Certificate courses

How to prepare for the Trinity CertTESOL - Tips from a trainer

So, you’ve been offered a place on the Trinity College London Cert TESOL course, paid the fees waiting to start the course and possibly completed the 20 hr TESOL Starter course. Wonderful. Now what? Should you just wait to start the course?  It never ceases to amaze me when trainees begin the Cert TESOL course, what little preparation many… All categories, Certificate courses

TESOL / TEFL Certificate options during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic

2020 was a year of change for everyone. Due to the Covid 19 situation, all of the Trinity Cert TESOL courses at English for Asia are currently online. Saying this does cause some confusion and misunderstanding. Despite the change in delivery, the number of contact hours remains the same as when the courses are conducted face-to-face at… All categories, Careers in TESOL, Certificate courses

The Key Ingredients to Successful Online Learning

The challenges we've faced in 2020 have led to an incredible surge in online teaching and learning. For many of us, learning online is a new (and possibly intimidating) prospect that can leave us unsure about how to get started. Through my own process of trial and error as an online CertTESOL teacher trainer, I've come up with… All categories, Certificate courses, ESL activities

Does a TESOL certificate actually help in the real world?

What’s the point? How is this going to help me with a class of kids who won’t talk or don’t want to learn? Why should I do this? How is this related to real teaching? These are just a selection of questions people have raised about aspects of the Trinity Cert TESOL, either commenting on blogs or during information sessions. It’s not unreasonable… All categories, Certificate courses, Careers in TESOL

From side-hustle to career: start teaching English in 2020

When I graduated from university and took on a 10-month teaching contract at a college in Guangzhou back in 2009, I never thought that teaching English would turn into a long-term career path for me. I originally planned to spend a year teaching abroad to gain work and life experience, as well as use the time to figure out what I wanted to do.… All categories, Careers in TESOL, Certificate courses

Quack Quack: don't 'wing it' as an English Language Teacher

If it quacks like a duck …  it might be a duck, but then again it might not. Someone speaks English, they can teach English … or so the perpetuated myth goes. The answer though is probably not, but they could with the training and making the personal and financial investment needed. Another way of looking at it is this.… All categories, Certificate courses, Careers in TESOL

Teach English Overseas: travelling the world with a TESOL umbrella

Having lived and taught English in Asia for the past twenty years, I've been in classrooms with 1-2-1 lessons, taught business English to high flying execs, phonics to 3-year-olds and pretty much everything in between. My experiences have taken me from classrooms to conferences, blackboards to Interactive Whiteboards, pencils to padlets and books… All categories, Careers in TESOL, Certificate courses

3 Key Takeaways from the Teaching Young Learners Extension Certificate (TYLEC) Course

Earlier this year, I stepped back into the primary school classroom to teach two groups of young learners (one group of mostly P3s and another group of P6s) as part of my studies and assessment on the Trinity College London Teaching Young Learners Extension Certificate (TYLEC) course. Even though I’ve taught young learners before and… All categories, Certificate courses, Teaching skills

How to teach writing: writing lesson ideas

So you're looking for writing lesson plan ideas, and you're not sure where to start. Does any of this sound familiar? Yes, but writing is boring. Is it? Sure, but writing could be time spent in class doing fun speaking tasks. Who said you can’t do both? But my students get more out of class from interactive activities. Exactly – writing lessons… All categories, Teaching skills, How to..., Certificate courses, ESL activities

Gamification in English language teaching: more than child's play

Ever feel like your students are stultifying, bored and demotivated? Maybe it’s not the subject, but your teaching. Competing for the splintered attentions of our learners has never been harder. It has now become a chronic situation, familiar to all teachers when struggling to motivate learners. There is now a generation of… All categories, Certificate courses, How to..., ESL activities, Diploma courses, TESOL Masters

Teaching pronunciation: an introduction to the IPA

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 tongue, teeth, lips, etc.), and voice (use of the… All categories, Certificate courses, How to..., Five ways to

How to teach intonation

Many non-native English speakers have problems recognizing and using the different intonation patterns in English.  For an instructor, it’s crucial to raise the learners’ awareness of intonation because it performs a function, as well as indicating an emotion. Teaching this aspect of phonology is often an area overlooked by teachers and… All categories, Certificate courses, How to..., ESL activities, Diploma courses, TESOL Masters