Ipa International Phonetic Alphabet Chart

  A better way to go about imparting how to make sounds or what sounds are utilized in a word, is this international phonemic alphabet. Now we have as mentioned one symbol being used in all the words which share that same sound. Now once we get a little bit more familiar with our phonemic alphabet we can also show how different our different sounds can be as in this symbol for ?ooh?, this symbol for ?ow? and this symbol for ?uh?. 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...  [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]

  In this ITTT TESOL review video Karen describes her experience during her TESOL/TEFL course in Hangzhou, China. ITTT has training centers in over thirty different international locations. To find training center that suits you just visit our web site or follow the above links. 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. Reported speech is often confusing for students because the grammar shifts between direct speech and reported speech can sometimes be...  [Read more]

  In this TEFL/TESOL review, trainee Pam describes her experience with ITTT's in-class course in Phuket, Thailand. She outlines the program of the fourth week of the course. Pam also talks about some of the assessment components of the course and the certificates that are awarded at the conclusion of the course. 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 introduces some grammatical aspects such as modals, phrasal verbs, and the passive voice....  [Read more]

  In this video we'll be looking at the international phonemic alphabet and how it's used in the classroom. There are other phonemic alphabets but this is the most popular and the system, which is most widely used. You may have seen some of these symbols before as any good dictionary will supplement standard English spellings with the phonemic spellings to aid in pronunciation practice. Here we have a situation where we have what are called phonemes and each phoneme represents a sound within the English language. How is this helpful? Well, what it does is help students understand how to say words rather than simply relying on the often archaic English spellings. To illustrate this point let's for a moment put ourselves in the shoes of our students when trying to understand how to...  [Read more]

  Maksim from Russia is living and working in Shanghai, China. He took the 120-hour online TEFL course with ITTT and in his TEFL review video he tells us how he found the course to be well organized, interesting and not complicated. Maksim thinks that having the TEFL certificate played an important role in helping him to find a job teaching English in China. 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 a very detailed account of Phonology. I...  [Read more]

  In this ITTT TESOL review Lenin from the United States talks about his experiences while completing the 120 hour online TESOL/TEFL certification course. 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 focuses on the basic grammar concepts that make up the English Language. It uses a systematic approach to introduce and explain the most important Parts of Speech that make up the language. I've learned to develop a framework of how to teach English...  [Read more]

  Ruth lives in Nicaragua and took the 120-hour online TESOL without tutor support from ITTT. In this TESOL review video Ruth discusses what she enjoyed about the course. She found the course units to be simple and easy to follow and particularly liked the teaching ideas that the course provided to help her teach language concepts in more varied and interesting ways. She also benefited from the job help provided at the end of the course. 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...  [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. The videos going over a non-effective way to teach and a effective way to teach was helpful for me. I was able to see what you shouldn't do such as use complex...  [Read more]

  Another TEFL trainee shares his experiences of completing his TEFL/TESOL in-class course in Sydney, Australia. In this TEFL review he talks about some of the course components and why he would recommend others to do the course. ITTT's intensive in-class course meets all international standards and our TEFL/TESOL certification courses are internationally recognized and accredited. No matter which of our training centers you select to complete the course you will receive the highest standards and support. 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...  [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. Unit6 was the final Unit...  [Read more]

  Whereas stress is typically concerned with one individual word, intonation is generally concerned with the variation in volume and pitch throughout an entire sentence. Intonation carries the message of a sentence. It's particularly important when questioning or agreeing, disagreeing and confirming statements. It's also very important when expressing emotions and feelings. The normal pattern for intonation is the rise-fall. Few examples would be ?I haven't seen him for a week,? or a simple word as ?okay?. With the falling intonation, we?re indicating that we're finished speaking. Again, ?I haven't seen him for a week? and ?okay?. A few more examples would be ?I'll see you at six then,? or a question of information ?How do you spell rough?? These are straightforward statements that...  [Read more]

  Semi-modal auxiliary verbs can cause a lot of confusion with English students. These auxiliary verbs differ with true modals in that they change their form depending on the pronoun the follow. An example of a semi-modal auxiliary verb is "need to". Watch the video for the complete explanation. 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 entirely new material for me. I wasn't aware of the phonetic alphabet. I found the videos very helpful for my...  [Read more]

  So, let's have a look at a typical receptive skills lesson. The main focus of this lesson is going to be reading, although there will be some listening involved as well and it?s going to be a patchwork ESA lesson. As a patchwork lesson, it will start off with an engage and this engage what we're going to do is to play an extract about Elvis Presley and it's going to be an Elvis Presley song and we can ask the students if they know who it is and if they know anything about him can help generate the interest in this. We can also ask them what they'd like to know about it. What we can then do is just to introduce them to the text but they're going to read the detail later on but just at this stage we'll do a quick skimming or scanning exercise to find some information from that...  [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]

  English teachers can expect a wide range of different benefits that vary from region to region. Regions where you can expect to receive free housing when working as an English teacher include China, South Korea, and the Middle East. 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. The most significant aspect for me in this TEFL unit , is that the students are learning a second language and more likely doing so in their native country. Therefore , a teachers...  [Read more]

Teaching English pronunciation can be a challenging but rewarding task for TEFL teachers. Here are some tips to help you improve your students' pronunciation skills: 1. **Understand the Basics**: Before you can teach pronunciation effectively, make sure you have a good grasp of the basic sounds of the English language. Familiarize yourself with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to understand the different sounds and symbols. 2. **Focus on Sounds**: English has a variety of sounds that may not exist in your students' native language. Focus on teaching these specific sounds, such as the difference between /r/ and /l/ for Japanese speakers or the various vowel sounds for Spanish speakers. 3. **Minimal Pairs**: Use minimal pairs - words that differ by only one sound, such as "ship" and...  [Read more]

  Here we have a set of five words, which all share one sound: the ?oh? sound, as in ?go?, ?show?, ?dough?, ?note? and ?boat?. They?re five different spelling patterns to tell our students so they can identify when to make the ?oh? sound. We can have a simple letter ?o?, ?ow?, ?ough?, ?o? with the magic ?e? which turns our vowel into what we knew as long sounds and the ?oa? as in ?boat?. Now, for a non-native learner, perhaps they can handle something like this. They remember that these spelling combinations help to produce the ?oh? sound and they can go about their business looking at the words and memorizing this knowing that these spelling patterns will produce the sound ?oh?. Now that?s okay until we get to a situation where we can also have words like ?to?, ?cow? and also...  [Read more]

  In Chantelle?s thirteenth video diary entry she talks about unit 13 of her 120-hour online TEFL course. Unit 13 covers pronunciation and phonology. As Chantelle notes there is a lot of information presented in this unit including phonology, stress, articulation and the phonemic alphabet. The unit also looks at how to teach individual sounds and when we should teach pronunciation to our students. 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,...  [Read more]

  Marija from Serbia, having completed a degree in English, wanted to take her TEFL course with ITTT to increase her employment opportunities. In this TEFL review, Marija tells us how she found the course to be very well organized and really appreciated the way the course showed her how to take the elements of teaching theory covered in the course and put them into practice. Marija recommends the course to anyone without teaching experience to enhance their knowledge of English language teaching and to gain confidence in the classroom. 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...  [Read more]

  Our next methodology is called the silent way and it's accredited to Caleb Gattegno and was developed in or around the 1970s. This particular methodology moved on from the behaviorist stimulus response to what's called a theory of constructivism and this constructivist approach was very very different, very radical to anything that had been tried before. The background to this particular methodology was that there was a French mathematics teacher who found that his students were finding it very difficult to understand particular concepts. What he realized was that what they needed was a more visual representation of the information. So he came up with a series of colored rods to help with those concepts in mathematics. He gave his name to those rods and they're called Cuisenaire...  [Read more]

Central Europe is a popular destination for teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) with a TEFL certificate. Countries such as Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, and Austria offer numerous opportunities for TEFL teachers. In these countries, there is a high demand for English language skills, particularly in the business sector, tourism industry, and education field. In Poland, cities like Warsaw, Krakow, and Wroclaw have a growing demand for English teachers. Private language schools, international schools, and universities are always looking for qualified TEFL teachers to help improve students' English proficiency. The cost of living in Poland is relatively low compared to other European countries, making it an attractive option for TEFL teachers. Similarly, the Czech...  [Read more]

If you have a TEFL certificate and you're looking to teach English in South-East Europe, there are several countries in the region where you can find opportunities. Countries like Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, and Greece are popular destinations for English language teachers. In Romania, cities like Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, and Timisoara have a demand for English teachers in language schools, private tutoring, and even in public schools. The cost of living in Romania is lower compared to Western Europe, making it an attractive option for TEFL teachers. Bulgaria is another country in South-East Europe where you can teach English with a TEFL certificate. Cities like Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna have a range of opportunities in language schools, international schools, and private tutoring....  [Read more]

  TEFL International provides one of the most practical and professionally presented TEFL courses available in Australia. Our TEFL training center in Sydney is a wonderful option for anyone looking to gain TEFL certification. Course participants can gain experience teaching in Australia and then go on to teach in Asia, or nearly anywhere else in the world for that matter. Being Australia’s largest city, Sydney is a multi-cultural city with a very cosmopolitan feel. Australia is a popular destination for TEFL training. A variety of different landscapes can be seen throughout a continent and diverse natural wonders such as the famed Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) and the Great Barrier Reef are not too far away. Sunshine soaks beach goers almost year round and Sydney’s locals will charm you...  [Read more]

When it comes to teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) and enjoying city life, there are several countries that offer great opportunities for teachers. These countries not only have a high demand for English teachers but also provide a vibrant urban experience. Here are some of the best countries for TEFL teachers who enjoy city life: One of the top choices for TEFL teachers who prefer city living is Japan. Cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto offer a unique blend of traditional culture and modern amenities. The demand for English teachers in Japan is high, and the salary and benefits are usually very competitive. Additionally, Japan is known for its safety, cleanliness, and efficient public transportation system, making it a popular choice for many expats. Another popular...  [Read more]

  TEFL International offers two of the most outstanding training courses for people who want to gain TEFL certification in France. Once you’ve earned it, you’ll have one of the most recognizable TEFL certificates in the world. With that in hand, we’ll help you find employment and offer other post-course support—in France or elsewhere. Take our course in France and you’ll be spending a month of life-long learning in one of Europe’s most dynamic destinations. From food and wine to museums and architecture, France is home to some of the finest cuisine and art scenes in the entire world. France is home to numerous fascinating cities, the Cote d’azur and a countryside that could charm even the coldest of souls. Combine France's quaint and lazy days with its brilliant...  [Read more]

English is taught as a second language all over the globe. Due to the volume of qualified teachers needed there are many great opportunities with attractive salaries just waiting to be filled in countries worldwide. TEFL teachers are usually required to have teaching qualifications and are therefore considered to be skilled workers in most areas. As a skilled foreign worker, the base salary enjoyed by a full-time ESL teacher is usually considerably higher than the country’s median wage. Experienced teachers and those with advanced-level teaching qualifications can often further enhance their claims for a higher salary. Factoring in lifestyle and living costs, countries in Southeast Asia continue to be extremely popular with our TEFL course graduates. An average teaching salary in this...  [Read more]

Japan has been a popular destination amongst English language teachers for many years due to its widespread job opportunities, good salaries and fascinating culture. Whilst there are other countries in the region where the cost of living may be lower and the wages a little higher, nowhere provides such an incredible mix of modern development and ancient traditions as you will find in this extraordinary country. If you are looking for excitement and adventure, look no further than Japan. In order to work legally you will need to be eligible for a work visa. The good news is the criteria is not as tough as many other countries as you simply need to possess a degree in any subject. The only other qualifications you need are a fluency in the English language, a professional approach and a...  [Read more]

Paris is an absolutely amazing location to take TEFL International’s teacher training course. As the center of French culture and history, Paris will dazzle you with breathtaking landscapes, sites and scenery. From the iconic Eiffel Tower to the meandering River Seine, Paris and its people will leave you with a truly unforgettable experience of a lifetime. Due to all it has to offer, Paris is one of the world’s most popular destinations. Regardless of age, gender or nationality, the City of Lights will provide you with unforgettable memories. Despite its size, Paris has a charm that can only be discovered by walking down its streets and interacting with Parisians themselves. During the duration of your course, you’ll be able to see a side of Paris that average travelers can only...  [Read more]

  Japan has been a popular destination amongst English language teachers for many years due to its widespread job opportunities, good salaries and fascinating culture. Whilst there are other countries in the region where the cost of living may be lower and the wages a little higher, nowhere provides such an incredible mix of modern development and ancient traditions as you will find in this extraordinary country. If you are looking for excitement and adventure, look no further than Japan. In order to work legally you will need to be eligible for a work visa. The good news is the criteria is not as tough as many other countries as you simply need to possess a degree in any subject. The only other qualifications you need are a fluency in the English language, a professional approach...  [Read more]