When Is Celebrate Halloween

Before we address the main question it is best to first give a brief outline of the different types of class levels that English language classrooms adopt around the world. Although there will be different names used for the different levels taught in some countries, the five standard teaching levels indicated by the main resources books available (Reward, New Headway, etc) are: Now that we have established the general language levels of our students, we can now look at the four skills of the English language. As an ESL language teacher it is vital that we are aware of the four skills required by any student who wishes to become fluent. Reading and listening (receptive skills) and writing and speaking (productive skills) are all as important as each other when it comes to learning a...  [Read more]

Details such as the age, background, and general motivation of your ESL students will vary considerably depending on the location and type of school that you work for. Your class could be full of university students, businessmen, or hotel workers, all of whom will be looking for a different type of lesson. Alternatively, teachers in government run schools will have a class full of children whose could be aged anywhere from five to sixteen. Whatever the individual group, they will have distinct characteristics which may or may not appeal to different teachers. It is worth remembering that by completing a TESOL certification course before you start teaching, you will learn all the skills you need to be successful in any classroom environment you are likely to come across. Many people...  [Read more]

Asia attracts tens of thousands of TESOL qualified teachers every year, however, some countries have certain restrictions in place that you need to be aware of before choosing a destination. For example, a 4-year university degree is required in some countries and others will only issue work permits to native English speakers. Another issue that teachers might need to be aware of is that there are age restrictions that apply in some situations. Some of the most popular TESOL destinations in Asia have a strict retirement policy that applies to both local and foreign teachers. In countries such as China, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea, government schools are not allowed to sponsor work visas for teachers who have reached the retirement age of that country. The retirement age...  [Read more]

Having adequate health insurance is clearly an important issue wherever you are living and working around the world. Whether health insurance is covered by your employer or not is something that varies from one situation to the next so it is important to confirm this whenever you are interviewed for a teaching position. Here we take a brief look at health insurance within the ESL teaching world. In most of the big ESL job markets across Asia such as China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and Vietnam, health insurance is typically included in a teaching contract. In most cases the cost will be fully covered by the employer, although a small sum might be deducted from your salary in certain situations. In other less developed markets, health insurance is less likely to be...  [Read more]

Whether you are new to teaching or you have years of experience, finding somewhere comfortable and safe to live is often a top priority. The chances are that you will not be the first foreign teacher to live and work in the area so there are likely to be a few common options to choose from. Below we look at the basics regarding accommodation when teaching English abroad. In a lot of cases, finding suitable accommodation is not a problem as it can often be included as part of the teacher?s benefit package. If you have a teaching job in China, South Korea, or the Middle East, there is every chance that you will receive free or subsidized accommodation. Government-run recruitment schemes such as Japan's Jet Program also typically include some form of accommodation in the contract. While...  [Read more]

As the internet is largely anonymous by nature, it is easy for unscrupulous characters who are looking to make easy money to prey on unsuspecting job hunters. While it is true that the quality of schools and the teaching contracts they offer can vary enormously, the vast majority of advertised jobs whether good or bad will be completely genuine. However, to avoid the small number of jobs that might be dubious, there are a few simple rules you can follow. Research is always the best defense against job scams when looking for ESL jobs online. By spending a bit of time researching the typical salary, expected benefits, working hours, and visa requirements in your chosen destination, potential scams should stand out like a sore thumb. The bottom line here is, if it sounds too good to be...  [Read more]

Teaching English abroad is a job much like any other and if you are not happy with your employer or things just haven?t worked out as you hoped they would, you are free to head back home or look elsewhere for employment at any time. Although the vast majority of ESL teachers see out the entire length of their contracts, there will always be some who are not able to complete it for a variety of reasons. A family emergency back home, difficulties with work colleagues, and unsatisfactory working conditions are all common reasons why teachers feel they have to terminate their contract. If your job is based on an hourly pay rate there are unlikely to be any repercussions if you decide to leave. This scenario will apply to a large percentage of people teaching in Latin America and Europe...  [Read more]

First, let's unpack the TESOL acronym. TESOL means Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. It refers to the act of teaching English to non-native speakers. While TESOL is technically meant for teaching scenarios in English-speaking countries, it has been universally adopted to describe English language instruction in any setting. Additionally, TESOL is a term that encapsulates the teacher training programs and the certifications that aspiring teachers pursue. This certification is designed to meet the requirements set by most global employers seeking qualified English teachers. However, when applying for English teaching positions, many applicants might present a TEFL certificate instead of a TESOL. It is essential to understand that TESOL and TEFL, while having different...  [Read more]

Within our wide variety of online TESOL courses, our Diploma in TESOL is the most advanced online qualification that we offer. The course is designed to be taken by anyone who wants to start their teaching career with a higher level qualification than the majority of other first-time teachers in the job market. With this qualification on your CV/resume you will be able to apply for more prestigious teaching positions that typically offer a higher salary and greater responsibility. The diploma course begins with our standard 120-hour online TESOL certification course which covers all the basic subjects that new English teachers need to be aware of. Thanks to this base level start to the course, the Diploma in TESOL is open to anyone regardless of their previous classroom experience. There...  [Read more]

  Our online TESOL courses offer many different features and one of the most popular with our trainees is their high level of flexibility. There are no set times when you have to be online and no fixed timetables for any part of our online courses, which allows you to fit your studies around your own personal responsibilities and lifestyle. You are free to decide for yourself when to study and how much you want to do at any one time. This freedom means you can take one of our online TESOL courses and still carry on with your existing commitments, such as work, family, or study. As there are no timetables to stick to, you can log in to your study dashboard whenever you have a bit of free time and do as much as you can with the time you have. The only real restriction we have with our...  [Read more]

  We are fully aware that making the right choice of TESOL course can be a difficult process, which is why we ensure that our customer services are always on hand to help out. You can contact us at any time of the day or night with any questions you have via a wide range of different media. Our first point of contact is our online contact form which can be accessed via our website. Our TESOL experts will provide all the answers you need as quickly as possible. You can also make contact online with our friendly and knowledgeable customer care team via WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. If you prefer to speak to someone in person, you can go to our contact page and arrange a call back from one of our TESOL experts. You can arrange for them to call at the best time to suit you, either by...  [Read more]

  The third conditional is used when speaking about regrets and excuses. This video is specifically aimed at teaching the third conditional in an ESL setting. 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. Evaluation and feedback are important to booth students and teachers during the progress of language learnin. As lessons and knowledge are being taught to students continuously, it is important for teacher to understand how the students are able to...  [Read more]

  There are certain words that need backshifting when using reported speech. In this video we look at backshifting places in reported speech. This video is specifically aimed at teaching reported speech in an ESL setting. 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 about the pronunciation and the phonology of the English language and how to teach it to student. Pronunciation is something that most students find very difficult in the...  [Read more]

The bottom line is that it is not necessary to have knowledge of any language other than English when taking a TESOL course or when teaching English abroad. In the modern age, the majority of English classes around the world are based on the communicative approach to English teaching that simply means that English is the only language used in the classroom by the teacher and the students. You may find yourself in a situation where you have a multilingual classroom that contains speakers of a dozen or more different languages. In these scenarios being able to speak one or two of them would be unlikely to help anyone. In contrast, teachers in monolingual classrooms often find that their students are more likely to revert to their common language during a lesson if they know that the...  [Read more]

English language teaching is awash with acronyms and unfortunately this can lead to a fair amount of confusion amongst new and experienced teachers. Anywhere you look for information regarding teaching English abroad you will find acronyms such as TEFL, TESOL, and CELTA. So what is the difference between these terms? This common term stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language. TEFL does not apply to any one singular program, certification, or provider, but is just a catch-all term used for training courses and certification aimed at people who plan to teach English overseas. There are many TEFL course providers that offer a wide range of TEFL certification that vary in length, price, and overall quality. This is another common term that stands for Teaching English to Speakers...  [Read more]

If you have found a free course that you are interested in, it would be a good idea to run through a simple checklist of features of your chosen course, to help you decide if it is worth taking. 1) Is it an internationally recognized TESOL certificate? 2) Does it include a hardcopy of the certificate for work permit uses? 3) Is the TESOL course at least 120-hours of study? 4) Does the course cover teaching skills and language awareness? 5) Are you able to access continued job guidance and support? 6) Does the course lead to higher level qualifications in TESOL? For the best employment prospects, all of the above are very important. A number of other factors may not be immediately obvious, but these include; This is now a common form of marketing an educational product. The course...  [Read more]

As English is so widely used throughout much of the world in the media, government, and business, it is no surprise that hundreds of millions of people are currently learning it in countries worldwide. To service this huge demand there are hundreds of thousands of teachers, both native and non-native English speakers, working in schools, language centers, private businesses, colleges, universities, and virtual classrooms in almost every country you can think of. Although most of these teachers have a very strong understanding of the English language, they don’t all necessarily understand the wide array of acronyms used within the industry, such as EFL, ESL, TEFL, TESL, TESOL, ELT, etc. EFL and ESL are used to refer to the two main types of English language learning that occur...  [Read more]

  The second conditional is used when speaking about dreams, fantasies and hypothetical situations. This video is specifically aimed at teaching the second conditional in an ESL setting. 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 7, I learned how to create a lesson when introducing new vocabulary words, and new grammatical structure. For example regarding food, if I had a lesson on food, I would begin one day with new vocabular. I would show...  [Read more]

  This video looks at the difficulties students have when learning modal auxiliary verbs. The number of usages and the modal auxiliary verbs that can be used for various usages often bring about problems for the students. Also, the structure of sentences with modal auxiliary verbs can be confusing. Watch this video to understand all the difficulties students face with modal auxiliary verbs. 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 there...  [Read more]

TESOL courses vary in length from a few hours over the weekend all the way to the pinnacle of educational certification, which is the doctorate level. Here we will briefly describe the different courses available, their content, and why you may wish to take them. Typical course duration: Five to fifteen hours Typical study components: An overview of TESOL. What a typical 120-hour certification involves. Employment opportunities by country. Introduction to teaching skills and language awareness. Use of certification: Can be used as ‘Continuing Professional Development’ (CPD) credit. Useful to get an idea of what TESOL involves without paying out for a full course. Typical course duration: Forty to sixty hours Typical study components: There are three generally recognized...  [Read more]