How Do You Say I Don't Speak Japanese

Absolutely, teaching English in Thailand doesn't necessitate fluency in Thai. In fact, most language schools in Thailand prefer that ESL instructors use only English in the classroom to promote full immersion, regardless of their Thai language proficiency. Is there a need for English teachers in Thailand? What are the requirements for teaching English in Thailand? Thailand has seen a surge in demand for English teachers, driven by its expanding economy and an increasing eagerness among its population to master the language. As English education gains prominence, those with TEFL certifications generally find more lucrative opportunities. The shift towards long-term contracts has led schools to prioritize instructors willing to commit for extended periods, rather than brief stints. With...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences There are several pronunciation problems that students of English will face in Japan; however, I will focus on two. 1. Differences in the phonetic systems of two languages 2. Lack of exposure to authentic English resources Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course today! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Brandie K. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. The first of these problems they face is the fact that Japanese doesn't have some of the same sounds in its' alphabet as English does. For example, Japanese does not have a hard R sound; instead, it has a sound that is a mix of R and L. So, when students from Japan go to say rice, for many...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences During my stay in Japan, Japanese people often told me how they can't communicate in English despite studying the language for six or more years in school. In Japan, students in junior and senior high learn English grammar and vocabulary in compulsory formal English classes. English is also taught in elementary school as foreign language activities. Yet despite spending several hours in English classes, many Japanese people graduate high school with poor English communication skills. Education system Class culture Learning goals Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Rachel M. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences There are several challenges Japan faces when it comes to learning English as a second language. Japanese culture is a bubble. Everything, including their ad signs, TV, games, government, studies, work and even the internet is filled with one language; Japanese. In a world of globalization, where your goods and services can come from literally any part of the globe. Japan is one of the few remaining homogenous cultures where English is still seen as an optional language. As the global economy becomes more global, the English language will likely become less optional, but essential. In addition to the cultural issues, Japan's English curriculum in the school is largely unchanged from the '60s according to my Japanese cousins and uncles still living in...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Japanese is certainly one of the most interesting languages in the world thanks to its three types of writing (hiragana, katakana and kanji). International Links Main Challenges: Phonetic System Main Challenges: Exposure to English Main Challenges: Grammar Main Challenges: Beginners Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Desiree I. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. After the outbreak of intercontinental travel (therefore with the appearance of commercialization and missionaries around the world) many terms of different languages, including English ones, also became part of the language of Japan....  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Daisy C. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Grammar Pronunciation Japanese schools Japanese culture Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: One problem facing many Japanese students learning English is differentiating between countable and uncountable nouns. In the Japanese language, the same word is often used for 'much' and 'many'. In English, 'much' is used to describe countable nouns, and 'many' is used to describe uncountable nouns. A problem facing many EFL learners, especially Japanese learners, is idioms. The English language has thousands of idioms, which are used in everyday life. These are...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Destinations Teaching Ideas Japan is a country facing rapid change. Due to an aging population and a scarcity of workers, Japan is opening its borders to foreigners, many of whom speak English. This, along with the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, has led to an increase in demand for English teachers. I currently work in Japan, and have had the experience of teaching English to high school Japanese students for the past year. Over the course of this year, I've learned of many problems that students in Japan face when learning English. Of those, the top three problems for students in Japan are pronunciation, shyness, and large class sizes. Listen to this blog post: Differences in Phonology Students' Reluctance to Speak Class Size in Japanese Schools Are you ready to teach English...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I work in two schools. I am an assistant language teacher at one commercial (low-level English) high school, and an integrated (high-level English) academic junior high and high school. I have had experiences with different kinds of students, Japanese-English teachers, and classroom atmospheres. In Japan, students take an entrance exam to get into high school. If they scored low on the entrance exam, then they are placed in the lowest ranking class. Each school has a certain number of classrooms for each grade. Both of my high schools have six classes total for each grade. There are usually around forty to forty-two students in each class as well. Teaching forty plus students in a crowded classroom is difficult. And unlike many stereotypes of...  [Read more]

all right hi hey everyone hi as you can see it's not only me this week welcome to our live stream we have guests today i'm super happy about it hi maddie hi georgia hello hey so yeah back here another for another week and i'm live on a different day i usually go live on fridays so today is very special and also because we have guests so i'm super happy about that and yeah if you are watching if you can see us if you can hear us please just leave a high in the comments that would be really cool and where you're watching from i'm always really curious about where people are watching from and um yeah i'm in south korea my name is linda from itt if you don't know me and i'm yeah about an hour and a half south of seoul at the moment it's 6 30 on a thursday evening and i think it's the same...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences I have had the opportunity to study several foreign languages, some in a formal setting, some self-taught. Through my personal experiences learning other languages, I have developed some insights into language learning. I would like to describe some of my experienc| ITTT | TEFL Bloges, and some of my thoughts on what I have learned from them, and from this course. How I started learning languages How my job influenced the language interest Challenges of learning on your own Benefits of the ESA teaching approach How to distinguish a skilled teacher Are you ready to teach English abroad? Related Articles: Listen to this blog post This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kim T. My first experience in language learning began at age...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Teaching Ideas When you teach English as a foreign language it's important to pay attention to details that we sometimes ignore when communicating with other native level speakers, either in spoken or written English. Some people have got into the habit of writing in uppercase/capital letters, use abbreviations, and don't think much about punctuation. We also tend not to be too critical of people's spoken English as long as we get the point across. 'There's a lot of cars on the road today' is grammatically incorrect for example. 1. Punctuation 2. Upper and Lowercase 3. Abbreviations 4. Use of Colour on the Board 5. Avoid Boring Gap-Fills 6. Avoid Changing What Students Say 7. Maximizing Student Talk Time 8. Calling on Individuals 9. Pronunciation Drilling Are you ready to...  [Read more]

Jon ITTT Alumni Experiences Classroom management is one of the most important aspects of teaching and is the key to students' successful learning. Consequently, how to effectively manage and run classroom becomes the central theme and sometimes the biggest concern for English teachers, especially when facing young learners. There are a variety of settings with different scenarios but since I currently teach in Japan, here I would like to focus on the class setting in which all students are Japanese, i.e., of a single nationality who learn English as a foreign language. The classroom environment Student behavior The importance of building trust in the classroom Are you ready to teach English abroad? Related Articles: Listen to this blog post This post was written by our TEFL...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas Grammar is the rules governing the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in a natural language. Simply put, grammar is the general rule of a language. Language is logical; grammar tells us in which order we say words. It's about how words become phrases; how words and phrases become sentences and how sentences become language. The Essence of Grammar Different languages have different grammar rules How to teach grammar (EFL: how to teach Chinese students English) Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Yang S. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. Some of these rules are acquired naturally in...  [Read more]

Mark Crocker Alumni Experiences It was the last day of Japanese class and my teacher's last day of teaching at our school. We were all standing up getting ready to bow him one last time. It was dead quiet but I could still hear sniffles around me and felt the sadness of the moment. I never thought I would care so much about a teacher leaving. To this day, the words and wisdom my Japanese teacher taught me still ring in my head. Flash forward to a few years ago, I went to Japan for the first time, after a hiatus of not studying Japanese, but amazingly I still had all the skills my teacher had taught me in high school. How did this person have such an impact on me? The answer I have come to realize is that because he truly cared about me becoming skillful in a foreign language. The most...  [Read more]

Laura Payne Destinations TEFL Information The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program is not the only means to teach English in Japan, but it is one of the most popular programs out there both for aspiring teachers and those who wish to pursue other fields. I first joined this program a little over a year ago. In the short time since then, I've gained incredibly valuable experiences through my work as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT). The History of JET Duties of an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) How to Apply for the JET Program Remuneration and Living Rewards of JET Common Challenges for ALTs The JET Community Listen to this blog post What are you waiting for? Related Articles: Local prefectural governments and larger government bodies, including Japan's Ministry of Foreign...  [Read more]

Asia Ridley TEFL Information Alumni Experiences English education in Japan has been prominent for decades and starts in elementary schools. It is in high demand as the relationship between the U.S. and Japan as well as the abundant amount of tourism. Last year straight after graduating from university in the United States, I moved to Japan and began teaching English. I was fortunate to pass the interviews and become part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme {JET}. Being an assistant language teacher {ALT} in the Japanese education system versus a conversation school has its differences. Therefore I will be diving into how one can contribute to the classroom as an ALT. Japanese Elementary School Collaborating with your Homeroom Teacher Outside of the classroom Conclusion Are you...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences In the wake of the upcoming 2020 Olympics in Japan, there has been an increase in elementary school level English classes. As an assistant language teacher half into my fourth year, I have had the rare chance to work the entirety of my time in one elementary school where I have had many great memories. However, being present every day I began to notice that some students were struggling or in some cases, not even trying when it came to English class. Talking with my peers and colleagues from other elementary schools as well as my own, there are some common problems that many students seem to experience in an English class. These problems include learning in a counter-productive environment, inconsistent exposure to the language, and a lack of...  [Read more]

hello welcome Linda here from ITT back this week with another live session welcome welcome today we're going to talk about the top hiring seasons for teaching English abroad so we're going to cover different regions Europe Asia Latin America Central America um and different countries specifically in these regions and the top hiring seasons for each of those countries so you know exactly when to apply for the job for an English teaching job in the country that you want to teach in so um a couple weeks ago we talked about um tefl interviews and how to find jobs Etc so now this is kind of part of this series and just to yeah give you an overview of the top hiring season so that you know exactly when you should be applying for your job in your dream destination so that's what we're going to do...  [Read more]

hi guys hey Linda here from ITTT back this week with another live session thank you so much for joining me today and taking some time out of your day today to be here with me and learn something new hopefully about teaching English and today we're going to talk about the do's and don'ts of teaching English abroad sort of everything you need to know you should know before you embark on this exciting journey of teaching English abroad so yeah let me know if you can hear me if you can see me uh drop a hi in the comment section oh perfect and also let me know where are you watching from today I already see crystalline here Hi crystaline how are you doing good to see you again awesome great where are you guys watching from today where are you right now what time is it there um anything else you...  [Read more]

hello hello and welcome my name is linda thanks so much for tuning in um yeah i'm back here again like every week i guess um live with itt talking about yet another very exciting and interesting teaching and tefl topic today and i think especially this topic is going to be so useful um and it's i think not talked about enough right we always talk about how to choose the correct tefl course how to choose you know how to find jobs and all this kind of stuff but not we're not going down into the nitty-gritty of the actual tefl interview and that's what we're gonna do today so we are talking about the 15 most asked questions in a tefl interview and hi guys thanks so much for watching i see we already have a couple of people here if you can see me if you can hear me as always please drop a...  [Read more]

hello hi welcome to another live session my name is linda from i t t t and as you can see today we're going to talk about china's ban on private esl tutoring everything you need to know what we know so far there's still a lot of ambiguity but i've done a lot of research i talked to a lot of people so hopefully i'll be able to tell you something you might not know yet and give a little bit of clarity into this topic but uh disclaimer you know things change all the time and there's still like i said a lot of ambiguity around this whole topic a lot of even experts aren't sure yet how everything is going to be implemented how it's going to look like in the future so just i want to say that up front and ittttt this is also not something that we have control over or we are particularly like...  [Read more]

hi welcome Linda here from ITT back this week with another live session I hope you're doing well thank you so much for joining me today I'm happy to see you if you can see me and if you can hear me clearly if everything's working please just leave a high in the comment section and uh maybe also let me know where you are right now where are you watching from today what time is it there how are you doing let me know in the comments we are live on Facebook and on YouTube at the same time and we also always turn our live sessions into podcast episodes so if you're listening to this as a podcast thank you so much for the download and thank you so much for listening we really appreciate that don't forget to like And subscribe um so you're always up to date whenever we go live um last week we had...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences Admittedly, learning grammar may not be the most appealing part when learning a new language. It usually connects with conjugations, tenses and in some languages, the position of the verbs, for example, German. Grammar itself can cause a huge problem for both the teacher and students to carry out the language class smoothly. People might argue that unconscious imitation is the best approach to learning a language since it is the most natural way. I would like to say this is the idealist method. Truth speaking, not many students are able to enjoy the bilingual or even multi-lingual background. Moreover, even with the mother tongue, people will encounter grammar courses in school. This essay focuses on the necessities and importance of learning grammar...  [Read more]

Linda Dunsmore Budget and Salary Destinations Japan has been a popular destination for teaching English abroad for many years. This is mainly due to the country's vibrant culture, the great food and friendly locals. Japan has a lot to offer and it can be overwhelming to find the ideal city to move to. This post looks at the 10 best cities in Japan for teaching English abroad. All cities are listed in no particular order. 1. Tokyo 2. Yokohama 3. Kyoto 4. Osaka 5. Nagoya 6. Hiroshima 7. Fukuoka 8. Kobe 9. Sapporo 10. Takayama Are you ready for your teaching adventure in Japan? Related Articles: Check out what our course grads say in our many video testimonials! Also check out our other related Japan content:* Step-By-Step Guide To Legally Teaching English in Japan* Teaching English In...  [Read more]

Shanique Hutchinson Destinations TEFL Information Alumni Experiences Throughout my scholastic journey, I have been exposed to various foreign languages such as: Spanish, French, Japanese and Chinese. Apart from learning the lexical and grammatical structures of these languages, I was apprised of other cultural elements of the countries that spoke these languages through various materials as well as interacting with natives from these territories. This deep rooted love affair with other cultures, specifically languages, stirred my future aspirations to become a cultural ambassador. Listen to this blog post: Cultural exchange and classroom teaching Cultural exchange outside of the classroom versus inside of the classroom Points to consider as a culture ambassador Are you ready to be a...  [Read more]

Karah Musani Alumni Experiences Teaching Ideas I started teaching online two years ago. With no training, it was a bumpy start. If there is one thing I want you to take away from this post, it's this: relax. It gets better. 1. The learning curve is STEEP. You will get better. 2. You will have bad classes. It's not always your fault. 3. They don't have to get it right away. 4. Rushing class is counterproductive. 5. Students learn more if they're having fun. 6. You can't let your students see how far they have to go. 7. Starting kids off with a win helps them be more confident in class 8. It gets better Do you want to teach English online? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: Be ok with not being great when you start. Teaching is a craft. No amount of school can fully prepare you to...  [Read more]

hi guys hey linda here from itt with another live session this week i'm so happy to be here again hope to see many of you guys today thanks so much for joining if you're listening to this as a podcast episode thank you so much for the download we recently just hit 3500 podcast downloads which is super exciting thank you so much for your support and um yeah today's topic i'm really excited about because it's something a little bit different than what i'm usually talking about and today i'm going to share with you the the best icebreaker games that every efl teacher should know so yeah i'm gonna be showing you guys what fun games you can play in your classes i know that some of you are already teaching and you probably know some of these games or you know versions of these games so feel...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas In this course, I learned so many new and helpful things about teaching, grammar, teaching methods, students, groups, ESA methods, lesson planning, games, etc. Listen to this blog post: General Overview Lesson Stage Productive Skills Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course today! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Teodora R. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT. I also learned about teaching skills and which part of them we can say that they are important. We can say that there are many positions we can call teaching, professors, tutors, and teachers. But let's talk about actual skills. I can say that there are two types of teaching skills,...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Teaching Ideas This summative essay will exam the importance of teaching the differences between American English and British English for EFL learners. I will examine the intention behind teaching these differences, and when these teachings should be applied, and to what effect and purpose. This essay will focus primarily on the problems of pronunciation and spelling, which are the two main differences. I am a British citizen, born and raised in London, England, and currently teach at a public high school in Tokyo. Spelling Challenges for Beginners and Intermediate Learners What do Students Think? Grammar Interesting Experience for Adults Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate...  [Read more]

Elizaveta Pachina Alumni Experiences As a young child, I was, for some reason, obsessed with the idea of learning French. I tried a couple of languages, including Finnish at some point, but kept going back to French. I have no idea why because I was never exposed to the culture or the language itself at that age. I doubt I even knew anything about the country itself. I think I assumed learning French would make me sound smarter but, the joke's on younger me, I have no skill in French and never have. I tend to struggle with romance languages in general. My Personal Second Language Experience My Choice Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course! Related Articles: This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Nicole H. Please note that this blog post might not...  [Read more]