Teaching Prepositions

  So speaking activities will come in many different forms but we can generalize them into three basic types. Control activities tend to be used in the study phase and here, the teacher will be helping the students in terms of what they need to say and how they go about saying it. So, there's a high level of structure within a controlled activity. A guided activity has slightly less structure than this and it can be used in either the study or the activate stages themselves. The final type of activity or class of activity is called creative activity and this one would be used in the activation phase. In a creative activity, we're giving a scenario or a very small amount of structure and we're asking the students to actually create their own answers to this particular question....  [Read more]

  Moving further down our list of the parts of speech, we have our prepositions. Prepositions show a relationship between a noun or a pronoun and the rest of the sentence. We have three main categories: time, place, movement as well as a miscellaneous category that doesn't fit the other three. Here, we can have prepositions of time: before, during, in, at or on. If I said, "I work at eight o'clock," I'm sharing a relationship between the time "eight o'clock" to the rest of the sentence. We have our prepositions of place: in, at, on, under, in between. If I said, "The book is under the table," I'm showing a relationship between the table and the rest of the sentence. Then, we have our prepositions of movement. These show movement: towards, from, to or through. I could say, "He...  [Read more]

There are many different methods to teach grammar, but this essay will present the three that might be the most effective in retaining student interest. 1.Situational Presentations2.Text and Recordings3.Test Teach Test 1.Teaching grammar via Situational Presentation In order for grammar to have meaning, it needs to be placed within a context. For instance the preposition 'beside' has no meaning to a student unless it's placed within a context. Using a model sentence such as the 'The bread is beside the toaster' gives the word a basic context. Situational presentation refines the context and thus the meaning by building a 'situation' around the model sentence. It can be presented in three stages with the following example of teaching prepositions based on an airplane ride.Stage...  [Read more]

  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. i have learned the different english grammar points which are very important in teaching. A good teacher should about the grammar and how it works. in this unit i get to know the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs through examples and explanations.↵i finally understand the use of prepositions and conjuction in different sentences. the regualar and iregular verbs are well explained as...  [Read more]

  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. In unit 2, parts of speech were introduced. It taught the basics of nouns, verbs, adjectives, articles, adverbs, gerunds, pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions. Within those topics, it went in depth of rules, certain types, its usage and the different tenses one may come across. This unit was very useful to me. I was taught most of this information in grade school, so I was familiar with it; however, there...  [Read more]

  In this TEFL review video, Marcin from Poland tells us about his experience on ITTT’s 120-hour online TEFL course with tutor support and videos. Marcin took the course because he is planning on teaching English in China and having a certificate will improve his chances of finding a job there. He also wanted to learn more about the techniques and methods of teaching English. He found the course units to be packed with information but short enough to remain interesting. 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...  [Read more]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word inveigle. This word is used as a verb and refers to the action of persuading someone to do something through flattery or deception. The word comes from aveugler in Old French meaning ‘to blind’. 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. What I learnt from the unit is that grammar can be confusing for both the teacher and the learner,↵And the teacher should have a minimum of knowledge...  [Read more]

  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 certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units...  [Read more]

  This video covers the difference between 'aid' and 'aide'. These two words often cause confusion for English learners due to their similar meaning and spelling. The word 'aid' refers to something that helps, such as teaching aids or a first-aid-kit. The word 'aide', on the other hand, refers to a person, a helper. So, remember that 'aid' is used for things and 'aide' is used for people. 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. In this unit, I have...  [Read more]

One of the more noticeable differences between students on the TEFL course is the different uses of the English language. The main differences being between the British and American English. On area that I thought could have become confusing when teaching would be the pronunciation of different words by different English speakers. As a rule it is generally agreed amongst English teaching programs that neither type of pronunciation is the correct version however they do insist on consistence of usage. So when a person starts to teach in British English using relevant terms they should maintain that throughout. Grammatically both types of the language follow the same rules. However there are variations? of form words that are used. For example the past participle for...  [Read more]

  This video is part of our video series on "Evaluation and Testing of Students". In this video, we look at the most common Academic English exams learners of English take around the world. It is important for EFL teachers to know these different types of proficiency test as they will most likely come across them during their teaching career. 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. This unit serves to give knowledge about the different part of speech...  [Read more]

  This TEFL review is from Will from the United States. After doing a lot of research, he decided that he wanted to follow a new career path in teaching English as a foreign language. Since a TEFL/TESOL course is one of the most common requirements for EFL employers worldwide, he decided to take our 120-hour online TEFL/TESOL certification course and enjoyed it a lot. Will chose the tutored version of the course and was able to ask a professional ITTT tutor any questions he might have during the course. After completing the course, he was also offered an additional 50-hour course for free and received excellent post-course services such as resume and interview preparation and access to job offers worldwide. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of...  [Read more]

  Chaabane from Tunisia has recently completed the 120-hour online TEFL course with tutor support and videos from ITTT. Initially Chaabane was a bit nervous about completing the course but soon found out that the course was enjoyable to take. He was impressed by the course materials which he found to be comprehensive. Chaabane would recommend ITTT’s online TEFL courses to anyone considering a career in teaching English. 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...  [Read more]

One of the more noticeable differences between students on the TEFL course is the different uses of the English language. The main differences being between the British and American English. On area that I thought could have become confusing when teaching would be the pronunciation of different words by different English speakers. As a rule it is generally agreed amongst English teaching programs that neither type of pronunciation is the correct version however they do insist on consistence of usage. So when a person starts to teach in British English using relevant terms they should maintain that throughout. Grammatically both types of the language follow the same rules. However there are variations’ of form words that are used. For example the past participle for the...  [Read more]

  So let's have a look now what might take place in a typical writing lesson and, again, we're going to use the format of a straight arrow ESA lesson. Our first stage is to the go to the engage stage and, if we think back to what we said before, what we need to do is try to generate interest. So, an example here could be we show a picture first of all taken from a newspaper or magazine and then we can ask the students some questions. From looking at the picture we can ask them if they can tell us what is actually happening now as shown by the picture. Then, we can generate a bit more interest by asking them to give us ideas about what they thought was happening before this picture took place and what happened after. So, here we're just trying to build up the idea of a sequence of...  [Read more]

  This video covers the difference between 'in' and 'at' when used to indicate a location. They often cause confusion for English learners as they both refer to a location in a sentence. However, 'in', as a preposition of place, is usually used to talk about the position of someone or something inside large places such as countries, continents, big cities and similar, while 'at' is used to refer the position of someone or something inside small and unimportant places such as villages or small towns. 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...  [Read more]

  And now we'll have a look at both the infinitive and the gerund. Infinitive is the word "to", followed by the base form of the verb. We"ll typically use it after a verb, specifically verbs like "want" or "hope". We can make statements like "I want to go to the beach." We also have our gerund. Our gerund is a verb followed by "-ing", but specifically used as a noun within the sentence. We have a verb plus a gerund: "I enjoy playing poker." The main verb is "enjoy" and, although "playing" looks as if it's a verb, it's actually used as the noun within the sentence. We also can use it with a preposition followed by a gerund: "How about going to the beach?" We could also put it in the front of a sentence: "Smoking is bad for you." Again, the verb plus "-ing" can act as two things...  [Read more]

There are a number of issues associated with how to correct a student in the best way possible. There are two main schools of thought as to the best technique. The first is to correct the student straight way to help avoid confusing them later, the second is to do it at a more appropriate time, and not inhibit the natural flow of speech. I believe that there is value in both, and should be judged upon individual situation. A distinction should be made between what is a mistake and what is an error. A mistake is more of a momentary lapse of concentration, however an error may be caused because the student isn't aware that it is wrong, or the student doesn't know another way of saying it or finally if the student indeed knows the correct form but can't quite ...  [Read more]

In 1904 the French government commissioned psychologist Alfred Binet to find a method to distinguish between children?s levels of intelligence. The purpose was to put the ?intellectually inferior? into special schools where they could receive more individual attention1. So begins the journey of testing and analysing scores, consequently giving us an outline or a picture of a person?s intelligence. The Intelligent Quotient is a ?score derived from a set of standardised tests? (http://wikipedia.org/). The notion of measuring a person?s intelligence, and therefore, a person?s potential, may seem limited to some, as it did to Howard Gardner- professor of education at Harvard University. Gardner argues that ?pencil and paper IQ tests do not capture the full range of...  [Read more]

In 1904 the French government commissioned psychologist Alfred Binet to find a method to distinguish between children's levels of intelligence. The purpose was to put the 'intellectually inferior' into special schools where they could receive more individual attention1. So begins the journey of testing and analysing scores, consequently giving us an outline or a picture of a person's intelligence. The Intelligent Quotient is a 'score derived from a set of standardised tests' (http://wikipedia.org/). The notion of measuring a person's intelligence, and therefore, a person's potential, may seem limited to some, as it did to Howard Gardner- professor of education at Harvard University. Gardner argues that 'pencil and paper IQ tests do not capture the full range of human...  [Read more]

TEFL or Teaching English as a Foreign Language refers to teaching English to students for whom it is not their mother tongue. TEFL can take place in English-speaking regions, for example in language schools or summer camps or before the start of a university degree, but usually occurs in the student´s own country. There, TEFL can be either within the state school system, or private, either in an after-hours language school or with a one-on-one tutor. The teachers may be native or non-native speakers of English. (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) Taking a TEFL course as a non-native English speaker was a great experience, with a wild awakening. Life has a way of bringing surprises, not bad or good, they become what you make them to be, and the outcome...  [Read more]

TEFL or Teaching English as a Foreign Language refers to teaching English to students for whom it is not their mother tongue. TEFL can take place in English-speaking regions, for example in language schools or summer camps or before the start of a university degree, but usually occurs in the student´s own country. There, TEFL can be either within the state school system, or private, either in an after-hours language school or with a one-on-one tutor. The teachers may be native or non-native speakers of English. (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)Taking a TEFL course as a non-native English speaker was a great experience, with a wild awakening. Life has a way of bringing surprises, not bad or good, they become what you make them to be, and the outcome depends on how you embrace...  [Read more]

BACKGROUNDOne of the major problems that a language teacher faces is how to deal with errors. It is generally agreed that correction is a part of the language learning process; however, over-correction can be a factor in demotivating students and making them reluctant to use and/or continue studying the language being learned. Therefore, the issue of how and when to correct is a very critical issue for teachers of a foreign language.ACCURACY ACTIVITIESWhen the aim of the lesson is accuracy, errors are usually corrected immediately. Attention to mistakes during this part of the lesson improves the chances of accuracy during the fluency stage (Mumford and Darn 2005). One way to indicate incorrectness is to ask the student to repeat what he/she has said. Another way to indicate ...  [Read more]