TEFL Stephan

Shirin Sophy TEFL Information Teaching Ideas Second or foreign language learning, which appears to be an ever-present hurdle for many, has constantly been a topical issue with numerous Hypotheses centered around it, including language acquisition theory or monitor model with its sweeping effects on language learning in classrooms around the world. This well-known theory, first presented by Stephen Krashen in the 1970s, is initially based on six Hypotheses ( The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis, the Natural Order Hypothesis, the Monitor Hypothesis, the Input Hypothesis, the Affective Filter Hypothesis, and the Reading Hypothesis) that will be discussed in this article. According to Krashen, in terms of foreign language...  [Read more]

Shirin Sophy TEFL Information Teaching Ideas If you are a teacher of a foreign language, you should take a look at this overview of Stephen Krashen's theories of second language acquisition. Anna Domiczek Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Are you planning on teaching English as a foreign language? Check out this article for tips for using TPR in preschool ESL teaching. Anna Domiczek TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Are you considering teaching English with VIPKID? Check out this blog post about preschool ESL curriculum components with...  [Read more]

Lourien Prinsloo TEFL Information Alumni Experiences To be proficient in English is perhaps the most essential skill through which one can become truly empowered to communicate. Many countries require more English teachers with the necessary skill and passion for enabling learners to make a difference socially and economically. Lourien Prinsloo TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas The majority of battles we face in life can only be fought effectively if we have a clear understanding of the enemy. In this post, I will explain favouritism and offer guidance for preventing favouritism in the classroom. Elaheh...  [Read more]

Lourien Prinsloo TEFL Information Alumni Experiences To be proficient in English is perhaps the most essential skill through which one can become truly empowered to communicate. Many countries require more English teachers with the necessary skill and passion for enabling learners to make a difference socially and economically. Shirin Sophy Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas According to Plato's answer to the question of how individuals learn new topics, the soul is fully aware of the knowledge at birth. People simply recall and recollect it. During the 20th century, numerous hypotheses have been developed by psychologists in order to clarify and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The use of reading in the course of language acquisition is valuable and often underrated. Before undertaking a detailed explanation, I will first offer a general example to demonstrate the problem of teaching without it. Imagine you are teaching the word “ball” to an older student. You could ask them to say “ball, ball, ball” in a drilling manner. This can be inefficient and above all, boring for the student. But suppose that you do teach it enjoyably. How many words might they learn? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Peter C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. For most teachers, they will give one or sometimes two...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences I am pursuing TEFL certification as part of an effort to work in a leadership position in an organization that provides English language training, as well as other technical programs of instructions, throughout the country of Afghanistan. This post addresses some of the specific problems faced by the Afghan English language students and some lessons from this TEFL training course which might help to address and overcome some of those problems. This post was written by our TEFL certificate graduate Stephen G. Some of the key problems facing Afghan English language students are among those identified in this TEFL training course, yet are particularly significant in Afghanistan. The first issue involves frequent and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas As a new teacher, grammar was initially very difficult for me to teach. It was difficult to demonstrate grammar patterns succinctly. Luckily, the school that I work for has provided help by having an established curriculum. The key to teaching grammar, however, has been teaching variable inputs in otherwise unchanging structures as part of student-centered games. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Stephen W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. If I were to teach the pattern, “What does Billy like?/ He likes _____”, then I would have several options. I could read the pattern and have the students listen. This would be ineffective...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas While studying the content of the Teaching Business English specialized course, I was introduced to the unique place of role-playing and simulation. In a similar vein, in a previous summative task, I focused on the use of games within a general TEFL/TESOL context. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Stephen W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Role-playing and simulating business interactions, using gamification techniques, would be an effective educational tool in teaching business English. It would be effective because it encourages the development of fluency, the ability to focus upon the use of degrees to which a point is...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I am an English teacher. I am teaching beginner students who are aged from 3 years and a half to 8 years old. My students are very young learners who normally have shorter attention spans, and have not even completely mastered their mother tongue. They are generally amenable to fun games, singing, and drawing. For my students, they start from zero knowledge of English to a very basic knowledge that cannot be quickly or easily activated, but with these levels, success is easy to see and usually good fun. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Yuan P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. From what I have learned at TESOL training and day...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Using games in the classroom is beneficial for better student learning. Games are helpful when introducing new content, enhancing the learning process, or reviewing learned material. A low-stress atmosphere in the classroom is created easily by adding games. From Gap fill to Fizz Bizz to I Spy they can help the teacher maintain a positive attitude and establish rapport with students. Games create an environment where students want to participate and aren't afraid of correction or failure. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ellen P. Vince Goman RTC, CPCC, BBA, Somatic Counselor said in his book, Let The Fire Burn, "Play is the foundation for academic learning. While the left brain is more...  [Read more]

William Noble Destinations Teaching Ideas I have been an online ESL teacher to Chinese students for over 13 years, mostly with primary students but also with secondary and adult students. I am also a father and have homeschooled my daughter over her primary years. Like many teachers, I’ve enjoyed teaching at this level of education as it lays the foundation in English. As it set the foundation, my teaching helped students to overcome common errors in production skills, speaking and writing. Teaching both my daughter and Chinese students at the primary level also helped me also to understand the different expectations between first language and second language students. Since English is very different from China, many Chinese...  [Read more]

Federico Riva 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 statements were given from real ITTT alumni who have agreed to share their thoughts for our review section. In this TESOL review video, ITTT course graduate Elizabeth from the US shares her thoughts on taking online TEFL courses with ITTT. What she enjoyed most about the course was the flexibility it gave her to pursue a TEFL while doing a Master's in music. She also loved the fact that no prior...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas One of the most challenging contradictions I had to face as a high school language and literature teacher in Germany was the principle that each child should have equal opportunity when, sadly, the inequality often starts long before high school, and that as a teacher, you should give every student the chance to achieve excellent performances when, in reality, the latter also depends on factors outside of the classroom. In conversations with parents, I often pointed out specific deficiencies in their child's essays as I was taught to. I made suggestions on how to improve them, hoping in vain that next time, the student would get a much...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Finegan and Besnier defined language as a finite system of elements and principles that make it possible for speakers to construct sentences to do particular communicative jobs. But different languages in this world are existing there with very complex systems with plenty of arbitrary, irregular phenomena and ambiguous features too. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Thomas Z. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. First language or source language (L1) is in its simplest definition means the language an individual learns first to meet his/ her communication requirements chronologically. It happens normally in the early childhood...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The Cambridge English Dictionary defines the word “hindsight” as “the ability to understand an event or situation only after it has happened.” That is why people tell you that “hindsight is a perfect science.” So with the benefit of hindsight and looking back after completing some 220 hours of TEFL training, I see that there are, indeed, several things that I wish that I had known before starting the course, both on the positive and the negative sides. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Desmond V. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Let me start with the positives. First and foremost, I wish that I had come across...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences What does it mean to learn a language? Generally, when we talk about learning a language, we mean a process that starts with a person not knowing a language but ends up knowing it, regardless of the number of languages a person might already know. Of course, this is an overly simplified definition, but it gives us a decent starting point. So why are our experiences and the mental image of acquiring our first language so different from one of learning a foreign language? In this essay, I will consider the perceived difference between first and second language acquisition. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Eszter E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Fears of declining reading rates have long plagued the United States. In 2007, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) released To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence, a report showing that reading rates for all demographic factors had declined. The report shed light on the potentially devastating effects that such a decline may have: this was not about mourning the loss of book sales, but about reading’s impact on citizens’ abilities to comprehend written material, improve their socioeconomic standing, and maintain a successful career. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Veronica B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Reflective teaching is not a contemporary science however, to find evidence of when this science began it would be an impossible task, like accessing the Vatican library. One could presume the first person which taught another something resourceful dedicated some time to reflect on its delivery and considered observing research, and planning. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Stephen A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Generally, reflective teaching is the process of self-observation and self-evaluation i.e. looking at what you do in the classroom, thinking about why you do it, and thinking about if it works. The aim is to...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Intelligence has been defined in many ways, including the capacity for logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can be described as the ability to perceive or infer information and to retain it as knowledge to be applied towards adaptive behaviors within an environment or context (Wikipedia, 2019). This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Stephen A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. At a cosmetic level, language fluency and accuracy, that segregate socio-cultural groups is inconsistent with contemporary thought of...  [Read more]