TEFL Alumni Interview with Russ Tuff
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.
1. What’s your name?
Ning Zhang
2. Which ITTT course(s) did you take?
- 120-hour TEFL/TESOL Course
- 50-hour Teaching English to Young Learners Course
- 50-hour Teaching English Online Course
- 50-hour Teaching Business English Course
3. Why did you take a TEFL/TESOL course from ITTT?
It's the best and most widely recognised certificate on the planet.
4. What was your favorite part about the course?
Learning things I never knew myself.
5. You've finished your TEFL/TESOL course - now what? What are your plans and goals?
I am currently working on teaching English online full time. I have developed a great learning package of my own, and I can see that I am quite good at this. My next step is to start teaching English for myself and not through an online provider to retain more of the money I earn, to leverage what I already know to do. The best part of what I am doing is it is "pandemic proof".
The more countries are in lockdown, the more people are looking to do things online. The second best part is that I can do this work from anywhere in the world. There is not much around about online work, so it was great when ITTT developed the new "Online Course" This confirmed a lot of what I already knew. I have a travel/tourism business in Indonesia. In these Covid-19 times, this business hasn't made me a single cent since March 2020.
The only thing that has kept me going is the work I am doing as an English teacher. I was going to be doing this part-time, maybe a couple of hours a day, now it's 40 hours a week. It's well worth the effort to do the courses, not because people love to see bits of paper with your name on it; it';s more to do with your own confidence in teaching the language you take for granted you know "excellently" :-) and you will learn things you never knew before.
6. What's your no. 1 tip for other TEFL/TESOL course takers? What should they know? What do you wish you knew before?
My number one tip would have to be, come into the lessons you are about to receive with the thought that you are here to learn and you have a bit of a head start. What you already know is okay, however, it's not great. Trust me... it will feel like this. Just wait till you get to the 4th lesson of the 120-hour course. :-) It's good to get the videos as well, however, don't worry about the tutor. I used a tutor a couple of times and I didn't get the answers I was looking for, plus they take to long to get back to you.
7. Where would you like to teach English? Why? (If you already are teaching abroad - where do you teach and what do you like about that location?)
I want to be able to teach from anywhere, that's why I chose to teach online. I want the flexibility without all the red tape and legalities for teaching in each country.
8. Do you have a social media platform where people can follow you?
Yes: TikTok @2ticks (Doubletick)
Are you ready to start your own teaching adventure?
All opinions stated above are those of the ITTT course graduate. We always provide honest and accurate accounts of how our students and course alumni feel about their experience with ITTT.
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Speak with an ITTT advisor today to put together your personal plan for teaching English abroad!
Send us an email or call us toll-free at 1-800-490-0531 to speak with an ITTT advisor today.
Watch Russ' Testimonial Video:
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