Skills For A Teacher

When we look back on our own learning experiences, most of us will have strong memories of certain teachers, and in some cases this can be for all the wrong reasons. Some teachers might be remembered for being harsh disciplinarians, having a boring monotone delivery, failing to listen to the class, or any number of other negative traits. Thankfully, many of us will also have memories of the teachers who had a positive impact on our education, and this could be for a variety of reasons. If you are planning to teach English online or in a traditional classroom, there are several qualities that we think combine to make a great teacher. If you can develop your teaching strategy to include all these traits you are sure to be remembered by many of your students as a great EFL teacher. Although...  [Read more]

Today, all teachers are faced with the ongoing challenge of working to make their teaching more effective. Whether they teach traditional students or EFL students, teachers must develop their skills to best meet students´ educational needs. We have a fairly clear idea today of the skills teachers should seek to develop. According to Robert Slavin, "research on teaching has made significant strides in identifying teaching behaviors associated with high student achievement" (Slavin, n.d.). These teaching behaviors include "essential teaching skills," which are "basic abilities that all teachers, including those in their first year, should have to promote order and learning" (Eggen & Kauchak, 2004, p. 579). The Key Teacher Skills include Preparation, Attention, Clarity,...  [Read more]

EPIK stands for the English Program in Korea, a scheme run by the South Korean government that places foreign teachers into schools across the country to work as English language instructors. EPIK is one of the largest and most popular schemes of its kind as it offers a competitive salary, a good range of extra benefits, and the chance to experience living and working in a unique cultural environment. If you meet the specified criteria then you could be one of the thousand plus teachers heading to South Korea this year to join the program. If you are interested in the EPIK program, we recommend reaching out to our TEFL recruitment partner Reach To Teach. Reach To Teach is an official partner of the EPIK program (English Program in Korea) and works with the Korean Ministry of Education...  [Read more]

Introduction:Listening is the ability to identify and understand spoken language. Listening is a receptive skill. The receptive skills used in language acquisition: listening and reading enable the productive skills: speaking and writing (Saricoban, 1999). Listening is the communication skill used most often in the assimilation of information and the most neglected in foreign language teaching (Norris, 1993). Effective listening is dependent upon the listener's decoding skills, i.e. the listener's ability to make sense of the message. For foreign language learners accurate and intelligent listening is a necessity. A good teacher will enable intelligent listening by enhancing her student's decoding skills.Unlike written and spoken evidence, successful listening is more ...  [Read more]

This paper is concerned with teaching the productive skill of writing for students of non-native English speaking countries. This is an area that has all but been ignored in the past and somewhat over looked in the field of TESOL, as administrators, teachers and students seem to be more concerned and more focused on the speaking side of the productive skills. As more and more ESL students are seeking writing help at the college and university levels, the need becomes clear for better writing instruction in the ESL classroom. The ability to write well is not a naturally acquired skill, nor is it a linear process easily fit into some pre-taught format. Writing must be taught as a set of practices in a formal instructional setting and must be practiced. Good writing ...  [Read more]

It is possible and even routine for TEFL course graduates to start a new career teaching English online without any previous classroom experience. Due to a huge demand for online English language teachers that is set to grow year-on-year, it is perfectly normal to set foot into a virtual classroom as a teacher despite having never worked in any kind of teaching role before. As an online English teacher, students from all over the world will want to connect with you and knowing their native language is in no way necessary. As with most English language classrooms, online teachers teach their students using a method known as total immersion. This teaching methodology simply implies that no other language other than English is used between the teacher and the student for the duration of...  [Read more]

  Now let's take a look at our fricatives. As the name indicates, especially in the beginning there we have a friction going on in the vocal tract and that's basically what we're dealing with mostly. There are a number of fricative sounds and they're made by placing two vocal organs together and making them vibrate to a point, which is audible. We have nine of these sounds and then move from the front to the back of the vocal tract. Let's take a look here in the front of the mouth we have two sounds, which involve our lips. Those two sounds are ?f? and ?v?. The only difference between those two sounds is that one is voiced and the other is not. Regardless we do involve our lips and they are the furthest front of the vocal tract with our fricatives. Again those sounds are ?f? and...  [Read more]

  In this TEFL review, Orshi from Hungary talks about her experience taking ITTT’s 120-hour online TEFL course with tutor support and videos. She appreciated the smoothness of the course and the ease of access to the materials and tutor support. Despite being an experienced language teacher, Orshi found many things in the 20 course modules that helped her to improve her teaching skills. ITTT’s TEFL courses assume participants have zero prior teaching experience, so they are ideal for people who have never taught before. They are also great for current teachers to looking to refresh their skills and pick up some new techniques. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses...  [Read more]

Teaching skills are a combination of knowledge personality and judgement. A lot of people think that teaching is merely a teacher standing in front of a class telling them about a certain subject but it is definitely much more than that. And it doesn?t bode that just because you know your subject knowledge in depth, you are able to teach it well. Teaching styles vary from teacher to teacher but the good core skills are a good voice and organisational skills. Having decent facilities to use can greatly aid in your teaching and conveying what you wish for the student to learn such as videos, computers or cassettes but if you are a good teacher these should just be an added bonus rather than an necessity. Students take a class to learn and develop their skills and a good...  [Read more]

Reading is a process by which a reader gives meaning to text. The reader relies on a series of skills which they, depending on the age of the English language learner, may already possess in their native tongue. An older child or adult reader will read text knowing its purpose and meaning i.e. to give or request information, persuade, criticise, to give pleasure to or entertain. Further, they can make logical predictions as they read because of pre-existing experience or knowledge. All these skills are used by fluent readers, and as such, will be second nature to an older child or adult. A young English language learner may not have these skills or are developing them at the same time as learning a new language. This will necessitate the adoption of differing texts for reading....  [Read more]

Teaching adult true beginners from day one is an interesting challenge and requires a strategy which must be formulated in advance. Do you begin with phonics' Can you start with rote memorization' How can you approach people with different learning styles' What has been the students experience in school previously' There are many considerations but in the end a good plan smoothes the way to the first day. When teaching the alphabet the issue of using phonics comes to the forefront. Many programs use a system of phonics instruction along with grammar and vocabulary topics. Teaching the sounds rather than the letter names per say has advantages and disadvantages. The learner will make more progress in speaking skills when he starts by learning the sounds. He will be able...  [Read more]

Teaching skills are a combination of knowledge personality and judgement. A lot of people think that teaching is merely a teacher standing in front of a class telling them about a certain subject but it is definitely much more than that. And it doesn’t bode that just because you know your subject knowledge in depth, you are able to teach it well.Teaching styles vary from teacher to teacher but the good core skills are a good voice and organisational skills. Having decent facilities to use can greatly aid in your teaching and conveying what you wish for the student to learn such as videos, computers or cassettes but if you are a good teacher these should just be an added bonus rather than an necessity.Students take a class to learn and develop their skills and a good ...  [Read more]

It would be nice to think that an ESL teacher could enter the classroom with a friendly smile, the appropriate warmer and a well- planned lesson, and the result would be a room full of students progressing continually in their language skills. However, with a task as great as learning English as a second language, the experience is rarely that easy. Learning English has its’ own unique difficulties, and it profits the ESL teacher most if these challenges are explored and prepared for before entering the classroom. One such challenge is students with learning disabilities; when it is believed that a student has a learning disability, teachers must consider diagnosis and appropriate teaching methods.It can be hard to make the decision to evaluate students for a learning...  [Read more]

Living in this global age where technology is always at our fingertips and our economies between different countries are becoming tightly knitted together to have prompted many people to learn and improve their diction and the communication skills in the area of business for work and personal reason. Because of this great opportunity, teachers can have a great opportunity in teaching Business English as a foreign language. Among some of the benefits of learning to teach Business English is we will learn to improve our business communication skills for our personal reasons. We will become more fluent in marketing and selling ourselves to our clients and our clients will feel more confident in hiring us because we will provide them with interesting and stimulating classes that are...  [Read more]

The following paper is a variation on the ?What I wish I had known before the course? topic. I have decided to focus on what I can do with what I have learned. I am not certain I will enter into the field of English instruction. In my traditional business courses, and if I enter into English instruction I plan to focus on the following three areas. ?Advocate for the use of high quality, Standard English ?Use grammar instruction carefully ?Encourage writing proficiency in all subjects/courses When teaching English?Quality Counts Advocating for Standard English The launch speech of Professor Koh Tai Ann, Chairman of the Speak Good English Movement of Singapore is a wonderfully crafted document that spells out the economic and social advantages of English mastery. The...  [Read more]

The following paper is a variation on the “What I wish I had known before the course” topic. I have decided to focus on what I can do with what I have learned. I am not certain I will enter into the field of English instruction. In my traditional business courses, and if I enter into English instruction I plan to focus on the following three areas.•Advocate for the use of high quality, Standard English•Use grammar instruction carefully•Encourage writing proficiency in all subjects/courses When teaching English—Quality CountsAdvocating for Standard English The launch speech of Professor Koh Tai Ann, Chairman of the Speak Good English Movement of Singapore is a wonderfully crafted document that spells out the economic and social advantages of...  [Read more]

This paper is concerned with teaching the productive skill of writing for students of non-native English speaking countries. This is an area that has all but been ignored in the past and somewhat over looked in the field of TESOL, as administrators, teachers and students seem to be more concerned and more focused on the speaking side of the productive skills.As more and more ESL students are seeking writing help at the college and university levels, the need becomes clear for better writing instruction in the ESL classroom. The ability to write well is not a naturally acquired skill, nor is it a linear process easily fit into some pre-taught format. Writing must be taught as a set of practices in a formal instructional setting and must be practiced. Good writing involves composing...  [Read more]

Check out Tesolcourse.com about 100 Hour TEFL certification online 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: A.O. - West Africa said: Summary of Personal Benefits from the ittt Course. This TEFL online course has served as an invaluable source of inspiration to me as a career english teacher. It has further widened my knowledge of english as an art, especially in such areas as english grammar, its functional use in real-life endeavours and the skills for teaching english to both native and non-native speakers through the ESA-based approach. Grammar, parts of speech, the tense system,...  [Read more]

What will get in your mind if somebody will tell you about teaching? Isn?t it lesson planning? Most of the teachers despise this job, why? Well, the hardwork of thinking in creating your own materials. A lot of teachers are struggling in this aspect of the teaching side especially inexperienced. Lesson planning is a skill that is skill that is learned in much the same way as other skills. This skill aid the teaching learning process easy. Obviously, it takes a lot of thinking and practice to acquire this skill. It needs a lot of organizing your thoughts and for the first time doing this stuff is really hard. One will encounter a lot of mistakes but as the old adage goes, ?Practice doesn?t make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.? A teacher should not give up ...  [Read more]

What will get in your mind if somebody will tell you about teaching' Isn't it lesson planning' Most of the teachers despise this job, why' Well, the hardwork of thinking in creating your own materials. A lot of teachers are struggling in this aspect of the teaching side especially inexperienced.Lesson planning is a skill that is skill that is learned in much the same way as other skills. This skill aid the teaching learning process easy. Obviously, it takes a lot of thinking and practice to acquire this skill. It needs a lot of organizing your thoughts and for the first time doing this stuff is really hard. One will encounter a lot of mistakes but as the old adage goes, 'Practice doesn't make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.' A teacher should not give up trying even if...  [Read more]

  This video is part of our video series on "Evaluation and Testing of Students". In this video, we look at the diagnostic and progress test. A diagnostic test gives the teacher information about the students' current strengths and weaknesses, while a progress test is usually held multiple times during a course covering all the material taught up until that point to check understanding. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. If you are a teacher, you...  [Read more]

  Okay, so we're going to use this pro-forma as our lesson plan and we're going to fill one out as though we were planning for an actual lesson. So, we start off with some basic information about the class. So, the name of the teacher, date and time and the class level. In this particular case, our class is going to be an elementary class and the room will be room 3. Having looked through the registers we see that the expected number of students for this particular class is going to be 10. This will help us in creating our worksheet copies. The context of the lesson for this class is going to be present continuous tense and it may well be the first time that this particular level of class has been introduced to this tense. So, our focus is going to be fairly general and it's going...  [Read more]

Anyone who is thinking about teaching English abroad has most likely received a response along the lines of "Oh, how fun, but what will you do when you get back?" Some people believe that teaching English as a foreign language is not a "real job" but rather something that people do to pay off student debt or simply for fun before settling down into a "normal" job and lifestyle. Many people decide to teach English abroad for these reasons, but there are also many who have made a successful and lucrative career out of it. Yes, you can pursue a long-term career as an EFL teacher. For the vast majority of people who travel abroad to teach English, it all begins with a simple desire to see some of the world while earning some money. After a while, many people realize that they enjoy and are...  [Read more]

A balanced approach to using a combination of created and authentic materials can be beneficial to both the students and the teacher in an ESL classroom.Created materials can be either a previously published course text or something the teacher has specifically created to supplement a lesson. Often students will expect some published materials such as a course book and view it as a form of security as well as a way to gauge their progress, i.e. how many chapters of the book they have completed. Published course materials have generally been tried and tested before release and thus are graded to a level suitable for the students and contain a balanced mix of vocabulary, grammar and skills exercises. As well, they can be very useful in pointing out certain structures or language...  [Read more]

Teaching English for a Specific Purpose (ESP) or Why not just teach?em Shakespeare? TEFL Teaching in the classroom has maninly been focused on leaning General English skills with more specific English, needed for a specific profession for example, being taught only as and when it is needed. Some people argue that specific English should be introduced earlier and this will help motivate pupils and also keep the English taught within a professional and cultural environment that is relevant to the people learning it. English for a specific purpose was developed to meet the needs of individual learners and their specific needs, and is designed for specific disciplines. It makes some, but not exclusive use of the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it...  [Read more]

Teaching English for a Specific Purpose (ESP) or Why not just teach'em Shakespeare' TEFL teaching in the classroom has maninly been focused on leaning General English skills with more specific English, needed for a specific profession for example, being taught only as and when it is needed. Some people argue that specific English should be introduced earlier and this will help motivate pupils and also keep the English taught within a professional and cultural environment that is relevant to the people learning it.English for a specific purpose was developed to meet the needs of individual learners and their specific needs, and is designed for specific disciplines. It makes some, but not exclusive use of the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves, ...  [Read more]

  In this TESOL review video Susie who teaches in Egypt talks about why she opted to complete ITTT's 120 hour online TEFL/TESOL certification course. She discusses the advantages of completing an online course. She also outlines some of the components of the course. Susie highlights how the course has enhanced her teaching. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. Speaking and Writing are productive skills and though different in some ways, their...  [Read more]

Many potential TEFL trainees come to us and ask whether they need to speak another language in order to teach English overseas or online. The good news is the answer is most definitely NO, you do not need to have any language skills other than a thorough understanding of the English language. Obviously, if you do speak the native language of the country you intend to live and work in it can be a real help in many ways, but it is not normally required by the employer. The specific requirements for teaching English abroad or online will vary depending on the country and the individual employer. In all cases a thorough understanding of the mechanics of English will be required. On top of that, a TEFL certificate from a reputable course provider is usually a must, while some jobs will also...  [Read more]

One of the worst teaching experience is having a class come to an abrupt halt while someone searches a dictionary for a specific word, one usually not found in the end anyway. The problem of using dictionaries as a crutch could be rectified by not allowing the use of them in a lesson at all. The great art of circumlocution could be used instead, albeit kicking and screaming. Those experiences of being derailed by frantic dictionary searches would make any ESL teacher shudder and swear off dictionaries entirely. Should native language to English language dictionaries be banned altogether' Some would argue that using dictionaries is a good technique to use in the classroom. One that actually helps to create a more independent learner ( www.tefl.net/teacher_training). The...  [Read more]

One of the worst teaching experience is having a class come to an abrupt halt while someone searches a dictionary for a specific word, one usually not found in the end anyway. The problem of using dictionaries as a crutch could be rectified by not allowing the use of them in a lesson at all. The great art of circumlocution could be used instead, albeit kicking and screaming. Those experiences of being derailed by frantic dictionary searches would make any ESL teacher shudder and swear off dictionaries entirely. Should native language to English language dictionaries be banned altogether? Some would argue that using dictionaries is a good technique to use in the classroom. One that actually helps to create a more independent learner (...  [Read more]