Where Is Mai Now

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences When I was young, I dreamt about thousands of different jobs, but being an online English teacher was never one of them. However, I’ve had the opportunity to work with Chinese students ranging from 5 to 13 years old and it has been one of the best experiences of my life so far. How am I going to communicate with them? Am I ready to be a teacher? How will I transmit what I want to teach? These are some of the questions that went through my mind before accepting the job, but when I finally decided to take it and started to be an ESL teacher I knew I was doing what I love the most, transmitting knowledge. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Karla V. I first started teaching with a Chinese...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Destinations Lunar New Year is one of the most important holidays in a variety of Asian countries. This holiday marks the beginning of a calendar year whose months are cycles of the moon. Typically, the Lunar New Year is celebrated in January or February depending on the lunar calendar. Teaching English in Asia is a great way to experience Lunar New Year celebrations and different customs in the various Asian nations. Chinese New Year is the most important Chinese festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese moon calendar. Chinese New Year is a 15-day-long festival period with the Lantern Festival concluding the celebrations on the 15th day of the year. The first day of Chinese New Year begins on...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Destinations It is no secret that Thailand is one of the most popular TEFL destinations in Asia, and indeed the world. Foreign teachers have been flocking to the country for many years to enjoy the fabulous mix of tropical weather, fascinating culture, friendly local people, and a low cost of living. Most importantly, there are also plenty of jobs available in many diverse locations across the country. For an insight into the most popular options, take a look at this list to see which might suit your lifestyle the best. Also read: 8 Reasons to Teach English in Thailand Thailand’s capital city is unsurprisingly home to the largest market for foreign teachers in the country. Across this vast city, you will find countless job...  [Read more]

  Chiang Mai is an essential destination for anyone visiting Thailand. Old Town is surrounded by ancient walls and a man-made moat marking where the old city stops and the new city begins. It is one of the few cities in Thailand that has successfully held on to its old culture and heritage while still modernizing and offering plenty of Western amenities. Chiang Mai is a great choice for anyone looking to get tefl certification in Thailand. It was founded in the 13th century and is one of the oldest cities in Thailand. The Lanna Kingdom might not exist in the 21st century, but shadows of its rich culture can still be seen today. The outskirts of Chiang Mai are full of small mountains, meandering rivers, gentle waterfalls and countless Buddhist monasteries. While peaceful, quaint and...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Destinations Thailand has been a major destination on the Southeast Asia backpacking trail for many years and it is now also one of the biggest employers of foreign teachers in the region. So what is it about Thailand that attracts thousands of teachers every year from all corners of the Earth? And what is it that makes many of them stay for far longer than they ever intended? This list of 8 Reasons to Teach English in Thailand should provide some answers to these questions and maybe put it on your radar of potential teaching destinations. Anyone who has visited Thailand will know that the local people are among the friendliest and most welcoming in the world. As a popular tourist hot spot, the Thai people are no strangers to foreign...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In the summer of 2016, my college mates made plans to volunteer abroad through an organization called AIESEC. After discussions and debates with each other, the decision was made for a program in China. They then proceeded to ask anyone who’d be interested in joining them. After a day of thinking and asking my family, I decided to join the team. We were a team of 4 from Nepal. With the dates fixed and visa works done, we were ready to start our 6 weeks journey to a foreign land. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Sita T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. On the night of arrival, we were welcomed by our buddies, who were assigned...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences So, American English versus British English, which of them you should learn as a second language? In the next few sentences, I’ll try to explain why I think that the American variant of English is the best variant for learning. As a kid I used to learn British English and thought that it’s okay, Great Britain is closer to the country, where I was born, and all people in my country are learning British English in schools, universities, language courses and all, so in that area, this variety of English was more popular. But as we get older, we get wiser and since university, I’ve been learning American English, and now I’ll try to explain my point of view. This post was written by our TEFL certification...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Ever since I was in elementary school, I have always looked up to teachers. They have inspired me all my life, the role they play in a child's life is one of the most amazing things ever. That is the main reason I decided that I wanted to be a teacher myself. I have a few years of volunteer teaching work and from it, I have learned many things. Some of the main things are discipline, atmosphere, and education. 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. First, discipline. This is extremely important in the classroom. To have a controlled class who wants to also learn but also have fun is...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences British English (BrE) and American English (AmE) are two of the main varieties of the English language. There are other different varieties of English that exist such as Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, South Asian and African English. Although English was introduced to America through the colonization period by the British, the two varieties of English have evolved to be quite different from each other in certain areas. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Shanique H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. One of these areas is vocabulary, which is one of the most notable differences between the two varieties. For instance,...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences I never thought I needed to take a test to teach English before doing the TEFL course. Graduating from an all American boarding school to doing my undergrad in Denver, Colorado and using my time off to teach English in India I did not think a test would benefit me in any way. It was not until I was required to attain a teaching certificate in the country of Thailand where I did my research and decided upon taking the TEFL. There are two main reasons as to why I think the TEFL would benefit anyone: 1. Time efficient and 2. Educational. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Karen R. Out of the very many courses offered I took the 60-hour TEFL course. Taking this course was perfect as time was of...  [Read more]

Ramon Perez Teaching Ideas With each passing day, we learn something new. We build upon the previously attained knowledge and expand our understanding of various subjects. As teachers, we have the responsibility of expanding our students’ knowledge and abilities. As much as we would like to provide fun and innovative ways to present the information, it can be difficult to keep it fresh on a daily basis. There are many factors to take into consideration when teaching a new subject: what, when, how, where, and why. Because we have many factors to consider, it’s vital to be as organized as possible. The tool we use to achieve this, is a lesson plan. In today’s blog, we will briefly discuss what a lesson plan is, the 5 elements mentioned above,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Is English the most and widely language ever used in the history of this world? Yes. It does mean that it’s the only one spoken though. There are many other important languages in the world, but when it comes to business, English is the most spoken of them all. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Hector R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Beginning with the Mayans, later on, the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all knew the mechanics to create a bond with other societies. Trading goods and services in early civilizations have been the motor to move markets from one country to another with rapid success. Going back thousands of...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The word “Globalization” has grown in use, in part due to; the advent of technology, tourism, politics, international trade, and economics, just to name a few. These factors have encouraged more people from different lingual backgrounds to mingle and work together in a world where everything is becoming interconnected. In light of this, English has for a very long time been used as the language to help facilitate globalization. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ian S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I am an individual with dual citizenship who can speak up to seven languages, two of which do not use the Roman alphabet....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas At a very early age, I was amazed by the sounds of English. I used to listen to songs in English while one of my parent’s friends was cleaning his car. He used to play them out loud and I wanted to know what the lyrics said. Several years later I had the chance to go to China to be part of a cultural exchange program to learn Chinese. My accepting interview was completely in English rather than Chinese or even my native language Spanish. All paperwork was done in either Spanish or Chinese depending on where I was. Either here in Latin-American or on the other side of the world, the medium of communication was English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Andres G. Please note that this blog...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In today's emphasis on quality education and the development of communicative competence in English, "English grammar "seems to be a big taboo when talking about English teaching. Most English teachers feel comfortable teaching a conversation lesson or a lesson that integrates other skills such as listening, reading, or writing. They show creativity in those lessons and include various ideas to help students improve their language skills. how ever this, however, more difficult when teaching a grammar topic. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Zhang Z. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The goal of grammar lessons is to present the...  [Read more]

Anastasiya Akpinar Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas It has become usual for students and teachers to communicate only via computer screens for the last year. All of us have faced a number of problems when studying or teaching online: It took society around half a year to get used to a new teaching system. However, it took much more time for the teacher–student communication to get back to normal. Finally, both sides in front of the screen overcame the shock and started taking up online teaching/studying on a daily basis. So from now on, teachers can focus on being more productive inside and outside their online classrooms. Working in modern circumstances, most teachers started to face the same problems: And that’s where...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Business English skills are important for professional development, as they ensure that people are well equipped for the Business English world. According to Unit 2: Teaching and Learning students will gain knowledge of when Business English is used and what type of activities it is used in. This will prepare them for the future. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Emma M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Listening and reading and two productive skills; speaking and writing are used within Business English. According to Unit 2: Teaching Themes two examples of listening skills are; meetings and telephoning. In meetings, information...  [Read more]

Gökhan Yilmaz Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas We have a saying; who knows something very well, cannot teach very well. If you are not a native speaker but you are a teacher in that language, you are well-prepared and working more than a native English speaker to avoid being tomfoolery and embarrassed in front of your students. This takes you one step ahead of someone whose native language is English. So here are 3 main advantages of a non-native English teacher. Non-native English teachers perfectly understand the differences between English and their L1; people always say that, if you want to learn a language, you must first know your language. Then, you can reach the target language by comparing it with your native...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas ESA is a learning methodology invented by Jeremy Harmer. April 30, 1947, He has taught English in Mexico and the UK and has trained teachers around the world. He is the series editor of the “How to teach” series, and the author of the highly acclaimed The Practice of English Language Teaching and How to teach English. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nawal S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The ESA method which he invented, has all the factors students need in a classroom, for example, motivated, exposed to the language, and have the opportunity to use it. ESA is short for engaging, study activate. The three most needed...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Change is something that does not come naturally to us human. It requires us to go through the process of learning. It is especially hard for us to assimilate anything that is not so much used in our environment. I grew up in the French-speaking country that is the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I have gone through the entire process of learning English not as a second, nor a third, but as a fourth one. And that is the case for most Congolese as well. Although it came quite naturally to me. Most of my classmates seemed to have been introduced to another world. It is easy to assimilate a new language when it is widely spoken in the area you live in. However, when it comes to the Congolese population English...  [Read more]

Federico Riva TEFL Information Hi everybody, thanks so much for tuning in. It’s Linda here from ITTT with my morning coffee, because if you've watched me before in one of our live sessions you will know that I am in South Korea and it's currently 10:00 a.m. on Friday morning. So I'm having my morning coffee and I'm going to have a chat with you guys. If you can see me and hear me, please drop a hi or something into the comment box, I would really appreciate it. As you may or may not know, at ITTT we go live twice every week, me on Fridays or maybe Thursdays depending on where you're watching from, and my colleague Liza she goes live every Tuesday. Actually Liza went live on Tuesday and also on Saturday last week because she had a really...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Whether you like English or despise it, the English language is here to stay. There is no stronger contender right now as a global language, other than English. But how did this happen, why is English now the dominant language in Education, Business and the Media. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Iain Hamilton-G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Well in this essay I am not going to rewrite a history lesson about the global rise of the English language, many sources can provide a far more detailed explanation about it. However, what I intend to write here is from my own experiences and how I naturally became a crusader of...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Destinations One of the big attractions of teaching English abroad is the fact that you can choose your destination from dozens of great countries all over the world. Some people choose to go where the salaries are high or where the climate is warm year-round. However, if riding the waves is your big passion, you will not be disappointed as there are plenty of worldwide locations where you will find teaching opportunities and great surfing. Here are our top 5 places for surfers to teach English abroad. Brazil is our number 1 pick as it is famous around the world for its countless stunning beaches, year-round surfing options, and relaxed beach culture. As the largest country in Latin America with one of the world’s fastest growing...  [Read more]

Anastasiya Akpinar Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Do you remember the frustration you have experienced after education moved went online? While it may have been a disaster initially, most teachers have now adapted to the new streams of the educational process. Some even say distance learning is better for everyone. One of the most popular approaches to teaching is the ESA method, and in this blog post, we will discover how to use the ESA teaching method for online English lessons. After online education has become a routine part of teachers' lives, many still have problems with planning fun and productive online lessons. To let students take part in the process equally is a challenge for all English teachers, especially when...  [Read more]

1. Introduction 2. Benefits of Teaching English Remotely from Thailand 3. Qualifications and Requirements 4. How ITTT Can Help Teaching English remotely from Thailand has become an increasingly popular option for individuals looking to combine their love for teaching with a desire for adventure and cultural immersion. With the rise of online teaching platforms, it is now easier than ever to connect with students from around the world while enjoying the tropical paradise that Thailand has to offer. In this article, we will explore the benefits of teaching English remotely from Thailand, the qualifications and requirements needed to get started, and how ITTT (International TEFL and TESOL Training) can help you achieve your goals. One of the main advantages of teaching English remotely from...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Lesson planning whether it be for an English lesson or any other subject is one of the most important tasks of a teacher. Lesson planning can be time-consuming for the teacher but will cut out several complications during the lesson and after. In the end, it is worth the extra time to put together a lesson plan or plans. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Shinae P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Below is a few reasons why a teacher should plan his/her lessons. These reasons are not all the reasons there are as to why you should lesson plan but they are the reasons I believe are the most important: * To make sure you are...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences For the longest time, people have separated teaching English from linguistics, which tends to include all their subcategories. However, phonetics, in particular, plays an incredibly integral part of the teaching of the English language. Why is an understanding of phonetics important in aiding the teaching pronunciation, articulation, and intonation? Being able to demonstrate how one changes the shape of their mouth, or the placement of their tongue can be the difference between someone speaking correct English and sounding as close as possible to a native speaker. Without at least a basic knowledge of this concept, how can we as teachers properly explain and display the way our language sounds in comparison...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences One might be forgiven for thinking that English is a ubiquitous language. From the movie industry in the United States to the vast expanse of the internet, it appears that its global standing is exponentially growing year after year. Needless to say, it owes its current position to a British empire that dominated and conquered foreign lands which resulted in countless dominions that spoke the mother tongue on both hemispheres. Its proliferation has ensured that although it might not be the main lingua franca of every region that hosted a queen’s flag, it has certainly been used as a secondary language in areas as far away as Asia. In India this is empirically the case where hitherto English would have been...  [Read more]

Anastasiya Akpinar TEFL Information Alumni Experiences For the last 50 years, English has become one of the most widely spoken languages worldwide. Nowadays, almost all spheres of our daily life are strongly connected to this language. We use English in business, tourism, education, and entertainment. With globalization trends and technology development, we cannot imagine even one day passing without using English. So the need to learn English as a foreign language increases all around the world every day. Many people start English language courses and use different educational applications and try to find schools that provide the best foreign language study methods for their children. Turkey is a big country where different...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Destinations Learning a new language while teaching English abroad is a great way to immerse yourself into a new culture. On top of that, a new language skill will be a great advantage when applying for jobs back home when you decide to return. With over 400 million native speakers, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world behind Chinese with 1.2 billion. English comes in third with 360 million native speakers worldwide. If you are interested in learning Spanish, check out the top seven Spanish-speaking countries for teaching English abroad. It is really no surprise that Costa Rica is one of the most popular destinations for teaching English abroad. The country boasts exceptional natural wonders, such as lush...  [Read more]