TEFL Ski Gap

Federico Riva Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Hello guys, please let me know in the comment section that you can see me clearly and you can hear this video so that I know that my equipment works smoothly. I'll be very thankful for that. To start with my name is Liza and I’m an ITTT TEFL expert and an online English teacher and today we will talk about one of the most important things in TEFL teaching, online lesson planning. Well we will talk about lesson planning in general, but as I’m more specialized in online teaching I'll try to share my personal experience in planning online classes. Thanks for joining me, I hope that you are having a great time especially after your long winter holidays. Let me know where you are...  [Read more]

Federico Riva Alumni Experiences When working one-on-one or with large groups, you need to adjust your methods appropriately. There are large differences in how you approach each group, how you teach them, and how much you should expect them to learn. We will be going over the differences by working with each of these groups based upon my own experiences. While they require differing techniques, at their core what is required is the same. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Lee Z. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. What all class sizes require is an understanding of the students' skills and prior knowledge. When working on English you can provide small exams and a...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences In the world we live in, being different is often deemed as bad. Where being the minority is often looked down upon. Sometimes we don’t like to admit that, but it is true. What people need to realize is that we are no different from one another. Someone from rural China is just as much of a person as I am even though we live thousands of miles away. The only difference is our story. Where we came from, whom we know, what we stand for. Our story and our background are what make us all unique and special. The sad reality is that the vast majority of us will never be able to experience another persons’ life. An astronomically large amount of the world’s population will never be able to step into another...  [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]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences In my personal opinion, vocabulary learning is the basic and most substantial part in any language learning. It’s like the bricks for building a house. Moreover, the process of vocabulary learning is the most difficult and time-consuming. It requires not only memorizing skills but also a good understanding of the word, and constant practice. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Dan W. For most English learners in China, they often encounter the same problem when learning vocabulary, which is that they keep forgetting the meaning they've learned. One of the major reasons for this problem is that they only memorize the Chinese meaning for each word. They pay no attention to the word class and skip...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once said "Music is the universal language of mankind” and it is still widely accepted today. Any language uses words to create sentences that convey messages with different tones and emotions as well as music does. Thus, bringing music to an English classroom is one good way to inspire the learners. There are tons of techniques or ideas involving music and songs that can be applied to any part of a lesson plan. It is available today in the form of online resources to use as a guideline for teachers. However, there are some arguments about how this strategy can be time-consuming and taking away the interest out of a focus lesson. In this case, the advantages outweigh the worries. Here...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas A critical part of learning a language is being able to understand and use slang and idioms. However, spoken language by native speakers, or language used in authentic material, often does not follow the strict rules and formulas that are taught in textbooks. Also, by their very nature of already being published, textbooks are unable to keep up with the changes in the language as they slowly evolve to incorporate new concepts and ideas. Thus, to be able to effectively teach slang and idioms, the teacher may have to expend some additional preparatory time to select the idioms to be taught and develop appropriate course materials. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Clark C. Please note that...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When one imagines an English language lesson, one probably pictures vocabulary drills, dictionaries, and verb conjugations. While these are all aspects that one will most likely find should they sit in on a class, perhaps there can be something fun, useful, and entertaining to be found as well, something like a lesson on slang and idioms. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Devin R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. While this type of language is mostly used in informal conversation, it is also often seen in books, commercials, and other forms of media. Slang and idioms are an essential part of how native English speakers...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Destinations Alumni Experiences I have been in China for four years; I came here on 15, September 2015, as a student. During this time pursuing my Master’s degree, I taught English as a foreign language in training centers, elementary school, high school and currently teaching in a Polytechnics. English has become one of the fastest growing subjects in the country. Many Chinese students study the subject at schools and training centers. It is also interesting to note that most of the universities teach some other subjects in English. This attracts many students from other countries to study in China or have an exchange program. Life in China is very convenient because of the developed infrastructure. There...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Hello everyone, how are you doing? Linda from ITTT, back again with another live session. I’m super excited to be here today to talk about this exciting topic, teaching English abroad and how it enhances your career prospects. I'm just going to wait for a couple more people to join, you know how it usually works. Once we are a good sized group of people we can start diving into this topic. If you can hear me and if you can see me please leave a comment. We are live on Facebook and on YouTube at the same time, so wherever you're watching from just leave a quick hi or hello in the comment section and also let me know where you are watching from. I am in South Korea about an hour...  [Read more]