Believe Pronunciation

Tue, 05 Feb 2019 Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences The Most Distinct Differences between American and British English When it comes to learning English, non-native speakers can feel quite torn on whether they should learn British English or American English. They have their similarities, but can contrast each other strongly. The differences can be confusing for English speakers as well. The diversity in spelling, pronunciation, and vocabulary can really throw you off. In this article, I will be focusing on these three topics. Let's explore spelling, shall we? Table of Contents Important Spelling Differences Differences in Word Choice Same Word - Different Pronunciation Other Things to Consider Are you ready to teach English abroad? Listen to this blog post Related Articles: This...  [Read more]

Wed, 19 Feb 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Phonetics and Phonology in the ESL Classroom What is phonology? Most students have not even heard about it. Whenever I ask my students whether they know or have ever learned about phonetics, the same answers come out, "No, we don't know about it at all". It is no wonder they reply like this because there is no phonetic teaching lesson in English classes from KG to high school here in my country. As for me, I got to study about this only when I attended college. Even then, it wasn't taught comprehensively and I only learned very little. So I couldn't read nor write phonetic symbols very well. Thus I thought it was the most difficult part of studying English. Table of Contents Reasons to pay attention to phonetics Phonetics in the...  [Read more]

Wed, 11 Mar 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Reading as a Key to Language Acquisition Reading is one of the receptive skills with the other one being a listening skill. According to some scholars, the acquisition of language is believed to be a natural way of acquiring knowledge and learning is that acquired in the classroom. However, for this summative task, I am treating the two the same. Table of Contents Ways of Acquiring a Language Reader's Approach to Reading Parents' Role Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Onias M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Ways of Acquiring a Language Based on this definition, language...  [Read more]

Authorized TEFL Diploma Check out tefl tesol about Authorized TEFL Diploma and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad. You could also be interested in: This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned: Check out ITTT's Blog Posts V.A. - U.S.A. said: Pronunciation problems VietnamMany experts in linguistics agree that in vietnam pronunciation is the weakest area. Many people find Vietnamese English speakers incomprehensible. The main problem is in word final consonants. Some articles state that cluster consonants are as big a problem but we will focus on word final consonants specifically (s) and (z) a voiceless and voiced pair respectively. Most articles with foundational research have complex...  [Read more]

Sat, 24 Nov 2018 Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences The Most Common Problems Students in Italy Face When Learning English According to the EF English Proficiency Index, in the year 2017 Italy ranked last - among European countries - in English proficiency skills. Being an Italian myself and having studied foreign languages up to my Master's Degree, I have progressively grown aware of the main factors which cause Italy to perform so poorly. Other than grammatical gaps, which are not to be analyzed in this context, I have noticed how the extremely limited exposition to spoken words can affect not only the students' ability to understand and follow conversations or arguments, but even the possibility for them to be understood when trying to speak. Table of Contents Lack of Proper...  [Read more]

Fri, 14 Feb 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The Challenges of Teaching EFL as a Non-Native Speaker The status of English as a global language or lingua-franca owes to several diverse factors. As the world has become increasingly globalized, the demand for learning and teaching English has increased drastically and continues to grow. People from all over the world come to seek opportunities in education in the EFL/ESL industry. In this essay, I will attempt to explore the challenges of teaching EFL as a non-native speaker. A further aim in this summative essay is to conduct a general comparison between native and non-native English-speaking teachers (known as NESTs and NNESTs). I will look at this from the perspective of the EFL classroom in Taiwan and will discuss the...  [Read more]

Tue, 24 Mar 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Challenges of Teaching Japanese Students I think teaching is very rewarding, but teaching children are even more rewarding. Table of Contents Cultural Sensitivity Teaching Children and Adults Lesson Planning Teaching Pronunciation Challenges of Teaching Youngsters Teaching Teenagers and Adults Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: I don't think there's anything more beautiful in being able to be part of a child's growth by following the development of his mind and his abilities. The fact that our students are young do n' t mean at all that the teacher should underestimate or overlook something, rather it is one more reason to give the best of yourself. This post was written by our TEFL...  [Read more]

Fri, 18 Oct 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences There Is No L (And Other Differences Between Japanese and English) Throughout high school and college, I mainly focused on learning how to speak Japanese as my second language. Unlike English, Japanese is a fairly phonetic language. Two of its three writing systems, hiragana and katakana, are phonetic. This makes it easy for foreigners to learn because each syllable, also known as sound clusters in some circles, is almost always said exactly how it is spelled. The third writing system, kanji, is not and, as such, is much more difficult for foreigners to learn because kanji are essentially pictures that describe their meaning. They are much more difficult to learn and use in everyday speech. Table of Contents Differences in...  [Read more]

Fri, 25 Oct 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Problems For Adult English Learners From Turkey Learning the English language during adult years is a specific process when a student has reached a certain age, got some kind of profession (occupation), and decided for some specific reasons to learn (improve) English language. Table of Contents Specific purposes Misconception Lack of Confidence Belief in Cultural Difference Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Dinara Y. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Specific purposes For example, the first category of students I came across decided to learn the English language and...  [Read more]

College Recognised TEFL Check out tefl tesol about College Recognised TEFL and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad. You could also be interested in: This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned: Check out ITTT's Blog Posts Z.N. - Malaysia said: Problems_for_Learners_in_MalaysiaMalaysia is a mulitracial and multicultural country, and English would most often be taught to a multilingual, rather than a monolingual group. There have also been recent debates on whether English should be taught as a second or foreign language, with a suggestion that it should be as a second language in the urban areas, and as a foreign language in rural areas, because English is spoken more widely in the cities,...  [Read more]

Legitimate TEFL Centers Check out tefl tesol about Legitimate TEFL Centers and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad. You could also be interested in: This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned: Check out ITTT's Blog Posts C.S - Thailand said: TEFL for non native speakersI?m a thai national born and raised in thailand. Being a non native english speaker, I?ve faced many difficulties in learning and understanding English since the beginning. Pronunciation was difficult, grammar was difficult, and I believe learning and just REMEMBERING all the tenses, modals, and verb forms would have been nearly impossible without the fortunate help I had from many American, Filipino, and European friends,...  [Read more]

Agency Official TEFL Check out tefl tesol about Agency Official TEFL and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad. You could also be interested in: This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned: Check out ITTT's Blog Posts A.C. - Korea said: Phonetics/Phonology Phonology is the study of the sounds by speakers of a particular language. A phoneme is a sound that makes a difference in meaning in a language. Since all students who study language need to be able to perceive and create the sounds that make up words, it is obvious how important the role of phonological knowledge is in learning a second language. Freeman and Freeman (2004) believe that ?students learning English as a second language...  [Read more]

Fri, 03 Apr 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Why is Pronunciation Important in Teaching Business English? Nowadays, English is becoming popular due to advanced technology and more people receiving higher education. That Goods, capital, services, people and even knowledge travels around the world make a common and standard language necessary. English is an ideal one. However, when people do business, they still talk most. A standard or conceivable accent is the first step towards a successful deal. This passage aims at emphasizing the importance of pronunciation in teaching business English. Generally speaking, teaching pronunciation specifically is good for students learning and career development. It is also good for teachers to earn more popularity as well as the...  [Read more]

Centre Internet TEFL Check out tefl tesol about Centre Internet TEFL and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad. You could also be interested in: This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned: Check out ITTT's Blog Posts A.J. - Japan said: Problems for Learners in JapanEnglish is a compulsory subject in all japanese schools and is studied for a minimum of seven years if not longer. Very few of these students, however, will become proficient enough to be considered at an advanced and in many cases not even an intermediate level. Those few that do excel at English are students that are motivated from outside of the classroom and/or have spent time abroad in a country where English is commonly...  [Read more]

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The Importance of Teaching Slang to ESL Students In January, I stood in front of a class of breakthrough English students at a university in Bogotá, Colombia. I'd never taught students in an ESL classroom before, but I was pretty confident having seven years of experience under my belt and a degree in literature. I was naive. I began the lesson with the class that my co-teacher had lent me for the first time. The objective of the lesson was to practice using past tense through storytelling; five minutes into it, I called on a student with his hand in the air. " What up, My Nigga!" He said it and I almost lost all of my composure on the first day while I should have been thinking about building rapport. Table of Contents Tool for...  [Read more]

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Grammar as The Soul of The English Language Learning a new language can be many things: memorizing new words, understanding foreign movies and foreign music, meeting foreigners, playing fun games, enrich our unique culture, exercising our brains, or getting a new job, but overall learning a new language is structuring our thoughts in a new different form. Speaking a new language means thinking about our communication with new structures. Those structures are called language grammar. Thus grammar is the soul of the language. Table of Contents What's it like learning a foreign language Communication What is Grammar Are you ready to teach English abroad or online? Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say...  [Read more]

Wed, 25 Dec 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Is Peer Learning Useful in an ESL Classroom? I believe that peer learning can be very helpful in English as a Second Language classroom. I believe that as a language learner there is nothing more helpful than learning from people around you. I have found that humans are very social beings just by the nature of being human. I believe that we learn best by interacting with people and that this translates especially when learning other languages. I think that it is very beneficial for students at any level to learn from each other to build their skills in every way. I think that having students talk to each other is important for improving verbal communication and that having peers correct each other's papers is a great way to help all...  [Read more]

Thu, 14 Feb 2019 Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences The Most Common Problems Students in Russia Face When Learning English It is not a secret for anyone that native speakers of any language always easily identify "non-native" when they hear at least a few words spoken by them. Often native speakers are able to fairly accurately determine the country from which the person came, based on his pronunciation. This happens due to the fact that it is common for all of us to use the sounds of our native language in the pronunciation of words of a foreign language, as well as to use articulation models we know from childhood the position of the organs of speech (lips, tongue, etc.). Table of Contents The "Russian mistakes" Muting voiced consonants in the endings. Replacing long vowels with short...  [Read more]

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Rules of Phonetics and Phonology in ESL Teaching In my experience tutoring students in English as a foreign language, the most overlooked learning points were undoubtedly phonetics, phonology, and their connection to pronunciation. Occasionally, there would be a few students who specifically asked for materials that would allow them to perfect or improve their English accent. Some students even requested to receive tutoring in different accents such as the Australian accent. No matter what the request was, it became clear to me over time that the missing link when teaching pronunciation was its connection to phonology and phonetics. From this point on, I became incredibly interested in this topic. Table of Contents My Course Research...  [Read more]

College Online TEFL Check out tefl tesol about College Online TEFL and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad. You could also be interested in: This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned: Check out ITTT's Blog Posts Z.K. - USA said: British English American EnglishThere are myriad differences between English as it is used in the united kingdom and English as it is used in the united states. These differences have developed over centuries from a common root. While some may believe that American English diverged from British English, which has remained unchanged, this is not the case. Both dialects have mutated over the years and that is what accounts for their differences more than anything...  [Read more]

Cert TEFL Check out tefl tesol about Cert TEFL and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad. You could also be interested in: This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned: Check out ITTT's Blog Posts V.R. & P.L - Laos said: British English vs American EnglishIntro English is spoken worldwide, either as the mother tongue or second language. Consequently a substantial variety of different dialects exist in the English language. Two most widely recognised of these dialects used when teaching TEFL are British English (BE), defined as the form of English used in the united kingdom, and American English (AE) the particular form of English used in the united states History By 1921 the British...  [Read more]

Program TESOL TEFL Check out tefl tesol about Program TESOL TEFL and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad. You could also be interested in: This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned: Check out ITTT's Blog Posts F.D. - U.S. A. said: Problems for learners in a country of your choiceSunny skies, palm trees, a warm breeze are typical of this area. It´s September and the classrooms in spain are filled with students of all ages ready to learn or continue to learn the Universal Language, English. The students come into the classroom and sit down. A brief introduction and question, ´´I am from the U.S.A., where are you from?´´, the response in most cases ´´I am from Espain.´´ and here...  [Read more]

Affordable TEFL Program Check out tefl tesol about Affordable TEFL Program and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad. You could also be interested in: This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned: Check out ITTT's Blog Posts A.B. - U.S.A. said: PROBLEMS WITH ENGLISH LEARNING IN SOUTH KOREAProblems South koreans have trying to learn English is a topic I could discuss for hours. I have been working in public middles schools in South korea for about two years now, so I have a lot of insight into the problems, as well as strong opinions about the issues. For the purpose of this paper, I am going to touch upon a few problematic areas for koreans trying to learn English. Among the areas I am going...  [Read more]

Tue, 14 May 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences How to Get Ready for Unforeseen Circumstances in The Classroom? There can be a lot of difficulties a teacher might face in the future lesson. You might have to manage a class without any help or you might have students from different nationalities, ages, interests or so on. I believe, however, that most of the problems you might have would be solved if you planned the lessons carefully in advance. There are some reasons to support my idea. Table of Contents What's your lesson goal? You can manage your class anyways Know your students Are you ready to teach ESL classes? Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Eri S. What's your lesson goal? First, you can find what you should exactly do in a...  [Read more]

Fri, 05 Jun 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Using TEFL Techniques and Experience in Online Teaching Teaching English as a foreign language has some very specific techniques as opposed to general classroom instruction. Just a few of these techniques include not correcting students immediately, encouraging a more open classroom, and using presentations or group work to present material. Table of Contents Engagement Phonetics and Phonology Supportive Materials Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course today! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Maggie H. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Engagement Like any teaching, it is critical to get the students engaged, but...  [Read more]

Wed, 27 May 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Phonetics/Phonology: Why Teaching this Neglected Aspect of Language is Important I chose this topic for my essay because it is not something I had ever given much thought to. As a native speaker, I don't recall studying correct pronunciation in school along with other aspects of language learning such as grammar and vocabulary. Correct, or at least acceptable and understandable, the pronunciation was something that just happened. Table of Contents Why is Teaching Phonetics Important? What is the Best Way to Teach Phonetics? Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course today! Related Articles: I was initially somewhat surprised when I saw that an entire online module had been devoted to the topic, but as I read the module,...  [Read more]

Thu, 06 Jun 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Personal Experience in Teaching Multilingual Classes in the US Having previously been a small business owner, I began teaching an English conversation class as a volunteer at my local library just over two years ago to fulfill a community service requirement for my degree program. The experience of teaching English as a second language has been so personally rewarding that I am now pursuing it as a career change. Table of Contents Teaching Multilingual Classes Anticipated Problems Beginning of My Teaching Career Students Feedback Are you ready to start your teaching career? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: Listen to this blog post: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Daniel E. Please note that this blog...  [Read more]

Mon, 15 Jul 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Teaching Speaking to Chinese English Learners The following essay is a summative task for my TEFL certification course. I have chosen the topic "Problems for learners in a country of your choice" and the country of focus is China. In the essay, I would like to answer the question "How to help Chinese learners improve their conversation skills?" Table of Contents Listen to this blog post: State of the problem Phonetic System Chinese Censorship Culture Ways to Teach Speaking Intonation and Stress Speaking Activities Motivation Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course today! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nastja S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent...  [Read more]

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences The Best Thing I Have Learned From My 60-hour TEFL/TESOL Course Where do I begin? I have learned so much from my 60-hour TEFL course with ITTT. Table of Contents Are you ready to teach English abroad? Related Articles: Listen to this blog post I have learned about everything from what it takes to become a great teacher and of course what not to do in the classroom. I also learned a lot about what makes a student a great learner. I believe this is very important as well since good learners progress more rapidly in the class. That rapid learning makes good learners and most of all more successful students. In turn that builds confidence in the teacher on behalf of the students. Of course, the teacher ends up with more confidence in...  [Read more]

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas How Can Reading Influence Language Acquisition? Spanish is my mother tongue; however, I also managed to learn English and French at a young age. Both of these languages stuck with me even years after I had left the countries where I learned them. Table of Contents Language Exposure Period Modern Technologies Influence of Books Speaking Vocabulary Writing Listening Speaking Grammar Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Jorge P. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Language Exposure Period Despite staying in those countries for a short time (less than a year), it surprised me how,...  [Read more]