Skima Talk

  The Teach and Learn in Korea (TaLK) Program is a South Korean Government initiative that places foreign nationals into elementary schools to work as English language teachers. The program is similar to the larger EPIK Program; however, placements through this scheme are focused on rural rather than urban areas.  [Read more]

  When considering Teacher Talk Time, we can perhaps look at the major advantage and disadvantage of the teacher actually talking. The major advantage is that you as the teacher are usually the only real model for the language, the source of correct English. So at some stages, your talking time is very important to the students. So when you?re modeling language, that use of Teacher Talk Time can be very advantageous. There are major disadvantages to overusing Teacher Talk Time, however, and perhaps the major one is that whenever the teacher is talking, the students are listening and if the students are listening, then they themselves cannot be talking. So, Teacher Talk Time reduces the opportunity for Student Talk Time. So, we should try to minimize the use of Teacher Talk Time...  [Read more]

TaLK stands for Teach and Learn in Korea which is a government sponsored program that places foreign nationals into elementary schools across South Korea. TaLK is a similar program to the much larger EPIK; however, the TaLK Program differs by focusing on placements in underprivileged areas that might otherwise struggle to attract foreign teachers. Participants on the program will gain valuable teaching experience throughout their time in South Korea. There is also plenty of free time for exploring the local culture and for travel across the country and wider region. The TaLK Program is open to college graduates or current undergraduate students who have completed at least two years of a degree course. You must also hold a passport from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada,...  [Read more]

  "In this video, our OTP trainee Richard introduces the topic ""can"". It is one of the most commonly used modal verbs in English. He starts the lesson by getting the students thinking and talking in English by discussing things they can do with the other students. ITTT's Observed Teaching Practice courses (OTP) are ideal for teachers wanting to improve their teaching skills remotely from anywhere in the world." 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. ...  [Read more]

  In this TEFL/TESOL review, trainee Pam describes her experience with ITTT's four week in-class course in Phuket, Thailand. She outlines the program of the first week of the course. Pam talks about why she chose to do the course in Phuket and she gives a brief synopsis of the week's program. 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. A very difficult unit - I may need to check for more information from resources regarding learning phrasal verbs and...  [Read more]

  Edina decided to take a TEFL certificate course with ITTT after joining an NGO providing English teachers to students in Turkey. In this TEFL review video Edina talks about the many benefits of taking the course, including the extensive materials covering grammar, classroom management and lesson planning, the post course support and the fact that the certificate is recognised around the world. 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. Although I like...  [Read more]

  In this TESOL review, ITTT graduate Miguel talks about his experience taking the online TESOL course. Miguel had already been teaching English for several years in Korea before deciding to take an online TESOL course with ITTT. Although reluctant to take the course at first, he found it to be very informative and helpful. 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,we talk about the modals,phrasal verbs and passive voice.When we are talking...  [Read more]

  For those looking for a more advanced course in TESOL, ITTT offers an internationally-accredited 370-hour Diploma in TESOL. This course is suitable for any trainee who is looking to enhance their job prospects and CV/resume. The course is research based, encouraging you to make use of the internet and other resources to consider the main issues in English language teaching and draw your own conclusions regarding these issues. The 370-hour Diploma in TESOL contains 11 modules covering a wide range of subjects, including: The course is assessed via multi-choice online tests at the end of each module. Once the initial eleven modules are complete, you then need to submit a summative essay for module 12. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of...  [Read more]

  In this TEFL video the trainer covers some of the usages of the future continuous tense. These include: Actions in progress at a future time: I'll be teaching English this time next week. Predicting the present: She'll be getting on the plane about now. Polite enquiries (without influence): Will you be coming to the party? If you want to teach English, a TEFL certificate is your best bet for increasing your employment opportunities. ITTT runs a number of different TEFL courses to help you teach English and these can be taken online in the comfort of your own home or in-class at one of our many TEFL training centres worldwide. Visit our site by following the link above for more information. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their...  [Read more]

  Zeki is from Turkey and currently working as an English teacher in Mongolia. He enjoyed working through the units and especially found the grammar units very useful. He highly recommends this certification course for anyone interested in teaching abroad. 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's main focus was on ways of teaching. It specifically focused the Engage, Study and Activate approach and its different varieties. I really liked...  [Read more]

  For the lesson that even takes place, there are a number of things that you need to have considered. Obviously, you need a very clear idea of what it is you're expecting the students to have to do and they need to know why. It's very important before you ask them to do an activity that they have an understanding of the purpose of that activity. You should, secondly, have had a thought about what they already know. Linked to that is, will it be necessary to do any form of pre-teaching before I can expect them to do this activity and finally, we need to make sure that we have prepared all our materials and our instructions for this particular activity. So, we'll consider a straight arrow ESA lesson, the focus of which is to be speaking skills. So, we'll start with our engage and in...  [Read more]

  This video explores the usages of the Present Perfect Continuous -- the tense that relates past activities to the present. It implies that the activity is likely to continue in the future or that the activity was in progress for some length of time, or both. The first usage is to talk about an incomplete and ongoing activity, when we want to say how long it has continued. For example, "I have been teaching for ten years." It talks about an action that started in the past and is continuing now. The second usage is to describe recently finished activities that have present results. For example, "He is tired because he has been chopping trees." It is talking about an action that was continuing until very recently. The Present Perfect Continuous emphasizes the action or the...  [Read more]

  In this episode of Chantelle?s TEFL diary she takes us through her experiences with the second unit of her online TEFL course. Unit 2 of ITTT?s 120-hour TEFL course focuses on parts of speech; nouns, verbs, adjectives etc. As Chantelle points out in her video, having a basic understanding of the rules behind parts of speech is an important part of being an English teacher and is something that many native speakers of English take for granted. Although, as native speakers, we may instinctively know when and where to use the different parts of speech; understanding how to explain the rules to an English learner is a very different matter. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is...  [Read more]

  This video looks at how two present tenses can be used to talk about the future. The two tenses are the present simple and present continuous. The present simple is used to talk about time tables and scheduled events. The bus leaves at 12. The concert starts at 8. The present continuous is used to talk about future arrangements. I am playing football at the weekend. ITTT's online TESOL courses feature other videos explaining the future tense as well as other important grammar points needed by all potential English teachers. To find a TESOL course that is best suited to your needs visit us by following the link above. 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...  [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. Maintaining the class is a very important factor in teaching. It will helps our students to be more interested in the lesson. Yes that's right that building a good relationship to our students s very important. In line that you are also disciplining them....  [Read more]

  The next category we are looking at in our series on teaching special groups in ESL are individuals. Teaching individuals, or one-to-one, forms a large part of the ESL market. Find out the positives, negatives and tips in this video. 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. After reading Introductory Unit I found out how the whole course will be structured, what are the objectives of the course. It was useful to find out the general terminology used...  [Read more]

  In this video TEFL review, Nathan, a graduate of ITTT's 120 hour online TEFL/TESOL course shares his thoughts and experiences of the course. Nathan had been teaching for a number of years prior to doing the course. He discusses the benefits of doing the course with the tutor support option. Nathan believes that the course has enhanced his effectiveness as a teacher and it has improved his confidence in the classroom. He found the content of the course to be very relevant. 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...  [Read more]

  This video is part of our series on the past tenses in English. We start off the series with the past simple tense. In this video, we show you how to execute a mill drill activity for this tense. Here, the teacher provides the students with a survey or questionnaire with statements in the past simple tense. The students then go around the classroom and ask other students about their past experiences. 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 is...  [Read more]

  "In this video, our OTP trainee Richard holds his demonstration lesson about the second conditional. In his activate phase, he does a worksheet exercise with his students to check the understanding from the study phase. ITTT's Observed Teaching Practice courses (OTP) are ideal for teachers wanting to improve their teaching skills remotely from anywhere in the world." 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. Over the course of this unit, I refreshed...  [Read more]

  We have seen that the key word that helps us to remember the Present Perfect tense is forms of the word 'have' plus the past participle form of the verb. This ITTT video looks at the three main usages of the Present Perfect. First usage: To talk about indefinite past actions. I have been to Italy twice. / I have eaten snake. Second usage: To talk about unfinished past actions I have lived here for three years. / She has been a teacher since 2010. Third usage: To talk about past actions with present results. I have lost my keys. / I have left my computer in the office. When teaching the Present Perfect tense or any other grammar point it is always important to look for patterns and make it as clear as possible for your students. The courses at ITTT assume no prior knowledge...  [Read more]

  Paul from Australia is currently living in Manila in the Philippines. Paul took the 120-hour online TESOL course without tutor from ITTT. In this TESOL review video, Paul tells us that he found the course to be challenging and rewarding and had a great time completing but feels it would have been better to take the course with tutor support. Since completing the course Paul has been able to observe ESL lessons at the local international school and is looking forward to starting his new career as a TESOL teacher. 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...  [Read more]

  It also helps us form our tenses. Many of the tenses will use these auxiliary verbs; particularly we have our continuous tense and our perfect tense. There are additional tenses that use auxiliary verbs. We'll get into that when we talk about our individual tenses. Another important aspect of our verbs is that they generally tell us what tense the sentence has been formed in. Take for instance the verb "to live." We could use it as live, lives, living or lived. "I live" or "she lives in Bangkok," meaning the present. "I am living in Bangkok," still the present or "I lived in Bangkok," meaning the past. Another difference with our verbs has to do with whether or not the verb is regular or irregular. With the regular verbs, in order to conjugate the verb into the past, we simply...  [Read more]

  This TEFL review is from Stephanie. She is from the United States and recently completed our 120-hour TEFL/TESOL course online. She thought that all the units were very helpful as it definitely provides a comprehensive foundation of teaching English as a foreign language. She had a good time taking the course overall and recommend this course to anyone looking to work in the field of teaching English as a foreign 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 before moving onto the next....  [Read more]

  The idiom "elbow room" refers to having enough room to move in or having the ability to act freely, for example: The concert was so crowded that there was hardly any elbow room at all. This means, there were so many people at the concert that you could barely move. 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. Unit 8 dealt with the future. Because the future is so mysterious to talk about, we learned 7 ways to express it. Most of the future tenses were...  [Read more]

With the help of the information we have provided below, you can start teaching English as a foreign language online even if you don’t have a degree. We have looked at why some employers might insist on a degree, how to increase your chances of getting hired, and where to hunt for jobs. Normally, employers require a degree in order to obtain a work visa when hiring someone to teach English abroad. Visas are not a problem, though, when it comes to teaching online - so why do they still want teachers with degrees? One reason can be found in recent reforms made in the largest TEFL market: China. China is the largest TEFL market in the world, and this is also true for the online TEFL sector, where many of the major online teaching platforms are based. Online teaching platforms operating in...  [Read more]

  The two words "farther" and "further" are a pair of words that is often used interchangeably to talk about distances. However, not many know that there is actually a slight difference between the two. "Farther" is used for physical distances. So we would use it in this example: "Tokyo is farther away than Beijing". When using "further" we talk about non-physical, figurative distances, for example "I'm falling further away from my goals". As you can see, the two words have slighty different usages. However, in spoken English the two words are often used interchangeably without a difference. However, if you are keen to use them properly, you should stick to the rules mentioned above. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL...  [Read more]

  Yuliia from Ukraine had been working as a lawyer before deciding to change careers and become an English teacher. In this TEFL review video, Yuliia tells us that she learnt a great deal of new information about English teaching from her course. She plans to use her certificate to teach English as a foreign language abroad. 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 lesson I learned all about classroom structure. There are many things I will...  [Read more]

  In this TEFL/TESOL review trainees Emma and Angelo talk about their experiences with ITTT's in-class course in Phuket, Thailand. They outline the challenging but fun program of the fourth week of the course. They also talk 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 examines modal auxiliary verbs and the passive voice in...  [Read more]

  ITTT's 370-hour online Diploma in TESOL course, which comes with online tutor support, is a research based course that utilizes the internet and other resources to develop a deeper understanding of areas such as, the historical development of English language teaching, syllabus design, assessment procedures, classroom management and so on. The course will provide you with an in-depth understanding of teaching English and it will be a valuable addition to your CV. 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...  [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]