Why Did I Become A Teacher

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences English is everywhere. It is the world’s lingua franca. Out of 7.5 billion people, 1.5 billion speak English and just 360 million of them are native speakers, that is to say, that English is by far the most commonly studied language. It has become the global language for business, science, technology, aviation, advertisement, cinema, music, education, and so much more. How did it become so powerful? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Philippa K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The answer lies in history – after 1945, when the world was recovering from the biggest and most horrific conflict, the United States business...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The experience of living and working abroad for sure will give us another vision of the world. If you have been in China, enough you will learn to be more patient and tolerant. Live with another culture is not easy, and we learn how to be flexible. We are different, we live differently, our environment is different, our beliefs, our politeness, our food, etc. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Ana P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. “Good morning, how are you today? “- They have never asked each other how are they? Instead, they ask “Ni chi le ma?” Did you eat? These people were starving for so many years, and the...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences At the cafeteria during lunchtime, a student of mine approached and asked me, “Why did you become a teacher?” Dumbfounded by this brazen question, I did not know what to say. I could have chosen motherhood statements like “I want to make a difference in the world,” “to have a positive impact on my student’s lives, “or that “I love children.” I ended up saying to him, “Well, I am good at teaching.” However, the truth of the matter is, I needed a job and there was an opportunity so I took it. You can say it was fate that called me to be a teacher. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine myself being a Grade 3 homeroom teacher! After having experienced a variety of jobs in my life from...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas In the world, there are many different professions that people dream of. If you ask someone to name some of them, they probably would say something like a doctor, teacher, singer, and so on. When I was a child, my dad wanted me to become a teacher. He thought that becoming a teacher was a great job. Not just him, but many other people also thought so. It has always been like that. Back then, I was too young to understand the reason. But now that I have become a teacher, I am starting to realize why my dad and everyone else liked it. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate OTGONTSETSEG S. Please note that this blog post might...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I believe discipline in the classroom has a time and place. Depending on the age group or behavior of the classroom will define if discipline is needed. When discipline is simple, the teacher must ask themselves one question, is it disrupting the student's time to learn? If the answer to that question is a yes then action must be taken at that point. As a future teacher, I think the best way to make it clear to the student that bad behavior will not be tolerated is by implementing a three-strike system: the first strike is a warning, the second strike is detention and a paper assigned to the student asking them to write what mistake they made and how they will improve in the future, the third strike is being sent...  [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 The CEO of a multi-million-dollar company I worked for once told me, “Change or change will change you.” This motto has stuck with me since the day I heard him say it. It’s part of the reason why I decided that I want to be a teacher. I know it’s going to bring me out of my comfort zone and force me to do things that I otherwise would never do. A teacher can never stop learning; one has to constantly improve. Otherwise, what’s the point? Some of the most important ways to ensure that one improves as a teacher are to self-analyze and reflect. It’s fine to use these tactics at one’s own pace and discretion, but they are of utmost importance. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences To be completely honest with you, I didn´t think that a TEFL course would benefit me significantly or improve my teaching until I took one. I have studied eight languages on three continents and I also speak four languages daily. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Sami T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I have studied in top universities for years and worked as a teacher, coach, educator, trainer, international business manager and team leader for higher education publishers. "Aren't these courses very expensive and what could I possibly learn?", I asked myself… It wasn't until the online company that I have been working...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The lesson plan is a structure of the course that you will give to your students, a clear guide as to what you want to achieve and how you are going to do it. A good lesson plan generally consists of learner objectives, personal aims, language points, procedure, phase, and interaction, etc. It is of great importance because it can help teachers to have confidence in class, make the class go more smoothly and help to improve the course. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Yanfen G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Firstly, it can help teachers be full of confidence in class. As is well known to everyone, people will easily get...  [Read more]

Ulysses Brown Destinations China is a popular market for teaching English as a foreign language. That's why I also took the leap and moved to China to teach. Here are 5 of the main reasons why I went to teach English in China. I studied at a university with an enormous international student body. Many of these students became good friends of mine, Romanians in particular. Most of the people with whom I associated were friendly enough, and those that weren’t found their way outside of my personal circle of friends and acquaintances. So, it can, therefore, be concluded that the majority of my friends during university were from other countries, and if they weren’t from other countries, they were from other areas. There was a caveat to this,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas English as a global language is increasing public recognition of the global position of English. We hear it on television spoken by politicians from all over the world. Wherever we travel, we see English signs and advertisements. English is now the language most widely taught as a foreign language in over 100 countries, such as China, Russia, Germany, Spain, Egypt and Brazil and in most of these countries it is emerging as the chief foreign language to be encountered in schools, often displacing other languages in the process. The statistics suggest that about a quarter of the world’s population estimated about 1.5 billion people, is already fluent or competent in English, and this figure is steadily growing. No...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Learning a new skill can be difficult, and applying that skill can be even harder. Now teach that skill to someone else so they can adeptly apply it, and there might be people who become intimidated by such a task. However, teaching is a rewarding skill and there are several ways to improve a teacher’s confidence in the classroom. Although not an all-encompassing list, a few ways teachers can improve their confidence is through proper preparation, building rapport with students and self-reflection. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Courtney N. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. If a teacher is prepared to teach the lesson then...  [Read more]

Catia Pereira dos Santos Teaching Ideas What kind of teacher do you want to become? Can you picture it in your mind? Well, I did it! When I first started my journey as a Portuguese and English online tutor, I asked myself this question and it landed me on a few ideas which are also present over some units of the ESL teachers course. I've been a student for a while, and I am still today. This year, I merged in the education field, taken this bright decision had brought me a lot of joy. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Catia P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. During my TEFL/TESOL teacher course lessons, I recognized some of the do's and don't's of my past...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas For this essay, I have learned that teaching a second language can be challenging especially when teaching a younger group of students. Before taking the TEFL course I have had numerous experiences in tutoring and mentoring, which is quite different from actually being an English Language teacher. In the past, I have taught small groups that focus on one subject as well as one summer teaching an art class at my local Boys and Girls Club. Most of my personal teaching experience has been limited to small groups of four to eight students, who all speak the same language and are around the same level and skill of reading, writing, and math skills. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Bryan S....  [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]

Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences As far as I can remember, I always wanted to become a teacher in a foreign country. The most thrilling part about it was to convey knowledge to others and extend my own cultural awareness. When I heard about TEFL online courses after graduating from university, I immediately thought it would be the best option for me in order to achieve my greatest dream. After the completion of this course, I will move to Tokyo with the strong will to teach English to all different types of students, regardless of their age or current English level. Now that I am almost done with my TEFL online course, this post will take a look at my improvements and achievements so far. I will particularly focus on what I feel is the best...  [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 answers were given from real ITTT alumni who have agreed to share their thoughts for our blog section. Vu Thi Van Anh (Claudia Vu) I'm from Hanoi, Vietnam, I did not major in English, however I wanted to become a teacher of English. My favorite part of the course was Unit 3: Methodologies and Techniques. I would like to implement my own courses with its focus on TOEIC training and English for...  [Read more]

Dorothy Brown Smith Destinations Alumni Experiences I have always wanted to travel and go abroad. I talked about it with family and friends on many occasions. When the opportunity came for me to teach in China, I immediately said, “NO!” I was thinking of traveling to places like South America, France, Italy, Greece, etc. because I had romanticized these places in my mind from what I had seen on television and read about in magazines. China was not even a thought in my mind! The opportunity kept coming to teach in China. I would see advertisements, run into people who had just came back from China. I even met someone studying Chinese to be an interpreter! I kept running into people who had some kind of connection with...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences As a young child, I was, for some reason, obsessed with the idea of learning French. I tried a couple of languages, including Finnish at some point, but kept going back to French. I have no idea why because I was never exposed to the culture or the language itself at that age. I doubt I even knew anything about the country itself. I think I assumed learning French would make me sound smarter but, the joke's on younger me, I have no skill in French and never have. I tend to struggle with romance languages in general. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nicole H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. When I was in high school, my...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I would rather start by sharing my experience with the combination of teaching and living in several different countries to clarify why I have chosen this topic: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate moein m. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. In the past, when I was younger, I did not have any interest and was not enthusiastic about learning English, and I remember that I always used to escape from foreign language classes. Once I turned to 16 and 17, during high school, I spent most of my time with some friends who knew English well and they were always talking about the top movies and books that were on screen or best sellers....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The English Language is globally profound more than it has been many years ago. It has become the international language of the world with most people speaking and understanding. It is taught in schools in different countries all around the world to people whose native language is not the English Language. However, are these teachings effective? Does teaching skills in the classroom have a huge impact on student learning and interest in the language? This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Sandie M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Each school or classroom has a mission and that mission is to enhance student learning through teaching...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Until now, I have been an English teacher for 6 months. Before that, in 2016 I was a teaching assistant. That is my part-time job. And this is a journey even though I have not yet taken a TESOL class but I am still confident that I can become a teacher. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Tieu T. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. For the first half of the year, I was an assistant tutor for the preschool. I had very little contact with kids before so I was very confused at the time. I told the teacher that I couldn't make them obey. She is a master of special needs education. She told me to play with them and not to care about...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I have years of teaching experience and during my teaching years, I have been working with individual students and with different groups and would like to speak about the differences between teaching these two groups. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Meri V. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. When I started my career I did it with teaching one to one student as it was easier and as I didn’t have teaching experience then I decided to start from individual students. Teaching individuals is easy as you are concentrated only on one student and you just need to find out his or her needs. We spent all your time with one student and...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Motivation is one of the top priorities when it comes to working with kids. You can use the most effective activities, choose the most interesting topics, but all that will not work if your students are not motivated. This goes a lot easier with adults, as they have chosen to study English by themselves and they often have set one or few goals, so, at the end of the day, they are moving towards the set target. With kids things are a bit more complicated, as they did not choose to study the English language, their parents had made this choice for them. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Valeriia P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas When it comes to an ESL (English Second Language) class, the first thing we should remember is that non-native speakers are normally deprived of the level of confidence they need to fulfill their learning potential in its entirety. This is why it’s important for a teacher to provide them with an appropriate background at a stretch of a lesson, favorable atmosphere and an opportunity to move at their own pace. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Valentina V. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. It goes without saying that not only students, who learn a second language, can be rather short of confidence but they may also feel...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences A life long learner, to me, is one who desires to learn new things based on interests, motivations, and knowledge to be gained. As one who is a certified teacher in first through eighth grades (in Louisiana, USA), possesses a master degree in education, as well as having a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a minor in Leadership and Supervision, does not mean that I know it all; far from it. In my middle school teaching days and years of teaching in higher education preparing teachers to teach, I encountered students from other culturally diverse backgrounds; yet, I did not have the basic fundamentals of teaching students whose first language was not English. This I regret. This post was written by our...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas I’m a non-native English speaker who never once benefited from an effective ESL program in her entire school years. It’s rather ironic that I became an ESL teacher and taught English for six years, essentially preaching what I had never practiced myself. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Somy L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I was born in Korea, and my family and I moved to South Africa when I was ten. Before 2000, ESL programs were not widespread knowledge and resources were on the limited side. My ESL teacher at the time would just give printouts to the students to color and trace words. The amount of progress I made in...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences According to the 22nd edition of the Ethnologue, the English language ranks as the most spoken second language at 753.3 million speakers, compared to the second-ranked language which is Mandarin Chinese at 198.7 million speakers. We can see that English is the most globally spoken language by almost a billion people. There is a constant demand for English teachers all over the world and this raises a question; how can non-native English-Speaking teachers be effective EFL teachers? In this essay, I hope to answer this question by providing an insight into the various qualities and experiences that a non-native English-Speaking teacher should possess that make them effective English Language teachers. This post...  [Read more]

Mudita Yajnik TEFL Information Teaching Ideas What’s the best way to find out what your students know? Or, how much they’ve been paying attention, or what you need to revisit? Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas ESA is a three-stage methodology where each of the letters represents a particular phase of the lesson. The first one being called the Engage phase, the second the Study phase and the final one the Activate phase. Tamara Jennings Teaching Ideas Are you an English teacher and trying to find suitable material for your lessons? This blog post focuses on media influences in...  [Read more]

Mudita Yajnik TEFL Information Teaching Ideas What’s the best way to find out what your students know? Or, how much they’ve been paying attention, or what you need to revisit? Federico Riva TEFL Information Teaching Ideas ESA is a three-stage methodology where each of the letters represents a particular phase of the lesson. The first one being called the Engage phase, the second the Study phase and the final one the Activate phase. Tamara Jennings Teaching Ideas Are you an English teacher and trying to find suitable material for your lessons? This blog post focuses on media influences in...  [Read more]