Tefl Certification Forum

  As mentioned earlier, to form this tense, we have to use a special form of the verb. Technically it's called the past participle form with irregular verbs. Of course these past participle forms change quite a bit from its base form of the verb. Here are a few examples 'go' moves to 'gone', 'be' moves to 'been', 'write' to 'written', 'speak' to 'spoken' and 'read'. Although very confusing for the non-native speaker, doesn't change its spelling, but does change its pronunciation, resulting in 'read' going to 'read'. 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...  [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 this lesson I learned about the use of equipment and teaching aids in the classroom. The contents of this lesson were very similar to those of unit 14 and discussed many of the same materials (e.g. course books and dictionaries). One key difference was the focus on actual teaching equipment, including interactive white boards, cassette recorders, overhead projectors, photocopiers, and computers. Having said...  [Read more]

Complete an application form for any one of our TEFL/TESOL courses and receive a free Introduction to TEFL e-book. The free e-book covers the basics of Teaching English overseas. The application process is free, simple and quick to complete and does not commit you in any way. Sign up for a four-week in-class course with us before the end of certain months and receive an additional online certificate course or diploma course free of charge. These additional, advanced level courses can be taken upon completion of one of our four-week in-class courses or the in-class component of a combined course: Diploma: 250-hour, research based course, is for those wishing to gain an advanced qualification that will enhance and improve your teaching knowledge. Certificate in Teaching Business English:...  [Read more]

  It also helps us form our tenses. Many of the tenses will use these auxiliary verbs; particularly we have our continuous tense and our perfect tense. There are additional tenses that use auxiliary verbs. We'll get into that when we talk about our individual tenses. Another important aspect of our verbs is that they generally tell us what tense the sentence has been formed in. Take for instance the verb "to live." We could use it as live, lives, living or lived. "I live" or "she lives in Bangkok," meaning the present. "I am living in Bangkok," still the present or "I lived in Bangkok," meaning the past. Another difference with our verbs has to do with whether or not the verb is regular or irregular. With the regular verbs, in order to conjugate the verb into the past, we simply...  [Read more]

  The zero conditional is the most basic form of the conditionals in the English language. This is a teaching idea for the zero conditional that can also be adjusted for any other types of conditionals. 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 lesson provided information on learning theory, and the most appropriate methods for each set of learner age groups. It discussed each of the four theories (and mentioned a fifth), and how they are applied...  [Read more]

  We'll begin our examination of all the tenses by first looking at the present tense. There are four present tenses and we'll begin with the present simple tense. It's the most common tense in the English language as it talks about things in general, general facts, routines, habits. Those are usages that we'll look at in a little while but first let's focus on the form of the tense. Here, we've got our subjects 'I', 'you', 'we', 'they' and the base form of the verb followed by the rest of our sentence. Here for the 'he', 'she' and 'it' subjects, we have to conjugate our verb and in this case we've added an '-es' for 'teaches' followed by the rest of our sentence. With subjects 'I', 'you', 'we' and 'they' the pattern stays the same throughout we use the base form of the verb....  [Read more]

  Olga form Russia took the 120-hour online course with ITTT and is now teaching English in China. In this TEFL review video Olga gives us brief look at one of her classes. The students are studying animal vocabulary and are obviously enjoying themselves. 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 covered seven different areas in the future tense of the English language. The first four were in a similar breakdown and the past and present...  [Read more]

  Wieslaw form Poland took the 120-hour online TESOL course with tutor support and videos. In his TESOL review video, Wieslaw tells us he is currently teaching kindergarten students in Nanjing, China. He found the material in the course clear and well put together covering several different topics including classroom management, teaching different age groups, grammar and lesson planning. 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 lesson, I learned...  [Read more]

  In this TEFL review video Scott form the USA discusses his experience on the in-class TEFL course in Prague. In addition to its online courses, ITTT offers in-class TEFL/TESOL course at training centers all over the world. 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. Unit 5 has served as another valuable lesson on the role of the teacher. I learned how to present myself in the classroom - specifically how to use my voice, how to properly make eye contact,...  [Read more]

Teaching is the highest form of understanding. (Aristotle) A culture is a grouping within which values, norms, beliefs, patterns of behavior, rituals, customs and traditions are shared. To best serve their students, teachers at any level need to be especially sensitive to differences between their own culture and that of their students. This may begin with a careful look at their own worldview. Unintentional biases should never be promoted and are very easily overlooked, especially by the western mind. Changing family composition, socio-economic status, ethnicity, and religion are all areas teachers need to pay special attention to. There is often an inclination among Americans, especially those who have not lived outside their own culture, to be overly...  [Read more]

  The final stage of the lesson will be the activate and the activate phase is going to form the main speaking activity within the lesson. So, it's very very important that here, we do a good demonstration of what it is that we're expecting them to do, that we elicit the type of target language we're expecting them to produce from the activity. So, one way we could go around it is to, firstly, form pairs. Each pair is going to be given a card and onto that card they're going to write the country and a month. What the teacher can then do, just to add a little bit of spice to it, is to collect all of the cards and shuffle them around and then redistribute them to the pairs so that they get a card that doesn't have their country or their month on it. What they're then going to do is...  [Read more]

The usual form taken in a classroom to teach a foreign language involves mostly vocabulary and a progressive curriculum that warrants more memorization and translation than use and understanding. My foreign language experiences that where design as such proved to be painstakingly dull and had very little permanence in my body of knowledge. However, not to discredit the need for vocabulary and grammatical points in order to learn a language, to learn while using a language has proven to be a more effective and efficient way to functionally learn a foreign language. The Augustine Club at Columbia University suggests, 'learning a foreign language is not a matter of reading some grammar rules and memorizing vocabulary words'acquiring a language is learning a skill, not a body of...  [Read more]

Identifying a good TEFL course and a great course provider with sound graduate services is becoming increasingly difficult. One way to gain some perspective is to check the accreditation that a course possesses, as well as independent reviews of the course. Almost every TEFL course provider has some form of external accreditation for their courses. Without external accreditation, the qualification and manner in which it was achieved could come under scrutiny when applying for jobs and work visas. After all, governments and schools want English teachers to be skilled and of significant benefit to their students. The provider of the accreditation should be an independent third party that is recognized for being able to assess the quality of the training and the professional standards of...  [Read more]

  Throughout section on the teaching of productive skills and the teaching of receptive skills our activate activities will usually involve some form of game and our final consideration here will be the use of games in the classroom. We can start with a definition of what we actually mean by a game and it basically has three components. A game is an activity that has rules it should have for its purpose in the classroom a teaching point and by nature to the fact that it's a game it should also include an element of fun. So that will be our working definition for a game that we're going to use in the classroom. There are many different types of games and they range between the competitive and those will require cooperation and there are all sorts of games that involve both of these...  [Read more]

The most prominent form of intelligent testing in modern life is I.Q. ('intelligence quotient') testing; the original calculation of which was the formula 100 x mental age divided by chronological age. For example, it was worked out on chronological age averages; so if a ten year old scored as highly as the average fourteen year old, their IQ score would be 140. Although this worked well in assessing the intelligence of children, it was rather a limited methodology, with many variances, for example the difference between someone who has just turned four years old and someone who is approaching five years old is supposed to be considerable in terms of learnedness and intelligence.Various alterations and developments were made to this original, and indeed fairly basic, IQ test...  [Read more]

  A final example is going to be an example of a patchwork ESA lesson and remember we said the form of this particular lesson will start with and engage always and will finish with and activate and there'll be some variation of E, S and A within the brackets here. So we're going to generate our patchwork ESA lesson as follows. Starting with the engage, the students are going to look at holiday photos and talk about what they like and don't like from what they see. From that, we're going to move directly into an activate phase and what the students are going to do is to make comments about holiday brochures and try to act out a role-play between the travel agent and a customer. Again, as this is taking place, the teacher will be moving around and looking for gaps in knowledge in...  [Read more]

The world of English language teaching is well known for its love of acronyms and unfortunately this can lead to a large amount of confusion amongst potential teachers, as well as those with plenty of experience in the field. Websites for course providers, job boards, recruitment programs, and any other teaching related information you might look at are likely to be littered with acronyms, including TEFL, tesol, and CELTA. So what is the difference between these terms? Short for Teaching English as a Foreign Language, TEFL is probably the most common acronym you will come across when conducting research for teaching English abroad. TEFL does not refer to a single training program, certification, or program provider but is simply a catch-all term for training courses and certification...  [Read more]

First we need to define what TEFL means before looking at the various ways in which it can be examined to provide a teaching certificate. There are various locations in which a TEFL exam can be taken and different methods of instruction, these will also be considered. The acronym TEFL stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language and it can be used in any situation where the English language is being taught to non-native English speakers. Technically speaking, TEFL refers to teaching English in countries where English is not the native language. It is a term used mainly in the UK and is used interchangeably with the equivalent USA term TESOL. As with any profession, teaching has a series of exams at different levels. Within the world of ESL the entry level examination for teachers is...  [Read more]

The drivers for any person from any country around the world to complete a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course are wide and varied. In this article I will impart my personal reasons for undertaking the TEFL course and present some reasons others that I have discovered through my research and interviews. I will also demonstrate the reasons for choosing TEFL from the number of available English Teaching certifications on the market. Finally I will conclude with a summary of my perceived benefits and challenges experienced whilst studying for TEFL Certification.Personally I was driven to TEFL with the aim of becoming an English Teacher in Japan. I hold a strong desire to live and work in a foreign country and teaching English has proved to be a popular and ...  [Read more]

The simple answer is that TEFL stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language. The TEFL acronym is also used when referring to training courses that new or experienced English language teachers undertake, as well as the certification they receive upon successful completion. As one of the leading providers in this field, ITTT offers all the TEFL training and certification required to become a successful English language teacher virtually anywhere in the world. In order to secure a position as an EFL teacher most employers require their job applicants to possess a relevant qualification known as a TEFL certificate. However, as there is no official standard when it comes to TEFL certification, it can be hard to know which course to choose from the many options available. A quick...  [Read more]

The first major factor that has an impact on how long it will take to get TEFL certified is which type of course you choose to take. There are three main TEFL course types to be aware of: The most common form of in-person TEFL course is the four-week, 120-hour TEFL certificate. Trainees on this course usually travel from their home country to one of many locations around the world to take the course. Courses should involve a theory component, covering language awareness and teaching skills, and a practical teaching component where trainees teach classes of real English language learners and receive feedback. These courses usually take four weeks to complete and therefore some form of accommodation is required for the duration of the course. This and the travel aspect, make this form of...  [Read more]

When deciding to pursue a career teaching English as a foreign language abroad, it is extremely beneficial?and in many cases, required? to receive a form of certification. This can best be done by taking a course that both orients and trains new teachers on the methods and ideologies behind language teaching and learning. There are a plethora of courses available that promise to give teachers the resources and experience necessary to obtain a position teaching English overseas. Four main certification options exist?the CELTA, which is a standardized teaching program, the TEFL, whose program can vary depending on the institution where it is conducted, the TESOL/TESL, which is usually offered through universities, and Online TEFL Courses, which are not standardized...  [Read more]

When deciding to pursue a career teaching English as a foreign language abroad, it is extremely beneficial?and in many cases, required? to receive a form of certification. This can best be done by taking a course that both orients and trains new teachers on the methods and ideologies behind language teaching and learning. There are a plethora of courses available that promise to give teachers the resources and experience necessary to obtain a position teaching English overseas. Four main certification options exist?the CELTA, which is a standardized teaching program, the TEFL, whose program can vary depending on the institution where it is conducted, the TESOL/TESL, which is usually offered through universities, and online TEFL courses, which are not standardized...  [Read more]

These acronyms are used when referring to training courses that English language teachers undertake, as well as the certification they receive upon completion. TEFL stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language and tesol stands for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. As these terms are essentially the same, they are often used interchangeably, however, TEFL is most commonly used within the UK and tesol is usually preferred in the USA. Although some countries may favor one acronym over the other, it is important to remember that a TEFL certification and a tesol certification are exactly the same thing as the training involved is identical. Although TEFL and tesol training courses are identical and the acronyms are generally used interchangeably, there is a technical...  [Read more]

As learning the English language continues to rise in popularity all over the world so too does the number of course providers offering TEFL certification. Unfortunately for potential trainees there is little regulation governing TEFL course providers which makes it hard to distinguish between the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. The good news is there is something you can do to check the quality of a course. If the course is accredited by an independent body then it is fair to assume that it is of a reasonable standard. Essentially, an accrediting body is an independent third party who conducts a thorough review of the course provider's academic and professional standards, and if satisfied they provide their accreditation. When researching potential courses you should look out...  [Read more]

  Sonia recorded this TEFL review after completing the 120-hour online TEFL course from ITTT. The course has given her more confidence as a teacher as well as the chance to develop her skills in the profession. As a new graduate, Sonia is now looking to teach in China where she can put her newly learned teaching abilities to use and start her career as an English teacher abroad. 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 covered the four...  [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. This was a great review of the past tense system and its many applications in modern speech. After reading through this chapter, I began to understand concepts like all continuous forms feature some form of verb 'to be" plus the 'ing" form of verb. If the verb "to be" is in the present, it will be the present continuous. If the verb 'to be' is in the past....which means it will be the past continuous. As a...  [Read more]

Acronyms are an essential tool used in all professions and technical writing. They are powerful tools to reduce word content. However without knowing what the acronym stands for, they can form a barrier to understanding. In the ESL (English as a Second Language) teaching world there is certainly no shortage of acronyms. Here we look at a few and one in particular, TEFL. Some useful teaching acronyms are: ELT: English Language Teaching. This is a general term for teaching English and applies to the teaching of English to both native and non-native English speakers. ELL: English Language Learner. This is a general term for anyone learning English and applies to learners of English who are native or non-native English speakers. ESL: English as a Second Language: This relates to the...  [Read more]

  This video covers the difference between 'interested' and 'interesting'. As these two words have a similar pronunciation and spelling, their usage is often confused. 'Interesting' describes the people or things that cause the feeling of interest to someone, for example: Today's lesson about world history is very interesting. 'Interested', on the other hand, describes how someone feels, such as here: I am very interested in learning another language. 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...  [Read more]

Demand for ESL teachers is high in all areas of the world and employers typically prefer those who have a TEFL qualification over non-qualified applicants. It is highly recommended that you first complete an internationally accredited TEFL certification before applying for an ESL teaching position. Having some form of teaching experience will also increase your options for employment, though as with a degree, this is not always a requirement. With countries ranging from ancient to very modern, Europe offers a whole range of history, climate, and population density. There are many countries where a degree is not required and these include the ever popular, Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic. If you are looking for something quieter, areas of Greece, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria may be...  [Read more]