TEFL Stony Prairie

  We at ITTT have changed the lives of over 100,000 people around the globe who have graduated with our internationally accredited TEFL and TESOL courses. Move abroad, travel the world and change your life forever with ITTT - where the world is your classroom. 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. This unit is extremely difficult even for a native speaker like me. Auxiliary verbs were discussed in-depth and were easy to understand. The difference...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Stories... we live in a world of stories. Every single day we have a story to tell. A funny story, a serious story, a scary story or even an upsetting story. These are the pictures we keep in our minds, like our own little movie playing in our heads. Attached to every story, is language. Language completes our story, it gives our story meaning. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Lindie N. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Teaching language is giving someone the power to add another voice to their pictures, thus enabling the person to share their story with someone in that specific language. in this case - English. For me, stories...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Stories provide a natural and relevant context for the exposure to English language and storytelling built on the children’s innate capacity for fantasy and imaginative play, making it an essential aspect to be integrated into language lessons. Beyond just language skills, students are also able to acquire critical thinking skills such as predicting, hypothesizing, categorizing, sequencing, and inferring meaning through various storytelling activities. Stories are also used to enhance children’s concentration skills and develop moral and emotional intelligence by teaching students to empathize with the characters in the story. Storytelling can be extended to include activities for children to retell, act out,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Storytelling is used in the African culture to teach morals, values, historical lessons, and to communicate truths to all ages. Because words are highly valued by Africans, a skilled storyteller is viewed as an influential leader in a community, able to give wise advice. Since the method of storytelling is so widely used in African cultures for instruction, why not integrate it into teaching English to African students as a foreign language? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Stanislav T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Storytelling is an effective way to reach both the heart and mind. When a teacher tells her students a story...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences This story was written by one of our TEFL course alumni who shares her experience of teaching English as a foreign language and the little special moments that make this career so rewarding. Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences This story is written by one of our TEFL course alumni who shares their thoughts on the best things they have learned from their TEFL course from ITTT. Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas This story is written by one of our TEFL course alumni who shares their thoughts on the most useful corrections techniques in the EFL classroom. Linda...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Stories are sometimes excellent resources in the ESL classroom. They can get the students talking and thinking in English about favorite fairytales or other stories they know or create themselves. With this, they can be creative while developing their own stories in class. This can lead to excitement and motivation. There is an endless supply of stories suitable for all ages and levels that could be used to develop English Language skills. And, hopefully, no shortage of imagination in the students to create unique stories. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Leigh K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The website Storyarts,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When we were little children, most of us loved reading or listening to our parents or friends to tell us some stories. Usually, adults pay attention to the world about themselves, but children will pay attention to the stories about our nature and all other themes. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jessica W. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. First, there are many excellent vocabularies in the stories. It will be better to teach the words in the stories than teach the world directly. Also, we need to choose the right level for the children. The story should have cultural significance and match our teaching aims. Also Read: The...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Lesson planning is an important part of a teacher's daily life. This guide is for both new and experienced teachers on how to write the perfect ESL lesson plan. Alexis Biro Destinations Argentina continues to be a popular destination due to a large number of teaching vacancies, competitive salaries, and its safe and welcoming environment, especially in its capital city. Here's why Buenos Aires is the ideal place to teach English abroad. Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences This story was written by one of our TEFL course alumni who shares the most important thing...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Lesson planning is an important part of a teacher's daily life. This guide is for both new and experienced teachers on how to write the perfect ESL lesson plan. Alexis Biro Destinations Argentina continues to be a popular destination due to a large number of teaching vacancies, competitive salaries, and its safe and welcoming environment, especially in its capital city. Here's why Buenos Aires is the ideal place to teach English abroad. Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences This story was written by one of our TEFL course alumni who shares the most important thing...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Storytelling has been a powerful tool for centuries. Before there was written language, humans told stories through pictures and oral sequences. Stories have the power to connect us and to stimulate empathy. Storytelling can be an important instrument for facilitating language learning, especially in early childhood. It is especially helpful in increasing student attention and empathy. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jillian C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. According to the book “Children Tell Stories”: Teaching and Using Storytelling in the Classroom by Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weis, storytelling has powerful...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Storytelling can be useful to enhance students’ imaginations as well as improve a wide variety of skills such as listening, comprehension, order, memory, and vocabulary. It is targeted for all ages, but best to start earliest possible to allow students to develop a liking towards reading. Storytelling can come with different forms of follow-up activities to further increase teaching efficiency as well as to check understanding of the students through elicitation. This essay will be focused on mainly storytelling activities for young learners in schools. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jin K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Who doesn’t love a story? Stories are universal. Stories connect us all. Stories also transcend caste, creed, color, and age. From the beginning of time, to-date the medium may have changed but stories engage us with others because it is easy to see ourselves reflected in them and understand the message conveyed easily. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Shaimuna C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Teaching English using stories can be very effective in class. As an English teacher, I have used stories for classroom activities from Year 1 to 6 at the primary school level. The different age groups need diverse styles. Below are...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I believe storytelling is one of the best methods for keeping students engaged while helping them to understand and remember a topic. Regardless of age, everyone enjoys a good story. There are many ways to integrate storytelling into the classroom. One way is to use a story to introduce a new topic. This could mean a funny or personal anecdote relating to the new subject. It could also mean reading aloud from a book or having students listen to an audio recording. Not only will the story grab the attention of the audience, but it will also be a good opportunity to speak somewhat casually with the students, using a variety of vocabulary you expect them to learn in context. An important aspect of storytelling to...  [Read more]

Charlotte Lam Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In Hong Kong, the education system is competitive where the majority of people try their utmost to study in a better school. They are also required to learn Cantonese, English, and Mandarin starting from kindergarten. In order to get into a renowned school, the Cambridge examination becomes an important criterion for getting into a famous school, and therefore, Cambridge English lessons become much more popular in Hong Kong city. The Cambridge English exams are designed for different levels of English learners. For children in kindergarten, Cambridge English for young learners is suitable for them. It is designed for children in primary or lower-secondary education. There are...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Stories serve to be entertaining and educational in most cultures. A nice bedtime story for young children becomes a ritual in a lot of families nowadays, it makes up a sweet memory for a lot of people. When the listener is interested in the story, even when there is no verbal communication between the storyteller and the listener, there is still a bond between them. Therefore, storytelling is such a powerful tool teacher could use. Storytelling could make the lesson more interesting and memorable. To build the bond between the students and the teacher during storytelling, the teacher has to make sure the attention of his/her audiences are fully attracted. To make sure the stories are interesting for students the...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences This story is written by one of our TEFL course alumni who explains the best thing they learned from their 120-hour TEFL course from ITTT. Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences This story is written by one of our TEFL course alumni who shares their thoughts on the differences in teaching business English compared to business English. Mark Crocker Destinations You will get to enjoy many new experiences while teaching English abroad and one of those is the chance to treat your taste buds by indulging in the local cuisine. Here we look at 8 countries that have a strong demand for TEFL qualified teachers...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Narrativity is ubiquitous in our lives. We encounter narratives in stories, both oral and written, in films, books, television shows, and comic books. Children become acquainted with narrative from a young age, and it is closely tied with the way they learn the language. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Javier A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Among other things, we learn a language to tell stories. We even often tend to think of our lives as long and complex narratives. Because of the pervasiveness and universality of stories, across geographical and cultural boundaries, they are a perfect vehicle for the transmission of...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I adore books, and reading aloud to our young students is one of the highlights of my job as a Teaching Assistant. Most of our students are Turkish, whose ages range from four to eleven years old, who have had little or no exposure to the English language. The students come to our school to receive an English education and therefore use daily a language of which their parents have little knowledge. It can be overwhelming to suddenly be thrust into an environment where everything is taught or spoken to them in a foreign language. Consequently, reading aloud to this age group is an invaluable method of language delivery, especially as many may be reluctant learners, and may actively resist learning as it was not...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Storytelling in the classroom can seemingly be one of the most diverse and engaging ways to help students learn English as a second language. Storytelling for the purposes of this essay is a broad term that I am using to refer not only to students telling stories about what they did on the weekend for example but also using existing stories that are well known and loved, for example, Harry Potter or the Lion King. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jamie S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. With appropriate facilitation, a student can turn a basic conversation about how many people they have in their family, into a story...  [Read more]

Anna Domiczek Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In the education world, the potential and value of using stories and storytelling techniques have always been known and recognized, especially in the context of teaching younger students. Recently, more and more EFL teachers of young learners are integrating carefully selected children’s literature stories to teach English. Children’s literature is such a significant part of English language literature - using it for teaching English can be a very motivating tool for young learners. Stories chosen from children’s literature provide an excellent resource to develop a variety of language and learning activities, and the carefully selected materials can be appealing not only...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences "Our lives gain meaning only when we tell our story". -David Steindl-Rast. In our case, stories not only add meaning to our lives in general but are very important in rendering language learning interesting and creative as our specific subject essay will demonstrate. Stories are an effective model for learning the English language through which we can develop the four language skills writing, speaking, listening, and reading. So why and how stories can enable us to effectively learn the English language? First of all, the fact that we have nowadays a vast ocean of stories that tackle a variety of subjects and issues, makes it quite impossible for someone not to find a story that would captivate their passion...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Storytelling in the classroom can seemingly be one of the most diverse and engaging ways to help students learn English as a second language. Storytelling for the purposes of this essay is a broad term that I am using to refer not only to students telling stories about what they did on the weekend for example but also using existing stories that are well known and loved, for example, Harry Potter or the Lion King. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jamie S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Firstly, classroom activities using storytelling when centered around the students are a great way for students to get to know one another....  [Read more]

Federico Riva Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas The following activities may be adapted for use as warmers, engage activities, structured practice or free practice style activities. They may also be adapted for level and age. The first one is really simple but can be one of the best activities to improve grammar. Some students even at the higher levels are lacking automatic habits, which are really important for grammatical skill. Basically this activity is a grammar drill and it is supposed to be used as a warmer or as an ice-breaker activity. The main objective is to help your students automate some grammatical skills. An example would be to use this activity to practice different forms of verbs, for example ‘do’ versus...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas As a teacher, we often find ourselves daunted with the task of capturing our students’ interests and also equipping them for the future. Not only do we seek to train better students, but we also want to produce better citizens, workers, and future teachers. Teaching is still held the same purpose throughout all these years: bettering our future through the lives of our students. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Madison R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Although our methods need to continually be more thought-provoking, entertaining and motivating, our objective has not changed. We need to incorporate storytelling into...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Young learners, especially of kindergarten age, are the most challenging group that a teacher can ever teach during his/her career. They are curious, open-minded, enthusiastic to absorb, explore the world, yet forget as easily as taking in so it takes them much time to master a word/phrase actively. They have a vivid imagination but short attention span so they so easily get sidetracked or busy thinking that they forget to communicate and interact with others. That’s a challenge to help them develop their English speaking abilities at such a young age: How to help them gain as much useful language in a shorter time so that they can use it later in their daily life? How to encourage them (in a natural way) to...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching is one of the most difficult jobs in the world. You have to deal with different personalities inside the classroom and somehow, you need to work things out for the class to have an atmosphere that is conducive to learning. You have to prepare yourself both mentally and emotionally to be an effective teacher. It is not a cakewalk and you need to have the drive and work ethics to succeed in this profession. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Fitz B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Growing up, I never really thought of teaching as a career. I took up a degree related to the healthcare industry back when I was in...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Creative writing classes are fun. Creative writing classes are rewarding. And sometimes, creative writing classes can be highly frustrating. I remember sitting down on a rainy day in Kunming, China, in front of me a cup of tea and a pile of homework assignments from my creative writing class. And I remember my disappointment as text after text turned out to be virtually identical, each one a variation of a popular Chinese fairy tale. Even the names of the characters seemed to have been picked from a very small pool of available names. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jan T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Creativity is not a...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Children are not born with a set vocabulary, yet it is something that they can acquire and build within themselves. Montessori stated, “The baby absorbs speech it hears spoken around it and with it says a word it says it because it has learned it by hearing it, and holds it present in the memory. It uses it according to its need of the moment”. Young children behave similarly. When children absorb language, they become better equipped to articulate thoughts and experiences. Children can express themselves more clearly. Precise language can render children independent in their ability to express their needs and emotions. In the early years of a child's development, the child must be exposed to rich language,...  [Read more]

Mia Santarelli Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Popsicles, sunscreen, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, watermelon, backyard picnics, riding bikes, and lemonade stands. These are a few images that come to mind when I think of summertime and the magic of relaxing with family in the warmth of the sunshine. As a child, I remember playing with my siblings in the yard, running through the sprinkler, doing arts and crafts projects, and drawing roads with traffic signs on our driveway that we would navigate along with our bikes or scooters. Although plans for summer 2020 around the world have been altered, there are still many opportunities to engage children in unique learning opportunities. Under the circumstances surrounding COVID-19,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas To keep the Activate Stage more fun and lively, offer your students one of these cool speaking activities. They will definitely enjoy the conversation and get creative with the tasks. Remember that any of these exercises can be easily used online. Students share their ideas on how to make class more interesting and engaging. Let them discuss an ideal day in your ESL class and then propose their ideas to you. Give each student an unusual photograph (use photostocks for that), and ask them to create a story to go along with the picture. After they have planned their stories, have them share their pictures and stories. Also Read: Is Punishment a Good Strategy for Teaching in the...  [Read more]