TEFL Schall Circle

Federico Riva Teaching Ideas English is increasingly becoming a ubiquitous language. Whether written or spoken, you can see the presence of English even in the most remote parts of our world. Its overwhelming presence does English essentially means it is a lingua franca. It is the standard for global diplomacy, trade, communication, and business. It was not always the case, the French language used to be the preferred language of global diplomacy and trade. As a result of the British colonization of large parts of the world, English has become the lingua franca for all of the former colonies once the British left. Globalization in the last century only made English even more ubiquitous. With the spread of neoliberal economic policies of the...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Every preschool/ kindergarten level teacher will swear by the need for excellent constructive circle time. It sets the tone for what is to follow throughout the day. A good circle time should be welcoming, engaging, and informative. Children should not be forced into participation; instead should be drawn into it. Circle time is the classic example of a good "engage" stage in an ESA teaching style. Therefore, during circle time, you introduce a topic that is to be covered that day or week. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Najia S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of...  [Read more]

Shirin Sophy TEFL Information Teaching Ideas How the seats are arranged in a classroom can convey numerous implicit messages about the pedagogical approaches and methods employed in a specific school and the teacher who works there. A well-designed seating arrangement not only facilitates the interaction between the teacher and the learners but it also enables the students to interact together, which is a paramount feature of a student-centered class effectively. There is a wide variety of interaction patterns that each can be appropriately applied considering the aim and objective of a lesson and the ongoing task; however, a well-adjusted seating arrangement may pave the way for the flow of the information during the lesson...  [Read more]

Michela Coticone TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Teaching a new language to children can come with many challenges because there is limited time and sometimes limited attention spans. To effectively teach a new language, children need to have a feeling of confidence in the fact that they can perform what they are being taught, and the element of having fun while learning. Children, just like adults, need repetition to effectively learn a task. Repetition Repetition alias Drilling: Is it an Effective Way to Remember Language Points? will allow a child to mentally prepare themselves for a task that will happen at a certain time of the day, therefore they can begin to anticipate what their...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas If you teach English to Young learners, then you will know that flashcards are one of the best tools a teacher can take with them into the classroom. So here I want to share five activities with flashcards. I hope you like my flashcard activities in this essay. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ma M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. But before I share these activities, I want to write some tips about them. First, flashcards are mainly used to review and reinforce the language. If you are using flashcards with a new language, make sure you pre-teach the vocabulary on the flashcards before going ahead and playing any activity....  [Read more]

Kavinna Batra Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Interactive education is all about teaching students in a way that engages them directly in their learning process. There are numerous ways of building an engagement like this. Most of the time, it is by You inspire the students to be involved in class participation, think independently, and use their minds, leading to a longer memory retention. The students' awareness grows, but their interest, strength, expertise, team spirit, and freedom of speech will also increase. I will speak about the use of interactive teaching approaches in this blog post, urging more attention to the content of the lesson. We're going to see some interactive instruments, concepts, and games for...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Speaking is one of the most important skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing). We do not only help students to understand, write and read it, but also speak it fluently. Teaching speaking skills for a mixed-ability classroom is not easy. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Huyen N. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. When we are teaching a class with has students who are clearly of different levels. They may have different starting levels of English or they may learn at very different speeds. the teacher easy to get frustrated in a class of mixed ability. The students also feel bored and frustrated. The stronger students may...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The Oxford Dictionary defines learning ability as the ability to comprehend or understand and profit from an experience (Vocabulary.com, 2019). The reality is that in any classroom, a teacher will be faced with teaching children of varying learning abilities. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Liezl S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Constructivism is a theory about how people learn and acquire knowledge and can be a tool for effective teaching when faced with students of varying abilities. The theory states that people construct their understanding and knowledge of the world, through their experiences and by looking back or...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Alumni Experiences TEFL Reviews & TESOL Reviews For ITTT, our community of students and alumni is the most important to us. That’s why we’d love to share what our course grads have to say! This will not only have others make a better decision in whether TEFL/TESOL is for them, but it will also help the ITTT community grow bigger and stronger! The below answers were given from real ITTT alumni who have agreed to share their thoughts for our blog section. Zeynep Sulaimankulova I am from and currently residing in Bishkek City, Kyrgyzstan. There was a contest organized by the US department and Peace Corps Volunteers. I have participated and won the competition. This is one of the reasons I found out about...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Destinations Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas This blog post was writeen by an ITTT TEFL alumna who shares their experience of working with Chinese students. ✅ They share the most common problems for ESL students in this countries. Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our TEFL graduate shares their experienc of taking a 60-hour TEFL course with ITTT and talks about several milestones on building a successful EFL career. Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences ...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this live session, native English-speaking teacher Linda from the United States and non-native English-speaking teacher Liza from Russia discuss the differences between native and non-native teachers, TEFL/TESOL course options, misconceptions, and career options. Elizaveta Pachina Destinations TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our TEFL alumnus shares their experience of teaching English in Saudi Arabia. ✅ They share the most crucial factors to consider when working with ESL students from...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Teaching Ideas As every TEFL certified English teacher will know, it is all too common to find you have completed the lesson but there is still time left before the end of the class. While first-time teachers might panic in this position, experienced teachers will always have a few go-to activities to use in these situations. To help you out we have put together the following suggestions for fun, educational activities that can be brought out with little or no preparation. This is a classic old classroom game that is still great fun to use today. First, you need to arrange the students in a circle. To get the game going, the teacher or a student comes up with a relatively long sentence (ideally using vocabulary or grammar points...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our recent TEFL graduate shares their personal experience of teaching ESL students and explains why oudoor activities might help increasing ESL classroom productivity. ✅ Read this article to learn the key-points. Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our recent TEFL graduate shares their personal experience of teaching TEFL students and explains how to build a successful teaching career and why it's important. ✅ Read this article to learn the key-points. Federico Riva ...  [Read more]

Dana W TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Online learning has become extremely popular over the last several years. Many people take college courses and several other types of learning classes online, especially now during this global pandemic. If you’re considering online learning, you may have questions. What makes it different from taking a class in a language school? Are online teachers just as qualified to teach me? Will I learn the same information as I would face to face? I’d like to provide some clarity on what to expect when learning a language online. Anastasiia Ovchinnikova TEFL Information Alumni Experiences ...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This blog post contains information on some methods of organizing your ESL classroom. Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our TEFL graduate shares their thoughts on teaching a circle time. Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences In this blog post, our TEFL graduate shares their experience of teaching. Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In this blog post, you can learn about "Observed teaching practice". Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our TEFL graduate...  [Read more]

Gianluca Costa Destinations Alumni Experiences Do you want to navigate Hong Kong like a local? Then you better check out this list of the 11 most useful apps when traveling in Hong Kong that locals love! Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our TEFL expert shares 3 useful digital apps for ESL lesson plans. You will learn about Evernotes, Trello, and Notion, a 2020 favorite planning app. Create your own system or choose a template, plan ESL classes with a team or manage your freelance TEFL work. Dana W TEFL Information Alumni...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our TEFL experts share five Halloween decor ideas for your ESL classroom. Get inspired and create incredible atmosphere of this fun holiday. Elizaveta Pachina Budget and Salary TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas This blog post was written by an ITTT TEFL expert who shares 7 ideas on how to make money online as an English teacher. Online EFL market is boosting this year due to the global quarantine, thus, there are new ways to implement your skills and get profit sharing your personal EFL...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Why learning English at early age is beneficial? Learn from this blog post. Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Our TEFL graduate shares their opinion on the teaching role in child development. Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This blog post includes information on teaching skills important in ESL. Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our TEFL graduate shares their experience of teaching students and working with parents. Karah Musani Teaching Ideas One of the most daunting...  [Read more]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word deter. This word is used as a verb and means to discourage someone from doing something, usually using doubt or fear. Synonyms for deter include prevent, stop and avert. The word comes from Latin 'deterrere', a word formed with de- ‘away from’ and terrere ‘frighten'. 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. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. In this unit I have learned a lot of grammar points. I have found useful tables. I...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Classroom management is the skill of organizing and managing a class to ensure that students can learn effectively. There are many different methods teachers can use to create an environment that will help students learn, such as classroom arrangement, conducting yourself correctly, grouping students in a sensible way for each task, and also establishing a good rapport with students. The teacher must apply these techniques to create a learning environment for the classroom. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Christopher J. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The idea of flashcards is essentially very simple. They are meant to introduce vocabulary and review existing vocabulary already learned in the classroom. Other than this, flashcards can be placed around the classroom for students' reference when performing activities. They may be used in drilling activities as well but this may also get boring for the students, and should be mainly used for sparking creativity and classroom games. Some of the possible flashcard ideas include, and are not limited to the following; This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Hussein D. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Name cards are made for the students...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas When I had to design my first lesson plan I wanted it to be as coherent as possible as the purpose of every lesson plan is to guide the teacher in organizing her material and herself for the purpose of helping the students to attain the intended learning outcomes. When planning lessons, we need to think carefully about what stages a lesson will go through and how we will get from one stage to another. In this plan I stuck to the ESA (Engage, Study, Activate) Method that I learned about during my TEFL certification course. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Cengiz K. To start the lesson, I use a picture of Ainsley Harriot who is a famous English celebrity chef...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Kinesthetic learners are learners that learn through objects that they can touch and explore. They also learn best by discovering and experiencing and particularly enjoy physical activities that involve getting out of their seat and moving around. Unlike visual and auditory learners, kinesthetic learners can be tough to accommodate in the classroom because of their need to be physically active. Since they need to be active in their learning, they may get bored very quickly if you allow them to simply listen and look at your visual aids or video presentation. As teachers, we must always be versatile and understand how to incorporate different types of learners. Luckily, there are...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Teaching Ideas Flashcard is an indispensable tool that every teacher needs during the studying process. Regardless of the age of the students, it can be used effective equal with young learners or adults. Usually, in the ESL classes, the teacher uses flashcards when they need to teach new or review the previous vocabulary. It’s also one of the easiest ways to add some games into your lesson, cause mostly it doesn’t need special preparations. Young learners especially like flashcard games because usually it’s active games and allow them to have fun during the lesson. There are different types of flashcards, for instance, on one side could be a word or picture on another side – it's the English translation. Those types of...  [Read more]

Shirin Sophy Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas No matter how seasoned and confident a teacher is, there are occasions specifically before starting a new class that every teacher might wonder, "what if they don't like me?" This nightmarish query may cause even more distress when one is getting ready to start a job at a new school or a new country. Considering the fact that students don't basically walk into a class with a bias against the teacher, and they tend to take a liking to him/her based on the very first impression they get, can clarify the importance of the first session. In fact, you can work towards establishing a strong rapport by having various fun warm-up activities ready in hand in order to provide your students...  [Read more]

Shirin Sophy Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Today's pedagogical approaches put considerable emphasis upon the importance of providing students with the opportunity to have a joyful educational experience through adding enough and well-located variety to the lessons. One practical way to do so is designing and adding aimful games to your plan in order to inject positive energy into your lessons, improve the mood of your class and make your lessons stick in students' long-term memory. Since not only young learners but also grownups enjoy playing fun games while taking English lessons, teachers, therefore, are always trying to come up with games that serve this purpose. So here are some ESL game ideas that you can adapt to your...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas To answer the question of what is effective classroom management it is firstly important to define what is meant by “classroom management”. ITT defines classroom management as: “the skill of organizing and managing the class, having a friendly, relaxed manner and maintaining disciple” (page 2, unit 5, ITT course content – which is also referenced throughout the below essay) To best answer this question, we shall now break this definition down into 3 parts before providing an overall conclusion at the end of the essay. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Joe S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Classroom organization and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas During the lessons, teachers usually use a variety of materials and teaching aids. One of the most common is flashcards. They have so many benefits: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Oksana K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Flashcards can be used both for learning new vocabulary and for revision. Here are some of the activities with flashcards that I use working with children starting from 3 to 9 years old, mostly beginners. These activities can be changed a little and transformed into activities for older children. After the new flashcards were...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas Teaching speaking skills is an important part of an ESL class. Sometimes, entire conversation classes are established that focus solely on speaking. Here are 7 great games for your ESL conversation class. Write down the names and key points about five celebrities and assign them to the same amount of students in your classroom. One by one, a student enters a “party” with another student playing the host. The host must then find out the identity of each guest by having a conversation with everyone. Have your students stand in a circle. Choose a specific grammar point and have the first person asks a question using the grammar structure. The student then throws a ball to another student who answers the question...  [Read more]

Zainab Sadriwala Destinations Alumni Experiences Karachi is a city of opportunities for the citizens of Pakistan and for the people abroad. Professionals from all around the country aspire to make their living in this cosmopolitan city which has so much to offer for those who are ambitious. Hence teaching being no different, Karachi offers a wide array of opportunities to the aspiring young generation to make their mark in this highly esteemed profession. The first reason I'd like to mention is the high demand for qualified English teachers in the city. Good language teachers are scarce as they also seem to have challenges in their educational experience and the vicious circle keeps on repeating. That's why there is a surge in...  [Read more]