Interesting Facts About English

  The two most common usages for the present simple tense are habits and routines, as well as general facts and truths. Our example of routine would be 'I teach every Monday.' We've used our subject 'I', our base form 'teach' and 'every Monday' speaking about the routine that I have. We also have our general facts 'The sun rises in the east.' Here, 'the sun' would follow under the pronoun 'it' so we've had to conjugate our verb per our pattern and finish our sentence. We could also talk about general truths such as likes or dislikes. 'I like football,' or 'He likes football.' Of course, there are other usages but these are the two most common. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online...  [Read more]

  When it comes to manner of articulation, we have six different ways in which our breath is produced in order to make our sounds. We have our plosives, our affricates, fricatives, the nasal sounds, our lateral sound and the approximants. Let's take a look at each individually and see how they differ from one another. First we have our plosive sounds. As the word might indicate we have basically a little explosion of sound with our breath. The plosive sounds are made through a three-step process. First there's a closure somewhere in the vocal tract. Second there's a buildup of air and finally there's a sudden release of that air like a little explosion. If we look at some of the sounds that are made this way we might better understand why they are called plosives. Examples are the...  [Read more]

  http://www.teflonline.net This video looks at the structure of the positive form of the Present Simple tense. The negative form and the question form will be covered in other videos. The Present Simple talks about facts, habits and routines. Positive structure: subject + base form of the verb I/You/We/They teach English. He /She/It teaches English. There are a number of rules associated with the formation of the base verb. For most verbs add s to the base form of the verb -- plays, works... Verbs ending in o, s, z, ch, sh add es -- does, goes, washes... Verbs ending in a consonant plus y, change the y to i and add es -- cries, flies tries.... The verb be becomes am/is/are. The verb have becomes have/has. As a certified TEFL graduate you could gain a teaching position in...  [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]

  "In terms of the things that are negative about it, we've already said that it doesn't develop speaking but perhaps the biggest negative point about this particular methodology is that it's very unnatural. Ok, so despite the criticisms of this particular method, and particularly the fact that is unnatural, this particular methodology was in use all the way through the 17th, 18th and 19th century and indeed it's still in use today. However, Gouin in the 1880s and Berlitz in the early 1900s decided that this particular methodology was so unnatural that they wanted to come up with something new. The method that they came up with, they called the direct method. You will also sometimes see it as the natural method. What these two people were saying is that if we wish to learn a...  [Read more]

  Our second example sentence 'I am playing football at the moment.' is the present continuous tense. This has a different structure as the subject 'I', the verb 'to be' in the present tense 'am', 'is' or 'are' plus the verb with an '?ing' on the end. So here: 'I am playing football at the moment.' Whereas the present simple tense is used to talk about habits routines and facts, the present continuous tense is used to talk about actions in progress at the time of speaking or around the time of speaking. Our third example sentence is the present perfect: 'I have played football twice this week.' Here, the structure is the subject 'I', auxiliary verb 'have' or 'has' plus the past participle. The past participle is usually formed just by adding '-ed'- on to the end of the base form 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]

  Before we go into looking at the actual receptive skills lesson, if we were thinking about what potential problems there could be in these lessons. So, what things could go wrong in a reading lesson? Well, firstly the students when they are reading in a language that is not their native language, they tend to read every word as a separate piece and by reading word to word it?s very difficult to get an overall impression of what that particular text is saying. Secondly, the sentence length in a lot of articles that we will get will be very long and many of our students will not be used to that structure of language. So, here it's important to have a think about the way in which the text has actually been written and will it be fairly easy to read. The final thing is the actual...  [Read more]

  There are two issues that need to be stressed when working with the international phonemic alphabet. First is the fact that we are no longer concerned with how a word is traditionally spelled. Additionally we need to stress that we are only concerned with the sounds needed to correctly produce a word. So rather than numerous spellings, which can often be pronounced in different ways, we have one symbol representing one sound. Once we can isolate a sound, rather than juggling various spellings, we can work with our students on how to say that sound. Doing that successfully is related to manner and place of articulation, which will be covered shortly. To get a better understanding of the phonemic alphabet, let's take a look at our chart. In the bottom half of our chart we have our...  [Read more]

  The good news is there is no real age restrictions on who can take a TEFL course and then go on to teach English abroad. At ITTT we do require you to be at least 18 years old to enroll on our courses but there are certainly no upper age limits. Over the years we have successfully trained people of all ages, many of whom have gone on to have successful careers as English language teachers. As long as you are a native or near-native English speaker who is keen to learn new skills and is open to new ideas, then your age should be no barrier to your success. Although a large number of new TEFL graduates are in their 20s, it doesn't mean they are always the most sought after by employers. Yes, there are many employers around the world who are only interested in recruiting younger...  [Read more]

Cultural Sensitivity in the Classroom The topic we have decided to address is cultural sensitivity in the classroom. Living in Toronto is extremely different from living anywhere else on this earth. One reason why, is the cultural diversity of Toronto. Even in today’s workforce there is a massive amount of cultural diversity that is why having cultural sensitivity in today’s classrooms should be a huge asset. Canada is a country that is now relying on immigrants coming to our country to help run the economy. It is an extremely good thing that people from different cultures are trained to speak English before they come to Canada or having them take an English learning course once they arrive in the country. By doing this, they are given an equal opportunity in Canada. Luckily we were...  [Read more]

  http://www.teflonline.net The teaching ideas in these ITTT videos are intended to be used in the Activate stage of a lesson. During this stage students are encouraged to use the language as freely and communicatively as possible. The focus is more on the fluency than on the accuracy of the language. When selecting any activity it is important to ensure that the timing is appropriate and that the activity is appropriate for the students' age, language levels, class size, interests and culture. The video looks at one of three teaching ideas for Present Simple. The activity is called "Find someone who...." Each student will be given a sheet with a number of facts/habits/routines. For example ...plays a musical instrument,.....does a lot of sport, ....has a brother and a sister. ...  [Read more]

  Globalization and the increasing demand for English speaking professionals all over the world, especially in emerging regions, has brought about a new, steadily growing sector: English as a Second Language (ESL). An ESL teacher is, therefore, an educator who works with English Language Learners (ELLs) whose native language is not English. The goal of the ESL teacher is to help the students reach a certain level of fluency in English, on both a spoken and written level. ESL educators are not to be confused with foreign language teachers. ESL teachers do not share the same native language and are specifically trained to offer explanations and directed teaching methods to non-English speakers. This teaching style is mainly focused on repetition, drills, demonstrations, and...  [Read more]

  Globalization and the increasing demand for English speaking professionals all over the world, especially in emerging regions, has brought about a new, steadily growing sector: English as a Second Language (ESL). An ESL teacher is, therefore, an educator who works with English Language Learners (ELLs) whose native language is not English. The goal of the ESL teacher is to help the students reach a certain level of fluency in English, on both a spoken and written level. ESL educators are not to be confused with foreign language teachers. ESL teachers do not share the same native language and are specifically trained to offer explanations and directed teaching methods to non-English speakers. This teaching style is mainly focused on repetition, drills, demonstrations, and...  [Read more]

Learning modes: Young learners vs. adults he role of a teacher is a vast and varied one and there is a considerable amount of factors that will affect this role. One of the main factors that really effects how and what we decide to teach is the age of the students. For instance you could not walk into a classroom full of eight year old primary school children with the same lesson plan designed for teaching a group of 3rd year degree students. Other then the differences that would occur in academic ability, between these two groups, people of different ages have very different needs, competences and cognitive skills. For example, it is through play that much of children's early learning is achieved. (1) ‘The physical, socio-emotional and intellectual development of children is dependent...  [Read more]

ITTT’s Taiwan TESOL course takes place in the capital city, Taipei. A city, that is the political, economic, academic, and cultural center of Taiwan, Taipei is also a major regional hub in East Asia. Taipei offers visitors a chance to experience the fascinating history of this island while also appreciating its modernity. Beautiful glass-clad skyscrapers climb above the old Chinese temples and colonial buildings. One such skyscraper is the world famous Taipei 101 building, the tallest building in the world when it was completed in 2004. You can learn about the rich culture and interesting history of Taiwan in the many interesting museums located throughout the city like the National Palace Museum. Here, you'll see an enormous collection of ceramics, carvings, paintings and calligraphy...  [Read more]

Classroom Management The meaning of classroom management is the skill of organizing and managing a class whilst maintaining a friendly relaxed manner and maintaining discipline. I am going to begin by sharing my experiences of being on the receiving end of classroom management and stating what I found effective and what I didn't find effective. I think as a teacher you have to adapt to the level and age of the students you are teaching. When I was in first school I was treated very differently to when I was in high school. During middle school and high school especially, we could analyze and estimate what our limits would be with certain teachers. I found that the teachers who maintained discipline from the beginning had a lot more control over a class as opposed to a teacher who didn't....  [Read more]

Hungary is a country many choose to visit repeatedly. Its fine wines, dynamic and exciting cities, hot spas, and friendly people all combine to draw tourists and those job seekers alike. Much has changed in Hungary since disintegration of the Eastern Bloc in 1989, and much to its credit Hungary has adapted well to these changes, and put programs in place to better integrate everything from the economy to the education system into a world that has a broader context. One of the benefits of this rigorous programme of adaptation is a stable and even strengthening currency. Hungary joined the EU in 2004; however, reciprocal transitional controls have yet to expire, so there are still visa issues that must be dealt with. The population of a shade over ten millions fits into a landmass of...  [Read more]

Songs in the Classroom The use of songs in the ESL classroom can be a fun and innovative way of covering a range of English language topics. Songs can be used for vocabulary, grammar, dictation, pronunciation (stress and intonation), phonetics, speaking, writing, listening, integrative skills, and many other ESL points. Furthermore, songs can invite the non-native speaker into the English speaking culture. For instance, pop music gives the learner a taste of what is trendy at the moment. Meanwhile, the lyrics to classic rock songs can give a sense of history and the attitude of the country at the time of recording (for example, “Give Peace a Chance,” John Lennon, 1969). Additionally, children’s songs are crucially important for the young learner as they are an easy way to encourage...  [Read more]

Don’t be put off by the fact that bolivia is one of the poorest Latin American nations. The Andean and Amazonian landscapes offer a breath-taking experience in themselves. In addition to which, there is an interesting class system at play composed of the upper classes - those of Spanish decent; the middle classes - those of mixed race; and the native Bolivians. The interplay between culture and topography make for a fascinating travel and work experience. Spanish is the lingua franca; however, Aymara - a composite of Spanish and native dialects is also, intriguingly, an official language. The population is a shade under nine millions, and ninety-five percent of those profession religious faith are Roman Catholic, with a smattering of Evangelical Methodism. In a continent where baseball...  [Read more]