How Can I Teach English As A Second Language

Wed, 05 Aug 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The Differences of Acquiring Mandarin Chinese as the First Language and English as the Second This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Susan T S G. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Table of Contents Background Definition of First vs Second Language My Own Experiences with Acquired vs Learning Languages Sentence Structures Verbs and Alphabets Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! Background Singapore is a multilingual and multi-ethnic society. We have four official languages Malay, English, Chinese (Mandarin), and Tamil, with Malay as our...  [Read more]

Thu, 11 Nov 2021 Hadassah Roberts Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Strategies On How To Learn A Language From Scratch: Tips For the English Teacher Learning a second language is something many English teachers need to undertake. Having good strategies to use is key to learning successfully. Table of Contents How to Learn a Second Language from Scratch Start at the very beginning. Ways to Learn Your First Vocabulary Strategies On How to Learn to Use Vocabulary in Practical Ways Final Steps in Learning A Language Conclusion Over to You Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! The need to learn a second language is a growing need as international travel and living increases. This is especially true for English teachers. An estimated...  [Read more]

Qualifications Easy TEFL Check out tefl tesol about Qualifications Easy 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 G.R. - Canada said: TEFL for non native English speaking teachersLearning a language is learning a language. As a child, we hear and listen and listen again before we dare utter our first word. We first babble and hope we are going to be understood, making sounds which only Mom can guess the meaning of because she sees the crying need more than understands a linguistic expression. Some few years later, the baby can teach English. I went through this process, except...  [Read more]

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 Federico Riva TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas How Will My Personal Teaching Experiences as a Russian Teacher Help Me as an English Teacher? You have to put the emphasis on the right syllable," I said, finishing my demonstration. Table of Contents Challenges in the Second Class: Timing and Assumptions Learning from Mistakes: Lessons for Effective Language Teaching Apology and Humility: A Turning Point Valuable Lessons for Language Instructors Carrying Lessons Forward: Teaching English with Confidence Are you ready to teach English as a foreign language? Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! My very first class of students learning Russian had expressed their disdain for their books with stress notes...  [Read more]

Mon, 20 May 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The Differences Between Learning Your First Language vs. A Second One Learning a second language can feel like stepping into a whole new world compared to the way you learned your first language. When you learn your first language, you take in that language in a very natural and organic way compared to the way you might obtain your second language. The first language you learn is what you hear from infancy as you grow up, as it's the language you hear at home, on tv, at school and etc. And your second language will mostly be something you are taught in classroom which is not the same type of experience that you get from learning in your actual living environment. Table of Contents Extra knowledge Differences in concepts Cultural...  [Read more]

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Why Does ESL Education Impacts Language Acquisition? 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. Table of Contents My Personal ESL Experience Working as an ESL Teacher International Marriage Motivation Challenge First Language Acquisition Do you want to teach English abroad or online? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Somy L. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the...  [Read more]

Tue, 12 Nov 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Qualities of a Good ESL Teacher Becoming a teacher of any nature requires a good amount of skills, but becoming an English as a foreign or second language teacher requires a special batch of skills. All types of teachers should have the same general qualities; communication skills, patience, good listening skills, the ability to connect and build relationships with students, hard work ethic, preparation, and organization, and be friendly, personable, and approachable. Being a teacher means interacting with people for most of, or part of the day, and understandably sharing your knowledge, with the students. Table of Contents Classroom Style Understanding Students' Challenges My View on Teaching Qualities Do you want to teach English...  [Read more]

Tue, 21 May 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Foreign Language Experience in The Teaching Practice Although many ESL teachers do have foreign language experience, many are not aware of how much this experience benefits them. Sure, if they are teaching English in Japan, having Japanese language experience is helpful for daily life situations, but how could it bleed into the classroom as well? And the language experience doesn't necessarily have to involve the first language of the students, either. Having foreign language experiences allows the teacher to understand just how hard learning a language is, can understand where certain errors may come from, see English from a different perspective, and gives them a stronger grasp on English grammar. Table of Contents Having...  [Read more]

Thu, 28 Mar 2019 Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences My Experience of Learning a Second Language as an American Second language acquisition in native English speakers from the United States is one aspect of American culture that is not widely discussed and seemingly overlooked in terms of its importance. Many factors contribute to the United States' largely monolingual culture despite have a "melting pot" of sorts with a population comprised of multiple ethnicities and nationalities. This culture of English speakers points to strong geographic features of its continental location and debatably its position in the world's economic index and political landscape. Table of Contents How language learning in Europe differs from America The difficulties for second language learners in America...  [Read more]

Do TEFL teachers need a second language? The simple answer is no, you do not need to have any knowledge or experience of languages other than English to take a TEFL course or to become an EFL teacher. The ability to speak other languages is not required as the vast majority of TEFL classrooms around the world rely on the communicative approach to English teaching that specifies that English is the only language used in the classroom. Table of Contents How can I teach English if I don't speak the student's language? Does it help if a teacher has learnt a foreign language? Should I learn the local language while teaching English abroad? How can I teach English if I don't speak the student's language? In a diverse EFL classroom, where students may hail from varied linguistic...  [Read more]

Fri, 27 Sep 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences How Learning Another Language Can Benefit Your Career Prospects Learning a second language, whether its English, Mandarin, or any language at all, can help you in regards to your future career prospects and/or opportunities. Many people from non-English speaking countries move to English speaking countries in the hopes of finding better employment or to provide their children with the opportunity to learn English and thus increasing their chances to be successful. Table of Contents English in Business World English for Adults English for Younger Learners Job Opportunities and Perks Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: Listen to this blog post This post was written by our TEFL certification...  [Read more]

Tue, 26 Nov 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas First Language Acquisition and How it Informs Our Approach to Teaching Second Language This topic, in particular, is of great interest to me as someone who managed to acquire two languages (Mandarin Chinese and English) at a high level. For me the journey was completely painless and the word 'acquired' is fitting since I personally never felt I had to actively undergo a 'study' to learn either language, but this statement is dependant on how we define studying and learning languages, and in turn: teaching languages. People often use the phrase 'It's like learning a whole new language' when trying to express how difficult and confusing it is to learn something, yet learning new languages shouldn't be harder than learning any other...  [Read more]

Wed, 19 Aug 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Why I Wanted to Complete a TEFL Course Teaching is a profession that has always been appealing to me. Being able to share your knowledge and witness improvements with the students must be quite satisfactory. Moreover, there is quite a lot of psychology involved, and I am very keen on this topic. Each student is different from its background, culture, ideas, and emotions. Table of Contents My Experience of Learning a Second Language Teaching Qualities Personal Qualities Do you want to teach English abroad or online? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Sean C. Please note that this blog post might not...  [Read more]

Wed, 17 Mar 2021 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas The Necessity of Understanding An EFL Student's Learning Experience As teachers, we often assume that we understand what our students are going through and that we can relate to the experience of learning in school because we have been there ourselves. However, many of us who teach English as a foreign language require a different empathy element to relate to our students truly. Learning a new language is a humbling experience, and doing it as a foreigner in a foreign culture is even more humbling. The question is, how many language educators can relate to this? Personally, though I do not know how many TEFL teachers have experienced a foreign language and culture for an extended period, I have had the privilege to...  [Read more]

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas How I Solved the Pronunciation Problem of the Voiced 'TH' with Chinese Students In my experience with teaching Chinese students, most pronounce the unvoiced 'TH' sound correctly. To account for the difference in sound between the unvoiced 'TH' and the voiced 'TH', most students seem to have developed the habit of placing their tongue either on the back of their front teeth or on the roof of the mouth immediately behind the front teeth to create a plosive 'TH' sound which sounds most closely like and' sound. Table of Contents Defining the problem Understanding physiology of the sound How to work on pronunciation online Memory games Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our...  [Read more]

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas 4 Main Problems of Building Reading Habits in EFL Students Even in the first language, it can be difficult to get children reading. There are many reasons they may turn their nose up at a book. In some way, I think most of those reasons can be boiled down to boredom. Table of Contents Personal Experience The Importance of a Good Example Common Challenges 1. First, it's still, quiet activity. 2. Second, for very young children, the act of reading itself can present a challenge, and the content of the book must be worth the effort they made to understand the words. 3. Third, children must be presented with a variety of book topics. 4. Lastly, reading should not be used as a punishment if you can help it. How do you instill a love for...  [Read more]

Tue, 17 Dec 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Native Language Experience in Second Language Acquisition A language is a tool for people to communicate, so there must be some connections among different languages, include similarities and differences. If we can use their similarities properly and pay attention to differences, different languages can be interlinked. Therefore, the first language not only has a positive impact but also hurts second language acquisition. We call these effects 'language transfer'. There are two kinds of language transfer, positive transfer, and negative transfer. Table of Contents Benefits and Drawbacks Research in the Field Anticipated Problems Results Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was...  [Read more]

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences What are Some Common Linguistic Problems As we all know that the process of learning how to speak our first and second or third languages are different, we acquire the first language and learn second and third languages. When we speak our mother language, we can just say it automatically, we acquire our mother language from our environment, before we learn words and sentences, but when we learn a second language, we inevitably need to learn the vocabularies, clauses, sentences, grammar, etc first, then try to translate the second language to our mother language, which is complex. As far as common linguistic problems are concerned, I think there are a lot of problems to consider. Here are some of the most commoner linguistic...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Liza is a translator, freelancer and ESL teacher from Russia. She had been teaching in a Chinese bilingual school for more than two years and recently moved to Thiland to run her blog about teaching and freelance job. Read my articles How Punishment Influences A Student's Motivation | ITTT | TEFL Blog Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In this blog post, our recent TEFL graduate considers punishment as ineffective method and offers some alternatives to it. Common Pronunciation Mistakes of Japanese Students | ITTT | TEFL Blog Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Our TEFL graduate listed a number of pronunciation issues occuring around Japanese learners of English. Reading as a Part of Leadership | ITTT | TEFL Blog Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This...  [Read more]

Mon, 23 Mar 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Being a Good English Teacher Even if You’re not a Native Speaker As a Spaniard in love with languages, I can't start this essay without saying anything other than, "it's not who the teacher is, but the will of teaching that they have". Through all these years of learning English, I just know for sure that a learner learns more when they live in and with the language throughout each day. They need to become hooked to it, and it does not matter if the person who transmits this feeling is a native speaker or not. Table of Contents Modern Opportunities Benefits of a Non-Native English Speaking Teacher Downsides Advantages of Native Speakers Is it fair enough? Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related...  [Read more]

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The Benefits of Completing a TEFL Course Many people who begin teaching English as a second language are new to the teaching world, and thus many times, need basic strategies and information on teaching. For example, I have entered education upon moving to Italy. My previous work experience was in marketing/events for large corporations and nonprofits, with no experience in teaching anything, let alone English as a second language. While I have a very good grasp of the English language and speak it well, how to teach it to others is a different ballgame. Hence, taking the TEFL courses to obtain a certification was essential in my development as a teacher. Table of Contents Teaching Methodology and Planning Grammar Explanation...  [Read more]

Thu, 20 Jun 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Peculiarities of English: How it Affects Our Understanding When Learning English as a spoken language has become the international standard for people as a first or second language, whether it be for business, science, or just recreationally. This, of course, means that a lot of people are learning the language as a second language. For anyone who knows English as a native language, you know that it has many difficult learning curves along the way to the true understanding that make for many difficulties in how new learners communicate. This essay will touch on a few examples that people undoubtedly run into when learning English, and why it's so difficult to master. Table of Contents Reasons to Confusion Spoken English Written...  [Read more]

Do TEFL teachers need a second language? The simple answer is no, you do not need to have any knowledge or experience of languages other than English to take a TEFL course or to become an EFL teacher. The ability to speak other languages is not required as the vast majority of TEFL classrooms around the world rely on the communicative approach to English teaching that specifies that English is the only language used in the classroom. How can I teach English if I don't speak the student's language? In multilingual classrooms where the students could have a dozen or more different first languages, being able to communicate in one or two of them would obviously be of no particular advantage. In monolingual classrooms you may also find that students are more inclined to revert to their...  [Read more]

Thu, 05 Dec 2019 Federico Riva Teaching Ideas How Teachers Benefit From a Second Language Learning Experience Language acquisition is not an easy feat for anyone at any age, whether you are learning your first language as a baby or your fourth language as an adult. Learning foreign languages will always be difficult however, having a teacher that understands the challenge with first-hand knowledge, can make a huge difference to students. Table of Contents Ways of Acquiring Languages Alumni Experience Career Opportunities Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Randi B. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Ways of Acquiring Languages...  [Read more]

Wed, 25 Dec 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Tips on How to Help Students Cope With Stress As an English Speaking Person, I have had the stress of learning French as a Second Language, so I understand fully how difficult and stressful it can be to learn another language. I am here today to give successful ways to help overcome stress when students are learning English as a second language. Table of Contents Personal Qualities Teaching Approach Let's look at some different age groups and what can help them with stress. Pre-Teens to Teenagers Business Class Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Heather C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or...  [Read more]

Wed, 29 May 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences The Best Thing I’ve Learned From My TEFL Training There are many good things I have learned from the TEFL course I have been taking this past month. Things I had never considered before as a skill is to be a good teacher. I had mentioned it before in my tests that I did not realize how important it is to have those skills until I started taking the course and had read about it. So I guess I am saying that the best thing I have learned from my TEFL course is how to be a good teacher and it reminded me of my previous teachers and how well they taught me and my fellow classmates. Table of Contents Course Structure Useful Suggestions Do you want to learn new TEFL skills? Related Articles: Listen to this blog post: This post was...  [Read more]

Tue, 24 May 2022 Tamara Jennings Teaching Ideas Media Influences in Assisting with ESL Learning While there is great value in learning a second language, it can also be quite time-consuming. It also requires a good amount of patience and determination. Thanks to technology, the bright side is that learning doesn't always have to feel like work! Continue reading to find out ways to use media to your advantage in assisting students with enjoyable ways to gain their target language skills. Table of Contents Music Social Media YouTube Conclusion: Are you ready to teach English as a foreign language? Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! I love Spanish, and when I set out to really learn the language in 2019, I started by taking two...  [Read more]

Thu, 19 Mar 2020 Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas The English Language Taking the World by Storm In a globalized and fast-growing world, the English language has grown to be considerably important. But let's analyze a bit further into the topic. The English language is the second most spoken language in the world only after the Chinese mandarin. With English speakers all around the globe, It's been a big part of tourism and other industries around the world. There are many reasons why the English language has grown to be so important in the past few years. The great development of a great powerful and influential country like the United States is one of the main reasons. Media from this country is consumed everywhere and has gained the interest of people from different cultures,...  [Read more]

What should I teach English beginners? When teaching English to absolute beginners, it is pivotal to start with foundational elements. Begin with essential vocabulary - items like family names, household objects, basic adjectives, and common places. Introduce them to subject pronouns, commonly used verbs, and foundational sentence structures. While the challenge is real, many English teachers find this level especially rewarding. Remember, every word they grasp is a significant achievement, so using engaging and interactive methods can make the learning process enjoyable and effective. Table of Contents How do I start teaching English to total beginners? How do I teach English pronunciation to total beginners? How do I quickly build vocabulary for complete beginner students of English?...  [Read more]

What should I teach English beginners? If you have never taught English to complete novices before, the prospect of spending an entire lesson speaking with students who don't comprehend a single word you say may seem frightening. Teaching absolute beginners differs from teaching other courses, as any ESL teacher will tell you. It can be difficult, but it may also be one of the most enjoyable and gratifying language levels to teach. Every new word your students learn is important at this level, and the greatest approach to teaching it is to be as creative and funny as possible. How do I start teaching English to total beginners? Generally, teaching the letters and numbers should be one of your first priorities. You will lay a solid foundation for everything else your students will learn by...  [Read more]