Why Did You Decide To Become A Teacher

  Teaching English in South Korea has become increasingly popular over the last decade and it is no secret that the country offers some of the best salaries for foreign teachers to be found anywhere in the world. English teachers in Korea can expect to earn between $1,500 and $3,000 US per month and it is certainly possible to save up to half of this depending on your lifestyle. On top of the basic salary you can also expect other benefits such as paid airfares, free housing and an end of contract bonus. Unsurprisingly, the high salaries and good benefits on offer have led to a high level of competition for the best jobs. If you have any teaching qualifications and experience in the classroom, you will find you have the pick of the available jobs. However, thanks to a continually...  [Read more]

Teacher Self Analysis My early experiences of learning in the State education system of the UK clearly affected my career and attitude to education. In the main, I was taught by root, this had the affect of making me become bored and if I am honest, I did not take full advantage of my education. Later realising I still had some untapped potential I enrolled on a course in Higher Education. I expected the same teaching methods that I had experienced earlier in my life, but instead found a more progressive, student centered approach. My motivation was high and I achieved my Certificate in Education. I took these varied experiences with me when I entered teaching some ten years ago. I soon found that most learners at the college were I worked were poorly motivated, lacking drive and...  [Read more]

GOTefl started as a division of SA-Recruitment, a teacher recruitment company established in 2004. SA-Recruitment has successfully placed hundreds of teachers internationally, and has a strong understanding of the opportunities - and challenges - of working overseas.​ The GOTefl division became so popular and we were regularly approached by potential candidates that did not fulfil the requirements for our SA-Recruitment’s mainstream teaching positions and these candidates were turned away. So, we decided it was time for it to become a stand-alone organisation managed by the same knowledgeable and experienced team of recruiters, offering the same high level of personalised service and ongoing support - now just in the TEFL space. GOTefl works with schools all over China and Thailand...  [Read more]

The Role of the Teacher If only the role of a teacher was as easy as being a ‘medium through which students learn’. In today’s day and age, no matter what country the role takes place in, a teacher is so much more than a resource for information. When I was young, I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up, simply because I wanted to write on the chalkboard! My teachers seemed to be the greatest printers, curving their letters just so, and I wanted to do it also! Now, after ‘higher education’, and three different career paths, I have come back to wanting to be a teacher, but my reasons have changed. I was fortunate in my years of high school, to have teachers that really cared about me as an individual, and I want to give this back. This is where the difference between...  [Read more]

  Absolutely YES! Large numbers of non-native English speakers complete our TEFL courses each year and go on to have successful careers teaching English either in their home country or further afield. In order to successfully complete the course you will need to demonstrate a high standard of English, but it is certainly not a barrier that will stop you from becoming a fully qualified EFL teacher. In many cases being a non-native English speaker can actually be an advantage in the classroom as you have already been through the same experience that your students are currently facing. This can help to build a good rapport between the students and the teacher as they are often less afraid of making mistakes in this situation. It can also provide the students with a real incentive to...  [Read more]

The land that gave us Plato and Aristotle, also bequeathed us the symposium, or drinking party. The latter still being alive and well today. These days Greece is a country that pivots around its huge tourist industry, and this falls into two types: There are those who come seeking the cultural experience to be gained from visiting ancient monuments, like the Acropolis in smoggy Athens, and there are those who like to party it up on the island resorts. Perfection, as Aristotle observed, resides between extremes, and the person who seeks eudaemonia - the good life in the best of all possible worlds - perhaps does a bit of both. Given the tourist orientation of the country it is important to remember that a good deal of the services laid on to support visitors go into hibernation between...  [Read more]

Discipline in the Classroom Eight out of ten TESOL teachers who do not return after their first year of teaching drop out because they are unable to control their problem in the classroom. According to the researches, that have done recently, discipline ranked as the number one problem in the schools. What is discipline? According to the Webster’s dictionary discipline is the “training that corrects, molds, or perfect the mental faculties or moral character.” How can a teacher maintain discipline in a classroom? There will be many ideas to maintain discipline in the classroom. For sure those suggestions will be helpful, but first of all, teacher should know the main reasons for students’ misbehavior. The students have not learned the behaviors that are expected of them Good...  [Read more]

Classes of Mixed Ability You walk into your first class in a new school. You begin with introductions and to your dismay you find a great disparity in the students’ English skills. There are students who have spent time abroad and others who are struggling with Basic English sentence structure. The focus of this article will be to weigh the advantages of 2 teaching strategies for classes of mixed ability introduced in the International TESOL Teacher Training (ITTT) course: grouping similar ability levels and pairing strong with weak students. The first strategy is to separate students within the class so that they have similar levels as the students they do activities with. The main advantages of this strategy are the ability to separate material and to focus on needs separately. When...  [Read more]

Here at ITTT, we will do all we can to ensure your entire TESOL training experience is as straightforward and rewarding as possible. If you have any questions regarding our courses, please see our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section below. Our FAQ section should clear up most of your queries but if you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by submitting them via the form provided at the bottom of this page. What does TESOL mean?   The acronym TESOL stands for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. The term is commonly used when referring to certification courses that provide the skills necessary to teach the English language to non-native speakers in your own country or abroad. Read more What is the difference between TESOL and...  [Read more]

{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ [ {"@context": "https://schema.org","@type": "SiteNavigationElement","@id": "#nameh0","name": "Who is eligible to legally teach English in Vietnam?","url": "https://www.tesolcourse.com/tesol-faqs/tefl-tesol-visa-documents/can-i-get-a-work-visa-to-teach-english-in-vietnam/#nameh0"},{"@context": "https://schema.org","@type": "SiteNavigationElement","@id": "#nameh1","name": "What are the requirements for teaching English in Vietnam?","url": "https://www.tesolcourse.com/tesol-faqs/tefl-tesol-visa-documents/can-i-get-a-work-visa-to-teach-english-in-vietnam/#nameh1"},{"@context": "https://schema.org","@type": "SiteNavigationElement","@id": "#nameh3","name": "What visa will I need to teach English in...  [Read more]

Computer Aided Language Learning With the advent of the internet and its increasing importance in the classroom, Computer Aided Language Learning, or CALL, has become a viable and useful source for both teachers and students. CALL first became prevalent in US classrooms in the late 1070’s. Since its introduction it has gone from a primitive, structured Q&A program, to full-fledged language programs such as Rosetta stone. Although programs like Rosetta Stone have experienced success, many experts believe that CALL should be used to augment rather than replace face-to-face learning environments. This was one of the big questions facing ESL teachers in the late 90s, how to integrate CALL and its resulting technological concerns successfully into the classroom. Such things as whether an...  [Read more]

{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ [ {"@context": "https://schema.org","@type": "SiteNavigationElement","@id": "#nameh0","name": "To shake things up","url": "https://www.tesolcourse.com/tesol-faqs/tefl-tesol/why-should-i-study-tesol/#nameh0"},{"@context": "https://schema.org","@type": "SiteNavigationElement","@id": "#nameh1","name": "For the lifestyle","url": "https://www.tesolcourse.com/tesol-faqs/tefl-tesol/why-should-i-study-tesol/#nameh1"},{"@context": "https://schema.org","@type": "SiteNavigationElement","@id": "#nameh3","name": "To make money","url": "https://www.tesolcourse.com/tesol-faqs/tefl-tesol/why-should-i-study-tesol/#nameh3"},{"@context": "https://schema.org","@type": "SiteNavigationElement","@id": "#nameh3","name": "For the...  [Read more]

There is such a tremendous amount of marked regional diversity in Spain that one is almost dealing with a mini continent. Life on the costas - Spain’s huge coastline - differs greatly from that in the big cities, which in turn differs from life in the thousands of picturesque rural villages, which is again different from the ski slopes of Andora or Granada. Dispirit locations and circumstances are united in a profound love of life, sometimes combined with a slight disdain for work. Spaniards work to live, they do not live to work. Hence it is very easy to get swept up in a seemingly constant round of fiestas and festivals, music and dancing - eating well and drinking well being all part of pursuing the good life in the best of all possible worlds. Despite the fact that practically...  [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]

Group Dynamics I have always been fascinated by social dynamics and how they affect groups in personal and professional contexts. A teacher must be constantly aware of group dynamics while teaching. The teacher is not, however, merely exporting language information-grammatical structures, vocabulary, etc-but also acts in a role model capacity. This translates into how the teacher presents materials and engages the class. While researching for this essay, I stumbled across an article titled, Teacher Identity as Pedagogy: Towards a Field-Internal Conceptualisation in Bilingual and Second Language Education. The article explores using the teacher’s personal identity as a ‘field-internal’ teaching tool, as a way to teach students a language, but also excite collaborative skills in...  [Read more]

English is one of the most commonly used second languages across much of the world and it is currently being studied by tens of millions of people from all backgrounds and cultures. How and where they choose to study can vary considerably, but one thing that most English language students have in common is that their studies are led by a tutor known as a TESOL teacher (or something similar such as ESL teacher, TEFL teacher, etc). The role of a TESOL teacher is to slowly build up their student's abilities in the four language skills; reading, writing, speaking, and listening, to enable them to reach their individual study goals, which could be for work, study, travel, or a variety of other reasons. Please note: the acronym TESOL stands for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. ...  [Read more]

Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL) can be simply defined as any situation where a native or non-native English speaker is teaching the English language to students whose first language is anything other than English. This is a very common scenario that occurs every day in virtually every country in the world due to the fact that the English language is the number one second language of choice in many areas. There is no one type of person from one type of background who decides to teach English, just as there is no one classroom environment that awaits those who choose this particular path. For some people it means teaching a few individual students on a part-time basis as a way to add some funds on a gap year adventure, while for others it is a full-time job that provides a...  [Read more]

China is not so much a country as a huge world in its own right. The ambition of the nation is to be the world’s largest economy, and most educated observers expect that it is only a matter of time before this aspiration is met. But it is not simply the economic dynamism and the strange contrast of cultures that draws the traveler. Thousands of years of history, philosophy and culture are clearly evident, and in a sense all of the political events of the 20th century, are merely a grain of sand on the beach of Chinese history. Cantonese and Mandarin are the official languages; however, in a country of around one point three billion spread over nearly four million square miles, there is a cornucopia of different dialects and idioms. The reality is that Cantonese will serve you well in...  [Read more]

{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ [ {"@context": "https://schema.org","@type": "SiteNavigationElement","@id": "#nameh0","name": "170-hour TESOL course with online specialization","url": "https://www.tesolcourse.com/tesol-faqs/tefl-tesol-courses/should-i-take-a-tesol-course-bundle/#nameh0"},{"@context": "https://schema.org","@type": "SiteNavigationElement","@id": "#nameh1","name": "220-hour Master Package","url": "https://www.tesolcourse.com/tesol-faqs/tefl-tesol-courses/should-i-take-a-tesol-course-bundle/#nameh1"},{"@context": "https://schema.org","@type": "SiteNavigationElement","@id": "#nameh3","name": "550-hour Expert Package","url": "https://www.tesolcourse.com/tesol-faqs/tefl-tesol-courses/should-i-take-a-tesol-course-bundle/#nameh3"} ...  [Read more]

Seating Arrangements in the Classroom Choosing a seating arrangement for a classroom is one of the most important decisions a teacher can make. The proper plan can facilitate the learning process, while a poor choice can all but render a lesson a failure. Nicole Cusik wrote a research paper about the implications of classroom arrangement for her Instructional Strategies and Reflections class at the University of Delaware. This paper can be found at. Her main point states that a teacher needs “to be sensitive to the learning objective of the lesson, as well as the interpersonal dynamic that exists among the students in the group.” There are several options when it comes to arranging a class, including rows, circles, clusters, activity zones, and pairs. Each can work well in some...  [Read more]