a daunting topic for many, as they will generally set the tone for the rest of a relationship and can be hard to revert. These first impressions will not only be key toward the ease of establishing rapport with someone but also toward what the other party will expect of you in order to maintain an amicable relationship from then on. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nicolas F. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The number of people that one needs to establish a rapport with will be a major factor in deciding the necessary dynamics to do so. Connecting with individual clients in the business world can be...  [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 Before we dig in, I think it is very important to know exactly why we are doing anything that we do. Knowing the intention behind anything we do, gives us purpose and gives us the ability to see things from a bird's eye point of view. In this case, a person choosing to teach English as a foreign language needs to ask herself why do I want to teach English? Why do I want to be in a classroom with students from all sorts of different backgrounds? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Randa E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Depending on the answer to those questions, we get to our 'why' and it must be a 'juicy why' because that is...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Teaching Ideas Language acquisition is not an easy feat for anyone at any age, whether you are learning your first language as a baby or your fourth language as an adult. Learning foreign languages will always be difficult however, having a teacher that understands the challenge with first-hand knowledge, can make a huge difference to students. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Randi B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. 1st language acquisitions are much easier to learn given the fact that it happens almost naturally. While it will surely take time, babies typically learn their first language organically from listening to those around them and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching a real class, first, we need to mention the rapport between teachers and students. What makes a good teacher and a good learner are tend to be “student-centered” class than “teacher-centered”, which means teachers’ talking time is less than students’. Being a good teacher will always remind and encourage learners about their learning motivations and interests. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Crystal D. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Before teaching a class, we need to plan a class and what you expect students to achieve by the end of the class. In a lesson plan, we need a learning objective what do you...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Education and teaching are always changing. Thus, teachers are constantly thinking of new ideas and techniques they can implement in their classroom and teaching plan to more effectively educate their students. Presently, the notion of games within the classroom is widely popular among teachers. One may think that this relationship between games and learning is ironic, as most individuals classify games as a hindrance to education. However, through its engaging attributes, the tendency to boost class morale and motivation, and overall improvement within student’s creativity, games in the classroom that inspire education are very effective when teaching. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Learning an unfamiliar language is no easy feat and with the globalization of the English language, more and more people are faced with the task of learning English to better their lives. It is no secret that English is one of the more difficult languages to learn given its many peculiarities and the lack of clues to pronunciation. This makes learning English not only more complicated but often frustrating for students who have difficulties understanding certain concepts. This is where games can have a huge impact. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Randi B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The most important job of any teacher,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas “One book, one pen, one child and one teacher can change the world” Teachers influence the lives of students much more significantly than we imagine. A teacher with the right skills inspires and influences entire student lives. They are instruments who can ignite powerful thoughts in students, helping them unleash their true potential. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Oleksandr U. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Teaching is an incredibly rewarding thing to do and good teachers are needed everywhere: in schools and college classrooms to educate the young, as well as in the workplace and other settings to teach adults and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Given the increase in globalization during the late 20th and early 21st centuries and the growing inter-dependencies of domestic economies within the international marketplace, English, as a primary language medium for conducting international business arrangements, has become an increased priority both socially and within the business environment. However, notwithstanding the importance of English fluency within contemporary society, Japan and Japanese English learners face difficulties when trying to achieve competency. These difficulties and issues can be shown by the 2018 EF English Proficiency Index which ranked the English level of Japanese learners as rank 49 out of 88 countries which place Japan within the...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas A teacher may be described as a person who helps people to learn. A teacher often works in a classroom. There are many different kinds of teachers. Some teachers teach young children in kindergarten or primary schools. Others teach older children in the middle, junior high, and high schools. A career may also be an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person's life and opportunities for progress. Development may be looking at by first stating what it means to develop. To develop is to grow or cause to grow and become more mature, advanced, or elaborate. The process of creating or being developed or the state of advancement may be...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I did not realize how difficult English is until I became fluent in Spanish. I am currently studying French and I am pretty good at French. I have a basic knowledge of Esperanto. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Wayne K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I will just touch on each of these since a book could be written about each of these. Also Read: Teaching Young Learners vs. Adult Learners - The Differences You Can Expect I have found many poems(1) and articles on the internet discussing the insane way English is spelled and pronounced. On the previously sited website(ibid) an English instructor states that he has very often...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Imagine a student walks into English class for the first time and sees the teacher [a woman - solely for example’s sake] fumbling for a cord and searching for an outlet because her lesson was based off a slideshow on her laptop, which ran out of battery power and she wasn’t prepared to have to plug it in. The student might get a negative first impression of the teacher, possibly thinking she’s disorganized and maybe even doubting her competency to teach the class well. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Lindsay G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The above example illustrates the importance of being prepared in the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The terms ESL and EFL are often used interchangeably because at their root they both mean the same thing; English for people who are not native to the language. However, there are many possible differences between learners. Typically EFL stands for English as a Foreign Language whereas ESL means English as a Second Language. This means that generally speaking, those who fall into the ESL category live in a country where English is a primary language. EFL teachers are typically teaching to students in their home country where English is not typically a widely used language. For these reasons, ESL and EFL classrooms differ greatly. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Randi B. Please note...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Flashcards tend to be the most commonly used and popular teaching tool during any of my lessons performed regularly. I come across them so often during my teaching practice that I eventually decided to write my essay on this very topic. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Mikhail E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. It is basically an ultimate flat piece of paper (carton) usually with fancy picture on it that can be easily touched, carried, thrown, stepped on, folded, hidden etc There are practically no limits to the ways of its usage in the classroom plus most of the flashcards carry sharp, clear and colorful message about a...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Language is an organism that changes as the people using it changes. No living language sounds as it did 1,000 years ago, nor does any use all the same words that were used within it 100 years ago. Just as it is a very different experience to live in a body than it is to study one, so is it powerful for students of a foreign language to be invited to live in a language rather than only learn about it. The endless auditory phenomena of English, such as the “hootin’ and tootin’” interjections of Appalachian people or the booming discourse of an African-American preacher, cannot be understood by other peoples unless they are exposed to the context these phenomena were nurtured in. Students of English...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences In 2016, I was given the amazing opportunity to teach English in the beautiful country of Brazil. In my first few weeks there, I learned how to teach by observing a professional instructor at the English language school and then practicing in front of my new colleagues. These were my first steps into the world of teaching. This post was written by our ITTT graduate Kyler J. During my first month at the English school in Brazil, I learned as much about the culture of Brazil and the students who lived there as I did about being a teacher. When I finally began working directly with the students in my second month, I started with the advanced and master classes. Later on, I would begin my work with the intermediate...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Designing the syllabus of a course is one of the greatest challenges a teacher has to face and undertake way in advance to the actual implementation of the said syllabus – and before the actual beginning of any language course. When a teacher starts to plan a syllabus, he/she may not even have an exact, clear and set idea of what is expected of him/her and the students to achieve and complete during and by the end of the course. Still, planning is essential as it can save a lot of time for everyone involved, eliminate many problems, and provide the teacher with a framework and a starting point for plans and modifications. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Zalán Palotai-K. Please note that...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences French are bad at speaking English, it’s a fact, proven by many studies but also by the shameful spectacle of our politician trying to say things in Shakespeare’s language. The Elite not having a decent level it is hard to blame the population for not trying very hard. International studies are all putting French students at the last position in Europe for mastering English skills. Even more alarming in 2008 the TOEFL results were putting France at the 69th rank on 109 countries. In 9th Grade, only 14% of the students have an “independent level” according to a 2011 study of the European Commission (we also note that only 9% of English 9 graders are “independent” in French). This post was written by...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I have 3 years of experience in teaching English in a few kindergartens in Beijing, China and some experience in teaching adults in a training center. When I started in kindergarten, it was very difficult because I didn’t have enough information about how to make a proper lesson plan. I didn’t have enough materials, games, songs, and it took me a lot of time to collect all the necessary information for teaching and creating my teaching plan. Without experience, it wasn’t easy for me to build a good rapport between me and my students. It took me a while to build a connection between me and the kids. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Lidiia L. Please note that this blog post might...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Japan is an island nation and is a recognized homogenous society with a very small percentage of foreign permanent residence and more than half of the adult population lacks the necessary skills to speak English proficiently. Because of this, English as a Second Language is in high demand with young learners being a focus group in Japan. English is taught in the school environment during nearly all of a child’s primary education years, but this, unfortunately, doesn’t translate to a proficient English-speaking Japanese population. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Payton P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Children as young...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Learning new vocabulary is considered as an integral part of learning a new language. Even children who learn their mother tongues learn isolated phrases and words before making complex sentences. Similarly, in second language learning, teaching new words and phrases plays an important role in helping learners’ communication. Based on David Wilkins “without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. If learners spend their time on learning grammar, their English will not improve greatly. However, if they learn more words, phrases, and expressions, they can express almost anything (Thornberry, 2002; Watkin, 2005). This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Many factors can impact students’ motivation such as social, psychological, educational, economical, etc. However, a teacher can still play an important role to keep the students motivated. In Afghanistan’s educational tradition, students are often compared to each other, and they are ranked based on tests and exams throughout the course. Additionally, the teacher corrects every student’s assignment. Notice the word “correct” has been used instead of “mark” or “assess.” The teacher will try to point out every single mistake or error. Having six years of English language teaching experience, plus observing my colleagues’ and students’ behaviour, and studying the methods of foreign language...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Please let me know where in your TEFL journey you are at right now? Are you currently taking a course? Are you thinking of taking a course? Are you already teaching English as a foreign language? That'd also be really cool to know—somebody from Brazil, UK. Two people are from Brazil awesome, okay, with Bolivia amazing UK, Philippines, somebody is also from South Korea. A lot of people are thinking of enrolling, great! Then, this life will be perfect for you. Somebody is from Canada, Mexico, and Mongolia. This is our second live Q&A sort of video that we've been doing. We started last week, and last week we sort of did a general kind of...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas ‘Teacher, Can we please have a class outdoors?’ this question was asked by a lot of my students, and ‘No’ was my typical answer. Why do students want to have an outdoor session? Is it really useful? What outdoor activities could be done to help when teaching English? These questions ran through my mind every time one of my students asked me to have a class outdoors. So, I decided to find answers to these questions. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ahmed A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Why teach outside at all? It is known that students like variety and diversity. Of course, some students enjoy the typical in-class...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Although I have never formally been a teacher, I have had the opportunity to teach and tutor in an informal way. As an international student at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, I was not allowed to work off-campus, so in my second semester, I joined the tutoring center and began to help a variety of different students with the various subjects I had studied in previous semesters. I assisted students with retail math, writing, textile science, and a few other subjects. I did this during my second semester, and then again in my fifth semester when I returned from my exchange program in Florence, Italy. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Mira S. Please note that this blog...  [Read more]

Laura Payne Destinations Tokyo is a dream city for many people who aspire to live abroad. It is modern yet traditional, and a vibrant culture of food, fashion, and popular media among other things ensures that it has something for everyone. For all its excitement, however, Tokyo is only one part of Japan as a whole. Each area of the island nation holds a distinct culture of its own, offering a myriad of experiences for travelers. Luckily, those who teach English in Japan have easy access to the country's major airports and extensive bullet train lines, meaning they can access almost anywhere else in Japan within a few hours. While living in Tokyo make the most of your experience abroad, and try checking out some of these must-see destinations....  [Read more]

Laura Payne Teaching Ideas Much of language learning comes through language experimentation; steering away from examples and formulas and attempting to arrange your own ideas into words. No matter what a student's goal may be in learning English, they will eventually have to do this by leaving the classroom and using English on their own. Activities like creative writing are one method to encourage the practice of experimentation and expression in ESL students. In this post, we're going to look at five different activities students can use to put their thoughts into writing. Celebrating a new year is practically a universal tradition, and all students have goals. Writing down New Year's resolutions allows students to practice various usages of...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas There are many things I have learned over my thirty-plus years teaching students full time in classrooms, ranging from primary grades 2-5 and in junior high and high school. However, one of the most crucial things a teacher needs in the face of young and older learners is confidence! If the students suspect that the teacher has no idea what they are doing, it can be detrimental to the lesson and the teacher's ability to control the classroom situation. Having a confident teacher brings positivity to the classroom and comfort among the students that they are going to learn something valuable. Throughout my career, I wore many hats to grow...  [Read more]