Teaching English As A Foreign

Fri, 30 Aug 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Young Learners Teaching English as a Foreign Language in a Kindergarten could be interesting, challenging and rewarding at the same time. The outcome of the experience mostly depends on the following but not limited to the school environment, norms and cultures of the country, attitude of the teacher, rules and regulations of the school to mention but a few. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Olamiposi Blessing I. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Kindergarten Teachers Many kindergarten teachers have made the miracle of learning languages possible with their effort, extra hours, and care because It is...  [Read more]

Wed, 23 Feb 2022 Charli HelloGrads TEFL Information How to Get into Teaching English as a Foreign Language Do you want to use your skills and knowledge to educate others? Do you feel that you could connect with young people and change their lives? If so, maybe teaching is the career for you. The HelloGrads team has interviewed a number of teachers (including TEFL teachers) to find out about their experience, the massive appeal of a teaching career, and the various training routes. Here are some of the things they told us: What are the benefits of teaching? But more than this… A fulfilling career ‘As a teacher, you really feel that you’re making a difference. Some of the children’s home lives are not so happy, or you ignite a spark in them. The visible results and reactions...  [Read more]

Fri, 26 Oct 2018 Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas 10 Tips When Teaching English as a Foreign Language to Children Most EFL teachers abroad will - at some point in their career - teach children. The English education market catered to young learners is a billion dollar business and many countries hire teachers to fill this need. What you can do to brace yourself besides taking our 50-hour specialized TEFL course in Teaching English to Young Learners is to take the following 10 tips to heart. Listen to this blog post: Don’t Think it’s a Piece of Cake Teaching numbers and colors seems like the easiest job in the world, right? Wrong! The truth is, teaching children demands a great deal of energy and creativity. Kids are always on the go and will keep you on your toes. These classes can...  [Read more]

Thu, 02 May 2019 Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences Using the ESA Method in Teaching English as a Foreign Language ESA stands for Engage, Study, and Activate. It is an effective and logical method used to teach new Language (Jeremy Harmer). By using ESA, it gives teachers the flexibility to conduct a classroom in an organized and productive way. ESA is extremely important when it comes to teaching, in the sense that it keeps the students interested, motivated and eager to learn more. ESA is particularly appropriate for trainees and new teachers, hence the course is based around. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Evelyn S. The Engage Stage This is the first phase/ stage that teachers should always start the lesson with. In the engage stage, the teacher tries to...  [Read more]

Tue, 17 Dec 2019 Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Things I Wished I Knew When Teaching English as a Foreign Language in a Kindergarten If someone asks me what I think about teaching kindergarten children as a native English teacher (NET), I would say that it is one of the happiest and most rewarding experiences that I have ever received. But, if someone asked me what I thought about teaching kindergarten children when I first started, I would have responded differently. I would say, “I can’t seem to get my students’ attention,” or “Some of my students still have trouble learning new words.” It was after a few weeks into teaching and some wonderful advice from my coworkers I realized that I had overlooked the fact that the students’ age, perception, and interests...  [Read more]

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 Linda Dunsmore Alumni Experiences Why I Love Teaching English as a Foreign Language Abroad - A TEFL Alumni's ESL Story When I started teaching English 25 years ago, I honestly did not know what I was doing. I naively assumed that it was enough to know the language myself. But soon I came to understand, that there was definitely more to teaching. This post was written by our ITTT graduate Karin W. Different needs and motives of students My first student ever was brought to me at the tender age of eight months and his mother’s aim was to get him accepted in a bilingual kindergarten. Since I already had children of my own at that time, I could easily deal with the situation. But soon after that, I was asked to teach a group of children aged six, and at first, I found...  [Read more]

English Grammar - Future Perfect - Usages - Teaching English as a Foreign Language   This training video from one of ITTT's teaching English as a foreign language courses reviews the usage of the future perfect tense. This is used to talk about actions that will be completed by a point in the future. "I will have finished my TEFL course by the end of the year" If you are interested in teaching English as a foreign language the first thing you should think about is getting qualified. Many EFL employers require their teachers to have some form of teaching qualification and a 120-hour TEFL certificate meets that requirement. Follow the link above to browse the selection of TEFL courses that ITTT has to offer. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of...  [Read more]

English Grammar - Future Perfect - Teaching Ideas - Teach English as a Foreign Language   This video from one of ITTT's teach English as a foreign language courses covers three teaching ideas for the future perfect tense. The future perfect is used to talk about things that will have been completed by a certain date in the future. The first idea involves asking students the following question "What will you have done by ...?" with an appropriate time in the future. For example: "What will you have done by the time you are 25?" "I will have become an English teacher". The second idea involves giving students monthly calendars to complete and asking them to say what they will have done by the end of the month. The last idea involves asking questions about a famous person and what they...  [Read more]

Classroom Management for Teaching English as a Foreign Language - Grouping Students   Our next consideration is going to be how we actually group our students. There are perhaps three types of grouping arrangements that we can consider and within those we'll have a look at the potential positive and negatives of those particular arrangements. So firstly, what arrangements can we use? We could arrange our group as a whole class so all of their activities will be done as a whole class. They could be working as individuals and the final grouping arrangement we'll consider is that of small groups or indeed the use of pair work. So for each of these types of arrangements what are the potential positive and negatives with that type of arrangement? For the whole class certainly one of the...  [Read more]

Classroom Management for Teaching English as a Foreign Language - Desk Layout   So now we'll consider the actual classroom arrangements themselves in terms of the physical desk layout. There are possibly three main types of arrangements that are used within classrooms and we're going to indicate the desks here as being boxes and the arrangements of the students within those desks will be blue crosses. So here we have the desks ranged in rows and the students sitting within those rows. The second arrangement could be the use of horseshoes or semi circles and finally the use of individual desks. So for each of these arrangements what are the potential advantages and disadvantages of arranging our seating in this way? Let's take the rows first of all. One of the potential advantages...  [Read more]

Classroom Management for Teaching English as a Foreign Language - Rapport Building   Our next consideration is going to be building and maintaining rapport. The importance of rapport is that within our communicative activities, we're asking the students to talk to each other. If they feel comfortable with each other and with us, then that interaction is much more likely to be useful. So how do we actually build and maintain rapport? Well, it's easiest if we consider two stages of the course itself. What we can do at the start of the course and what we can do throughout the course to help build and maintain that rapport. So at the start of the course, it's very useful if we ask the students to create a name card and to make that name card visible to everyone. Secondly we need to try...  [Read more]

Classroom Management for Teaching English as a Foreign Language - Giving Instructions   Our next consideration is that of giving instructions to our students. In order for those students to effectively carry out an activity, we need to make sure we have given clear and unambiguous instructions. It's also very important to check that the students understand the activity before you start. If you've done that work correctly then the teacher shouldn't need to say anything once an activity has started because the students are very clear about what they're supposed to be doing. So some ideas when giving instructions. As we've mentioned use simple language. Secondly, rather than trying to explain an activity, then do a demonstration which is visual. Thirdly, try to use wherever possible...  [Read more]

Classroom Management for Teaching English as a Foreign Language - Classroom Arrangement   The dynamics of classroom interaction is often dictated by the arrangement of the classroom itself and the way in which the classroom is arranged could depend upon a number of factors and they might include things such as the age of the students, so for example we're unlikely to have the same arrangement for adult learners as we would have for young learners. It could also depend upon the actual physical space available. The physical space may determine how we have to arrange our classroom to maximize the opportunity for interaction and so forth. It will also depend on what material is available and by material in this case we're talking about the actual desks and chairs and so on and so...  [Read more]

Classroom Management for Teaching English as a Foreign Language - Teacher Talk Time   When considering Teacher Talk Time, we can perhaps look at the major advantage and disadvantage of the teacher actually talking. The major advantage is that you as the teacher are usually the only real model for the language, the source of correct English. So at some stages, your talking time is very important to the students. So when you?re modeling language, that use of Teacher Talk Time can be very advantageous. There are major disadvantages to overusing Teacher Talk Time, however, and perhaps the major one is that whenever the teacher is talking, the students are listening and if the students are listening, then they themselves cannot be talking. So, Teacher Talk Time reduces the opportunity...  [Read more]

Classroom Management for Teaching English as a Foreign Language - Giving Individual Attention   Our next main issue is going to be that of giving students individual attention. Here many classroom management and leaving potential discipline problems can be avoided by applying some simple rules to giving your students attention. The first one is to think about the way in which you ask questions. Don't ask questions in a predictable order. If you just go around the class asking questions from one person to the next then the person at the end of the class will know that it's going to be some time before you actually get to them. So try to mix up the way in which you're asking questions. In terms of answers to questions don't allow individual students to dominate all of the answers....  [Read more]

Classroom Management for Teaching English as a Foreign Language - Common Issues   There are some other classroom management issues that we need to consider and they may include issues such as writing on the board, giving students individual attention, the use of teacher talk time, the way in which we should give instructions to our students, the building and maintaining of rapport with our students, and finally the one that perhaps most new teachers particularly spend a lot of time worrying and thinking about, is the issue of classroom discipline. So what we'd like to do is to take each of these in turn and look at some of the major issues surrounding these classroom management issues. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL...  [Read more]

Classroom Management for Teaching English as a Foreign Language - Using Students' Names   It is very important that whenever we?re doing an activity that we use the students names wherever possible when we're asking for feedback and so on and so forth. There are a number of benefits to using the students? names and they can include helping to actually organize the class itself, certainly to acknowledge when a student has given the correct answer and so forth, to indicate who should respond, rather than just asking a general question to the whole class. By using the names we can ask an individual to respond to that particular question. One point to note here is that if you are going to ask an individual student it is very useful if you put their name at the end of the question. This...  [Read more]

Classroom Management for Teaching English as a Foreign Language - Writing on the Board   One of the major ideas here when writing on the board, is that we need to be aware that whenever we're using the board to write down information, we should not be talking and whenever we are talking we should not be writing on the board. This will inevitably lead to what's known as dead time when nothing is being said as we're putting information on the board. This dead time is not a problem but we can actually minimize it by using a number of techniques. We could use pre-prepared material. So we put information onto large pieces of paper and then instead of writing on the board, we actually stick those materials onto the board as we go through the class. Another idea is to actually ask...  [Read more]

Classroom Management for Teaching English as a Foreign Language - Use of Eyes, Voice & Gesture   This presentation is going to focus on the section of classroom management. We could start with a definition of classroom management as being the skill of organizing the class individual students within that class and what takes place within the class. Perhaps one of the most important resources for achieving these things is you and in terms of you there are a number of things that you can use to help with the classroom management and they include though they're not limited to the use of your eyes the use of your voice and the use of gesture. So let's take each of these in turn and see how they can be used to help with their management of the classroom. So starting with our eyes....  [Read more]

Course Online: 170-hr course in Teaching English as a foreign language with online specialization with tutor support (for teaching abroad & online)     170-hr TEFL Certificate with tutor (Specialization in Teaching Online) Our 170-hour Teaching English as a Foreign Language with Online Specialization has been designed for those who would like to gain a qualification to enter the TEFL/TESOL employment market and wish to maximize their options. Through this course we will give you the knowledge and skills needed to teach English in both classroom and online settings. The course is taken in two parts: First, our 120-hour certification is completed. This is followed by a further 50-hours of study looking at the particular skills needed to teach English online. One added benefit...  [Read more]

Charli HelloGrads Charli is a researcher and content creator for HelloGrads, and also runs a wedding videography business. In her spare time, she enjoys travel (to just about anywhere), swimming (for exercise and fun) and wandering around London. Read my articles How to Get into Teaching English as a Foreign Language | ITTT | TEFL Blog Charli HelloGrads TEFL Information Do you want to use your skills and knowledge to educate others? Do you feel that you could connect with young people and change their lives? If so, maybe teaching is the career for you.  [Read more]

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences The Difference Between Teaching ESL and Teaching EFL In my experience, many teachers are not really sure about the difference between teaching ESL and teaching EFL in the classroom. In this post I will try to explain both situations and give some insight into each as they are actually quite distinct. This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Amal S. The Basic Difference ESL refers to teaching English as a Second Language in a English-speaking country where the student's native language is not English, while EFL refers to teaching English as a Foreign Language in a country where English is not the primary language. Potential Problems of Both Situations In the ESL classroom, students are often from different countries,...  [Read more]

Tue, 04 Jun 2019 Jon ITTT Destinations Top Tips for Teaching in English-Speaking Countries Most people who want to earn a TEFL/TESOL certificate will be planning to teach English in a country that does not speak English as its first language. This is not surprising - the vast majority of jobs available for English teachers are bound to be in countries where the local population does not speak English. However, this does not mean there are no opportunities to teach English in your home country if you are a native English speaker. From working with newly arrived immigrants to teaching international students, there are plenty of jobs available for those who have the right to work in these countries. Finding jobs in the USA If you are looking for work as an ESOL teacher in the United...  [Read more]

Thu, 08 Aug 2019 Jon ITTT Destinations Top Tips for Teaching English in Latin America Whether you are a newly qualified teacher or are simply looking to move on to a new country after teaching for some time, it is important to research the requirements for English teachers in your chosen destination. Finding out what qualifications are needed, whether you need a visa before arriving etc. in advance will help you to create a successful plan and avoid disappointment farther down the road. This article looks at the requirements needed for teaching in Latin America. Listen to this blog post: Latin America is a good destination if you don’t have a degree With regard to qualifications the majority of countries in the region will require at least a TEFL certificate. While preferred, a...  [Read more]

Thu, 08 Aug 2019 Jon ITTT Destinations Top Tips for Teaching English without a Degree One question many people considering becoming a TEFL teacher ask is whether it is possible to teach English abroad without a university degree. The answer to this question is simply, yes. While there certainly are some countries and individual schools that do require TEFL teachers to have a degree, in the vast majority of countries it is not a requirement by governments or employers. Listen to this blog post: Below I look at the different regions of the world where you can work as an English teacher without having a university degree. Bear in mind that labour and immigration requirements for any country are always subject to change and that you should always contact your local consulate for the...  [Read more]

Tue, 27 Feb 2018 Linda Dunsmore Destinations The 10 Best Destinations for Teaching English Abroad in 2018 2018 is the perfect year to go and see the world. Currently, there are around 1.75 billion people speaking and learning English around the world and researchers say that by 2020 more than two billion people will speak and learn English. This means, now is the perfect time to embark on your adventure of teaching English abroad. Whether you are looking for opportunities in Asia, South America, the Middle East or Europe, qualified English teachers are hired everywhere. Even English-speaking countries have a never-before-seen demand for ESL teachers. The best part? No prior teaching experience is required to get hired. All you need is the will to explore the world and oftentimes an...  [Read more]

Wed, 07 Oct 2020 Sahil Gazi TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Linguistics for ESL Teachers Anyone who has studied linguistics or is a linguist has often been faced with the question, “so how many languages do you speak?” A point of short-lived frustration in these scenarios, linguists are often mistaken for being polyglots. Although sometimes they will focus on a particular language and even become fluent in it, their goal is not to translate documents or conversations for the sole purpose of doing so. What is Linguistics? Linguistics, therefore, is the study of human languages, the brain processes that allow us to communicate with each other. With some of the big questions tackled being, how does the brain put together sentences, learn new languages, where our...  [Read more]

Sat, 17 Aug 2019 Jon ITTT Destinations What do You Need to Teach English in Europe? Opportunities abound for the TEFL teacher in Europe and it is a popular destination for many upon completing their TEFL certification. Teachers with a specialist certificate in teaching business English will do well in countries such as France and Germany, but there are plenty of teaching jobs to be found across the whole region. The requirements for English teachers in Europe vary from country to country and this article aims to highlight the differences and similarities between them. ## Listen to this blog post: Can you teach there if you are from outside the EU? European Union member states prefer teachers who are EU citizens because many schools are unwilling to deal with the extensive paperwork...  [Read more]

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 Anna Domiczek Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas Top Tips for Using TPR in Preschool ESL Teaching Total Physical Response is a very successful teaching method that can be used for both children and adults, particularly for beginner and lower-level learners. This English teaching approach, developed by Dr. James Asher, has been applied for almost thirty years. Asher's language learning method is built around the coordination of speech and action, and its purpose is to teach language through physical activity. In Asher's theory, children should acquire a second language just like they learn their mother tongue, by developing listening competence first and being able to understand speech before imitating it. Essentially, listening comprehension is acquired because...  [Read more]

Thu, 05 Mar 2020 Ron Borland Alumni Experiences Why Teaching English in Chile is Awesome and Will Change Your Life When I think back to my time teaching English in Chile, I can say that it has been an awesome experience for me because of how wonderful it can be to share one’s native language with someone else. Probably the best thing about it was to see the others in gaining their experience overall in adapting to the new way of thinking. I know I had my troubles as I had to teach sometimes in Spanish what the rule was in English. For that, I relied on the help of other teachers to help with some of the grammar. "I am very thankful for the TEFL course from ITTT" When I think back to how it all started, I remember being asked to help at a local fitness center to help with swim...  [Read more]