The IPA stands for the International Phonemic Alphabet and is used in ESL to address pronunciation issues by isolating difficult vowel sounds, consonants or diphthongs. Problem areas can then be addressed by identifying the manner (the way in which the sound is produced), place (position of the...
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25th June 2019By Bryan Holmes
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22nd April 2019By Laura Wilkes
Communicative language teachers often borrow drama techniques to facilitate study and production of language in their classes. A popular example of this is roleplay from improvisational theatre to get learners using functional phrases whilst in role to fulfill a communicative aim. For example,... -
11th February 2019By Eve Conway
Most young learner teachers will have one of those classroom memories that haunts them. It could be a crying toddler who shouted continuously in want of a parent or another teacher non-stop for an hour. It might be the class of 12-13 year olds you thought were going to lock you in the cupboard if... -
23rd October 2018By Tom Garside
In the world of TESOL, more than anywhere else, there is more than one way to bake a cake. The teaching approaches and methodologies that we use are based on a huge amount of research that has been done over the years. This research has informed the evolution of many different ways of approaching... -
26th December 2017By Eve Conway
As a Cert TESOL tutor, I work with trainee teachers every day who upon finishing the course go out to teach in the real world. One of the biggest challenges facing new teachers in particular is planning. Whilst experienced teachers may have a bank of readily available lesson planning ideas which... -
19th December 2017By Eve Conway
Not long ago, I stumbled across a game that went viral on Facebook, which most language teachers will know as ‘Two truths and a lie’. For anyone who doesn’t know this game, you tell 2 truths about yourself and make up one lie. The person that you are playing with needs to decide which ones are the... -
2nd December 2016By Sharon Maloney
* This article was written by the Teacher Training team at EFA The Christmas season is nigh upon us and it’s a great time of year to focus on building classroom rapport and bring some light relief into learning. We’ve rounded up a few of our favourite TEFL Christmas lessons and... -
15th November 2016By Sharon Maloney
Just do the thing... The advice I got from a colleague early on in my teaching career. Her advice while not exactly motivating, ended up being the best advice I was given for everything, not just teaching. At the time I was struggling to motivate a class of teenaged learners and went...