Most Difficult Languages To Learn In The World

  The acronym TEFL stands for teaching English as a foreign language. TESOL is teaching English to speakers of other languages. Today, both terms have much the same meaning are generally used interchangeably in the EFL field. In the early days, TEFL was more of a UK-based qualification and TESOL was more of a North American-based qualification. ESL is English as a Second Language, and is usually used when teaching English in an English-speaking environment. Some people argue that TESOL encompasses both EFL and ESL. In reality there is very little difference, if any. As the need for English language training has developed worldwide, the two terms have almost become synonymous. They are both used to describe the field of English language teaching and one of them is stated on...  [Read more]

English as a Global Language In the last few months that I have been traveling, it has become even more apparent to me how important it is to be able to speak English to interact in the world today. Many of the people that I have been talking with over the last few months have not been native English speakers. And it became very clear to me that if they had not learned English, I would not be able to communicate with them, they have to learn a second language to be able to broaden their opportunities for travel, work, and general communication with people from other countries. As a native English speaker, you take this for granted. And as a result, many native English speakers only speak the one language. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, the British economic predominance in the...  [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. I found that this unit has really opened my eyes to so much more then I thought I already knew. I'm not going to to lie it was a bit difficult for me to...  [Read more]

  A TEFL Qualification allows you to teach English almost anywhere in the world, some countries are more popular than others for differing reasons. Some are popular because of the salary and benefits offered to teachers, others are popular because they offer a better quality of life and others are popular because they provide teachers with plenty of opportunities. The top most popular countries are all in Asia as the demand for English is so much higher here than elsewhere in the world. Are you ready to live and teach abroad? Check out the infographic here: https://www.teflcourse.net/tefl-infographics/top-ten-tefl-destinations/?cu=YTDESCRIPTION Are you ready to live and teach abroad? Click here and get started today: https://www.teflcourse.net/?cu=YTDESCRIPTION Below you can...  [Read more]

Problems for learners in a Country of your choice: Italy In this paper I will address the issues I face as a teacher from the context of living and working in Italy, as well as the common problems my students encounter while learning and speaking English. I also want to draw attention to the input culture and society has on language, and look at how these factors influence dynamics within the classroom. Of course, it is nearly impossible to view ones self outside your own given cultural perspective, so as a result of this I will also be discussing my own assumptions on how I "imagined" people might act, compared to the reality of the situation. Often I neglect to take into account these differences, simply because I was raised in America, where I am used to a different set of cultural...  [Read more]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word mirage. This word refers to an optical illusion such as the appearance of water in a desert. This word comes from the French 'se mirer' meaning ‘be reflected'. 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 taught me different ways to assess a student's language level and progress. Specifically, practice test should be given in the format and structure of the external examination that the...  [Read more]

Learning Difficulties “Makaton is a unique language programme offering a structured multi-modal approach, using signs and symbols, for the teaching of communication, language and literacy skills for people with communication and learning difficulties.” The methodology of TESOL is, I am told, directly transferable to the teaching of any subject or skill. I am going to consider whether this methodology is an efficient and appropriate way to teach Makaton to Down’s people, who have often failed to develop their mother tongue adequately. Adults with Down’s Syndrome often fail to develop language “naturally”. There are many reasons for this. Structurally they may have some hearing loss due to narrow ear canals and they may find the formation of sounds difficult because of their...  [Read more]

Teaching Productive Skills Acquiring the skills to effectively use a new language may involve traditional classroom learning lessons and controlled practice, but experience with the language and the opportunity for creative exploration are also important components in the learning process. Students need to be exposed to the new language, they need to be able to understand its meaning and how it is constructed, and they must be able to practice and produce the language using the knowledge base they have attained (Unit 7 p.1, ITTT course book). Productive skills include speaking and writing, two critical components of the complex process of communication. There are countless reasons for communication between individuals: they have something they wish to express (verbally or in writing),...  [Read more]

  In this video we explain the difference in using "amount" and "number". The word "amount" is used when we want to refer to uncountable commodities such as water, electricity, money etc. Whereas, "number" is used to refer to individual things that are countable such as book, cat, chair etc. In the example "a greater amount of people are going to the gym" the use of "amount" is incorrect because we can count "people". In this case "number" needs to be used. A good example of the use of "amount" is "a greater amount of rain came down in November compared to October". Here "rain" is uncountable so "amount" should be used. 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...  [Read more]

Bilingual Education versus English Only Models Over the years, many debates have arisen in regards to second language instruction (L2), giving prominence to two main models: English Only versus Bilingual Education. English Only uses solely English as the medium for instruction, whereas Bilingual Education, as its name implies, uses both English and the student’s native language. While there are several aspects to the debate, this paper will briefly cover a certain few: cultural sensitivity, accuracy, and segregation. Proponents of the English Only model claim that the use of a student’s native language creates a “cycle of native language dependency,” meaning that the student, to some extent, gets “tethered” to his native tongue. Using solely English in the classroom, advocates...  [Read more]

Pronunciation Problems for Chinese Students of English As a global language, English has been popularly taught as the second language in China for quite a few years. Now there are more Chinese people learning English on various purposes, such as applying for a higher paid job, studying and living abroad, or establishing business with western countries. According to my experience of learning and teaching English, it is harder to master English pronunciation than English grammar for Chinese students. Chinese grammar may appear quite simple compared to that of many highly-inflected Western languages (e.g. Russian, Latin, etc.), or even the low-scale verb conjugations, for instance, of English (e.g. "swim, swam, swum") because of the lack of inflections. Even though there are similarities...  [Read more]

  So let's take an example of what those drills might involve. So here is an example of a repetition drill. I will model the language and then my class will repeat after me. So "This is a cup." "Spoon" ? "This is a spoon." "Knife" - "his is a knife." Thank you. The reason that it's called or also called the army method is that it was the method adopted by the United States military who had personnel stationed around the world at the end of Second World War and they realized that they needed those personnel to pick up the language very quickly and one of the positive things about this particular methodology is that you do very quickly learn vocabulary. Another positive thing about it is that you quickly learn the correct pronunciation of that vocabulary. However, there are some...  [Read more]

Should Students Be Allowed to Use Their Native Language in the Classroom When I first began teaching lessons during the TESOL Course I found myself almost automatically saying to the students, “English please,” after all it is an English class. However, I began to question myself about whether or not this was “correct” practice or if the students should in fact use their native language to assist them in the learning process. After doing some research I found the TESOL Law Code of Ethics. The Law of Ethics provided many vague and open-ended ideas. It suggested things along the lines of, “The foreign language teacher shall direct her whole professional effort to assist the students to develop his/her second language speaking ability.” It also mentions that TESOL teachers are to...  [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]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word nepotism. This word refers to people in power favoring and giving powerful positions to friends or family. Some synonyms of the word include favoritism, bias, partiality, or partisanship. 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 was very compacted with a lot of information. Additionally, it was very boring but I learned so much. For example, everything could be in this fashion. The meat...  [Read more]

  This video covers the difference between 'discreet' and 'discrete'. Their similar spelling and pronunciation makes them a word pair that is often confused. The word 'discreet' describes something that is unnoticeable and/or modest, whereas 'discrete' refers to something that is separate and distinct. Watch the video for detailed examples on the two words. 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 was able to learn ,how to teach my...  [Read more]

Teaching Styles We all learn in different ways, and similarly, as teachers we tend to have different ways of teaching which come more naturally for us. As teachers, we need to be aware of what our particular style is, but we should then try to adapt the way we teach to fit the needs of our students as well. There are many different categorizations of teaching styles, but rather than discuss the ways styles are categorized, I will simply summarize the ones most commonly referred to. Probably the most traditional one is the direct instruction style. Direct instruction is very teacher-centered, and provides for little if any student-teacher interaction or group interaction. The teacher is the focus of attention and provides all the information necessary for the student to excel in...  [Read more]

Phonetics and TESOL Phonetics, the study of the sounds of human speech, and in particular “Articulatory Phonetics”, are not commonly taught to native speakers of English, let alone learners of English as a second language. However if the learner is serious with their English and wish to progress to an advanced level, learning phonetics, in particular the International Phonetic Alphabet, would be of immense benefit. English spelling is often contradictory, devoid of relation to the pronunciation of a word, and lacking in clear patterns. Patterns that do exist are numerous, with a large number of exceptions, and all of this makes it very difficult for the learner of English as a second language to master pronunciation. The International Phonetic Alphabet puts all of the individual...  [Read more]

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Teaching one-to-one Teaching English as a foreign language can be done one of two ways: teaching a group of students or by teaching on a one-to-one basis. It’s estimated that up to 40% of TESOL teaching is done one-to-one, however teachers find it increasingly difficult to find relevant material, advice and assistance on the method. Nicola Meldrum argues that teaching one-to-one “unfortunately is not covered much in ELT discussion” and that ‘It is somehow assumed that teaching English as a foreign language means organizing huge groups of students, while the reality is that one to one is a normal and significant part of our teaching lives”. Teachers are in effect left to their own devices; however this doesn’t stop the concept of teaching one-to-one being an effective and...  [Read more]