Getting your TEFL certificate opens a huge pool of opportunities in terms of TEFL destinations around the globe. Becoming a TEFL teacher is very fascinating, but you may find things a bit tricky when selecting the destination where you’d like to teach English overseas. To help you make the right decision, we’ve pulled together a few questions that will help you give you perspective on your options.

1- Will I be able to get a visa?
Most of us are so excited about the idea of teaching English overseas, that we can forget about the visa requirements of particular countries. Some countries like Japan, South Korea and Thailand require you to have a university degree before applying for visas, while to get a working visa in Europe requires an EU passport. But don’t get disheartened, there are dozens of appealing TEFL destinations out there, and many where all you need is to be a native or near native English speaker.

2- Would I be able to teach who I want?
Most of the countries have a variety of teaching opportunities, from public and private schools, to teaching business English and one on one tutoring. So when you’re deciding what type of TEFL certificate you’re going to enroll on, keep in mind what type of teaching you’re planning on doing so you specialize in the relevant areas and give yourself the best opportunity to find work in that area. It pays to do some thorough research into the destination before you make your decision.

3- Will I be able to adapt to the culture?
Most of the TEFL certificate graduates who plan to teach English overseas love experiencing a different culture. However the cultural difference can sometimes be overwhelming at first, so make sure you prepare yourself as much as possible by researching the destination and go with an open mind. It’s also important to get out there and meet as many people as possible, as being social is a great way to feel good and stay happy!

4- What do I want to get out of the experience?
It’s important to have a clear understanding on what you plan to attain from your TEFL experience. You may become a TEFL teacher to make money, immerse yourself in a new culture or to do some voluntary work. You will certainly not earn millions as a TEFL teacher, but you can earn a lot more in some countries. For instance, working in South Korea will fetch you more than you would in Ecuador. So it’s better to priorities if you want to make a good living and maybe save some pennies, or not earn as much but still be able to live comfortably and enjoy the experience!

5- Will I be able to do the traveling I want to?
You will have plenty of opportunities to travel with TEFL! But remember that you’ve got the chance to really get to know a country/region… so while you do have a fantastic opportunity to jet off to nearby countries, remember to keep it local too!

6- Do I meet the minimum requirements to teach there?
While this is different from one country to another, you can generally get a job teaching by being a native or near native English speaker. Having said that, many countries require a degree and of course the more hours of TEFL study you’ve done, the better the odds of finding a good job teaching English overseas. For example, in Japan you will generally need a degree to get a work visa, and at least a 100 hour TEFL certificate to secure a teaching job. Ask your TEFL course provider for more specific country information.

7- Does the country have a strong TEFL market?
Asian countries have a huge demand for TEFL teachers in comparison to places like South Africa where the demand is substantially lower for paid TEFL teachers. So it’s important to research the opportunities in the countries you’re interested in. This does not mean that you can’t find jobs in countries with low demand; it’s just likely that jobs won’t be paying as much and could potentially be harder to secure.

8- Will I be able to commit to the time-frame?
Generally most schools are looking for 6 to 12 months commitment; however there are some shorter term roles available if you look in the right places! Countries like Spain have summer schools, so it’s important to get take a good look around it you can’t commit to the longer contracts.

About The Author

Clem J. Rob

For additional information checkout http://www.teach-overseas.com.au/ or alternatively contact Clem Robin on clem.robin@i-to-i.com\\r\\n

Reading is one of the oldest and most inspiring pleasures enjoyed by humans, and once discovered, the world of books can encourage a reader to learn scores of new subjects and to travel to many new lands, all without leaving a comfortable chair or desk – but some discoveries require the aid of a qualified reading tutor. Children are often faced with reading difficulties in school, and while many overcome such obstacles after repeated attempts at improvement, others may find that additional help is needed to help build reading skills and encourage the growth of related disciplines. A quality reading tutor can help children address their particular difficulties with reading, whether problems arise early on in the educational process or are experienced at a later point.


Approaching reading tutoring with drills and other repetitive tasks may be an effective way to tackle a student’s specific challenges, but such methods alone may fail to instill a sense of the pleasure of reading in students who have had negative experiences in the educational setting. By taking the time to develop an aggressive yet enjoyable lesson plan that involves the reading of books in numerous genres, a reading tutor can work towards fostering a love of reading in children who may not otherwise receive an agreeable introduction to the subject. When kids understand the appeal as well as the utility of reading, they’re far more likely to devote a greater effort to related classes and assignments, catalyzing their eventual success.


Though seeking additional help with reading tasks in the classroom may prove successful for some students, the outside perspective and individualized attention offered by a reading tutor is often able to provide a greater degree of understanding and improvement. Tutors can work with classroom curricula and other materials provided by a school or a pupil’s parents to ensure that the progress experienced in tutoring sessions extends easily to homework and other daily activities. Finding a reading tutor with a passion for helping kids discover the world of books is easy when quality help is found at colleges and universities. College students, who experience heavy reading loads themselves, can relate with younger students and deliver the relevant, engaging lessons that can make learning how to love reading significantly easier. Getting kids with reading difficulties into books isn’t impossible – it simply calls for a high caliber of tutoring.

So here are a few activities and methods you can use to teach your children foreign languages.

1. Watch TV and Movies: Although I’m sure you probably would like for your kids to watch less TV this maybe a good exception. Purchase cartoons, movies or other kid programs. As a parent I’m sure you already know how your kids instantly start imitating and repeating the things they hear and see on TV so this is a perfect way to introduce language to your child.

2. Games: Want your kids to enjoy learning a foreign language. Then purchase interactive computer games in a foreign language. Even the inexpensive language software at your local electronics store are very game oriented and will keep your kids entertained for hours while learning.

3. Learn the Language: Even though as a parent you may be busy learning a foreign language is a lifestyle or at minimum a long term hobby. Parents wanting their children to learn will significantly increase their children’s success rate by learning themselves

4. Read: If you speak even a little bit of the language or have to stumble through the books read to your kids. Start with basic children’s books that are kindergarten to preschool level and work up.

No matter what you do the best way to help your children learn a foreign language is to take action. If none of these suggestions strike your interest then simply choose something you and your kids enjoy doing and start incorporating the foreign language into your activities. It doesn’t have to be overwhelming start small and gradually increase your efforts.

Aaron Kuroiwa is the director of Le Tutor Language School located in Phoenix Arizona. Le Tutor provides foreign language lessons and tutoring in private and group settings.Phoenix Arizona Spanish lessons and tutoring

Most business English training involves English teachers visiting companies once or twice a week or employees attending language schools. E-learning is growing as an alternative for learning business English.Organizations usually allow employees to study business English during working time. Surprisingly most employees do not like studying on company time because they are too busy working. They prefer to learn English on their own time.Even employees involved in company-sponsored business English courses usually spend little more than one hour a week studying on their own.


What does this mean? The preferred approaches for business English learning are on-site instruction or off-site schools. Yet these are largely perceived by employees as distractions from their main job. These activities also represent a loss of productivity for the employer, thereby adding to the cost of these programs.


Is there a good ROI in this investment? Employees usually recognize that they need to improve their own level of English proficiency. Yet one or two hours of group instruction, followed by one hour of self-study per week, will not usually bring about a meaningful improvement in business English skills. Results presented at Sprachen und Beruf indicated that it took 18 months for any improvement in business English language skills to become noticeable, in the best cases.

How Can E-learning Deliver Greater ROI?


E-learning is often considered as an alternative because of its greater flexibility and lower cost. However, existing e-learning models have experienced a rapid drop-off rate amongst learners. The reason is that most e-learning systems have simply tried to deliver classroom teaching methodology online. This is the case with some leading English language e-learning providers.


To improve the ROI in learning business English, it is necessary to adopt new approaches that take into consideration two essential characteristics of the business learner.The business English learner is an adult, not a high school student.


There is increasing evidence that adults are better language learners than children, when all language skills are considered. This is true even for older adults, see The Older Language Learner by Mary Schleppegrell.


There is no age barrier to language improvement. However, many adults have come to believe that they are already past the optimum age for language learning. These attitudes represent a major obstacle to effective language improvement. Forcing adults to do the kinds of drills found in a typical business English course, that were developed for use in traditional classrooms, will only increase the adult learner’s resistance to language learning.


Business English learning needs to be built around the strengths of the adult learner. The adult has a wide range of knowledge and experience. Learning activities should focus on interesting content that is meaningful to the business learner. The learner should be allowed to choose what to study. This meaningful content should include but not be limited to content containing English for business communication. Business English vocabulary is often the easiest to learn, and should be learned from content that is relevant to the business English learner’s area of activity. In addition, the business English learner should be allowed to explore a wide range of content in English to improve broad English communication skills. The choice of learning content should be the learner’s.


The initial priority in improving English skills should be on increasing the understanding of written and spoken English through intensive listening and reading activities. This is in line with recent views about the importance of meaningful input to language acquisition.(see Krashen et.al.)


Efforts to improve accuracy in English writing and speaking must be integrated with intensive reading and listening to English content that is meaningful to the learners. If not, theoretical or abstract instruction can be counterproductive, creating negative attitudes amongst learners. There is considerable evidence that grammar instruction and error correction do not lead to improved accuracy or fluency in expression. See Grammar Correction in ESL student writing: How effective is it? by Shawn Loewen.


Instead of classrooms there should be well planned opportunities to speak in English with small groups of no more than four learners and one native speaker. These meetings can be face to face or online. They should not be instructional sessions as are common in a conventional English course. Instead they need to be casual and stress free without too much correction. These should be discussions on subjects of interest to the learner, including, but not limited to, discussions about business. Native speaker tutors can provide feedback, but mostly should just let learners practice relaxed and enjoyable communication. These discussions will usually stimulate learners to do more intensive reading and listening, activities that learners can carry out on their own at little cost.


It is the correction of writing that represents the best opportunity to improve the accuracy of the learners’ business English communication, if it is properly integrated with other learning activities. Here again, correcting meaningful writing, including actual business correspondence, is more useful than assigning artificial activities like exercises or tests, which are typical of classroom and the traditional business English course. Business English learners should be encouraged to use the same style of English whether writing or speaking, in order that the practice of these two language skills can be mutually reinforcing.Most business English learners are comfortable with the Internet, iPods and related technology that make it possible to deliver personalized and effective language instruction anywhere and anytime.


What is more, learners of business English are busy. People who need to learn business English are active and busy, but they do have time that can be used effectively for language learning. Listening to interesting or relevant content on an MP3 player or iPod is easy to do. It needs to be done in conjunction with reading and a systematic method of vocabulary learning such as the Internet makes possible. Often this listening should be done in a repetitive way to ensure reinforcement.


Most employees commute to work and or have other “dead moment” periods during their day, when they can listen, if only for short periods at a time. Many business people travel for business when they can also find themselves with “dead moments”. These “dead moments” represent valuable opportunities for learning and improving English skills. Listening can also be combined with other activities like exercise or doing household chores.


Such repetitive listening, reading and vocabulary review activities, using portable devices such as iPods, can provide a degree of reinforcement through repetition that the traditional classroom simply cannot match. It is effective if it is combined with an efficient and structured method of online instruction.


The classroom is often a once or twice a week learning occasion. The business learner may have trouble concentrating in class because he or she is thinking of other things. On the other hand, the repetitive listening to a personal device like an iPod during “dead moments” while doing other activities can provide constant high intensity learning of a continuous immersion nature. The key to the success of such a program is to stimulate and maintain the interest and motivation of the learner.


If the content to listen to and read is selected by the learner because it is interesting or useful, the learning activity becomes enjoyable. If the learning activity is enjoyable, the learner will be more motivated to continue, and to spend the time necessary for ultimate success.


The Linguist, a web based learning community that focuses on the ROI of business English.


The Linguist is an online integrated English language learning method where learners choose their own meaningful and relevant learning content, at their own level of difficulty. The key to language learning success is the interest and motivation of the learner. The Linguist makes the learning process as pleasant and efficient as possible to ensure buy-in from the corporate learner. It is based on the 8 essential steps of language learning, Choose, Read, Listen, Review, Write, Pronounce, Speak and Measure.


Most online language learning systems, including The Linguist, now offer daily measurements of what learners are doing. This makes it possible to monitor learners and make sure that learners are actually taking advantage of the opportunity to improve their business English. Daily ongoing measurement of each learner’s activities and achievements should be an integral part of any business English course in any corporation or organization. With ongoing measurement it is possible to monitor the return on investment in English learning by employees and to make sure that time and money is used as effectively as possible. Return on investment should be as important in training as in any other field of activity.

A new content based approach to online English learning designed specifically for adults


TheLinguist.com has shown that if the learning experience is enjoyable and if there is a perception that progress is being made, busy people will find the time to study. Learners at TheLinguist are typically busy employed professionals. Yet they find the time for active listening, or reading, or speaking or writing, or studying vocabulary almost every day. This is a much higher rate of activity than in most business English programs.


The ability to choose content of personal interest is motivating. The lack of pressure to perform instills confidence in the minds of these adult learners. Most learners at The Linguist have studied in classrooms or other e-learning systems before, using traditional methods. In general, the freedom to direct one’s own studies at one’s own pace increases enjoyment, decreases stress and ensures continued improvement in business English. Modern computer systems can help the learner find content at the appropriate level of difficulty, and assist in remembering new vocabulary. This significantly increases the feeling of achievement and reduces the frustration experienced by the learner. This all works to ensure continued efforts to work on improving business English.


From the perspective of the employer, the most important criterion in evaluating a business English learning program should be the learning activity level of the learners. Employees may have different English levels, or even different aptitudes for language learning. What matters is that employees devote enough time to their studies to actually improve.

Are you a high school student getting ready for college? Or maybe you have your undergraduate degree but are now looking to go to professional school of some kind? Well let me tell you, you have your work cut out for you. Not only do you have to have gotten good grades in school but you also have to pay a premium for your education in today’s economic climate. Education is a good as gold and the universities aren’t stupid, so they charge a lot of “gold” for it. The good new is that college is not only for the rich kids whose parents pay for everything. There are ways to pay for school without working for 15 years after high school at McDonald’s to raise enough money. The best option is usually the scholarships that are offered.

Scholarships come in many shapes and sizes and carry with them all sorts of different expectations and criteria. The great thing about it is that there are literally more available than people use and so it is almost a lock to find large chunks of money that you can use to pay for school. The other piece of good news is that scholarships are often based on need and the people that hand them out are trying as hard as they can to find people who are serious about their education and will make a difference, for the better, using their education gained.

The potentially bad news is that many aren’t used because people don’t even know that they exist. This is due to a huge amount of scholarships that seemed to have exploded in the last 30 years and grown faster than people could organize them. Currently efforts are being made to change this and there are now several indexes that students can purchase that give all of the information necessary to contact the benefactor and provide them with the required data to show their need and also how they are going to use the money in a useful way for the betterment of mankind.

This news is becoming less bad with the explosion of the internet and its capacity to search using computers. This has taken a lot of the time out of the picture and has also allowed student so search through many more possibilities, and find and apply to more scholarships, which maximizes their chances of getting the money they need to choose their own destiny in this life through education.

What lessons you can learn from small children! One day I was watching two youngsters, ages 3 and 5, playing with “bricks” constructed out of heavy cardboard. The brick blocks came in three sizes: a 10” x 16” rectangle, a 10” square, and the standard 3” x 10” brick size. Over time they spent hours creating structures. At the beginning there was no understanding of larger pieces providing a stronger foundation for the smaller pieces and so things would come tumbling down without using all of the bricks. With lots of trial and error the children discovered that if they started with the biggest size, they were more likely to be able to use all of the bricks.

An effective daily schedule can also be constructed with three types of blocks. How much you can pile on (your productivity) each day depends on how well you organize your time.

Large Blocks – Your Day’s Foundation

Make your day’s foundation an uninterrupted block of time when you can focus on difficult, involved projects. The ideal length is an hour and a half, approximately twenty percent of an eight-hour day. If you cannot possibly find that length of time, try for an hour. Even with 45 minutes of uninterrupted time you can get a significant amount of work completed because you are not requiring twenty additional minutes after each interruption to get back into the “flow.” As you develop this routine, aim for the hour and a half each day.

During this time, do not answer every phone call. Turn off your general email alerts. If you want to ensure that a certain person or message gets through immediately, set up your software rules to notify you of that specific message. When you can block twenty percent of your time, you will accomplish about eighty percent of your work for the day.

You recognize instinctively that having uninterrupted time is effective when you arrive at work an hour early or stay for a couple of extra hours at the end of a day, knowing you will get so much done in that quiet time. Why not become more productive by including that quiet time within your day instead of adding extra hours in order to get the same amount of work done?

Medium Blocks (Grouping Blocks) — Multi-Tasking Isn’t Always The Best Option

Group as many like activities as possible since you are four times more productive when you can focus on one type of task rather than switching back and forth among assorted tasks. Constant multi-tasking slows you down. Activities that can be grouped include returning non-urgent telephone calls, processing your email inbox, filing, and reading.

The length of this session depends on the work. If you average about five phone calls at a time, you may only need to block out ten to fifteen minutes. With email, you might need to spend thirty minutes at a time. Any of these can be repeated during the day. For instance, you might quickly check your email first thing in the morning for ten minutes to handle urgent issues, then spend thirty minutes before lunch and thirty minutes again later in the afternoon. Stick to the amount of time that you have originally allotted rather than letting it trail on. That will keep you focused on the task at hand and will increase your productivity. Move what you do not complete to the next block of time.

Small Blocks – The New Items and Lower Priority Tasks To Be Handles

New items and lower priority tasks can be worked on between the other blocks. These might include requests for help from a colleague, quick answers to questions, filling out forms, and other project components that did not fit into your major blocks, but that you still have time to work on.

Structuring each day starts with locating a space for that large block, followed by several medium blocks of grouped activities. Small blocks are then added. If you do the reverse, which means coming in to work and clearing out the small items before you find a time for the most important work, you may wrap up the day without handling your priorities.

Why spend extra hours in the evenings on work that you could have fit into the day with the right construction of your schedule?

For example, when you go into a traditional classroom, you sit at a desk or table with the teacher facing you. The teacher is then able to interact with you either in a group setting or individually, for the best results, and may supplement their direct instruction with conversational practice. This same method can be carried out over Skype, so if you think you can learn English online you are not only right, but the method is probably not that different from what you would experience in a traditional classroom.

There are different factors that come into play that can make learning English online even more effective. If you think you can learn English online with Skype, you will probably want to find an instructor who was brought up in an English-speaking country for the best results. These instructors will be able to give you more insight into the local culture, and teach you slang terms or more informal conversational English that you are likely to experience when traveling or interacting with English speakers.

For all of these reasons, those who are wondering can you learn English online with Skype might come to the conclusion that you can in fact learn English more effectively with this method than with many others. Not only do you get the same experience with a real time teacher, but you also can benefit from speaking to someone who lives on the opposite side of the world from you, and who might have new methods and ways of explaining things than what you would find in your home country. This is why more and more students who are keen on learning English have turned to online tools such as Skype to fit learning a new language into their busy schedules.

Individuals worldwide have increasing access to the Internet via high-speed connections, high quality, inexpensive web cams and home computers that are audio and video capable. These components make an online English School far more accessible and feasible than it was a few years ago. Now that technology has caught up with demand, more and more people are taking advantage of the opportunity to enhance their business English skills and improve their chances for promotion. Professionals in any country, any location, rural or urban have access to experienced teachers and quality training at a time that is convenient for them.

When beginning courses taught by an online English school, one of the first steps taken is to identify a clear learning path. Goals are discussed and existing skills assessed. Coursework is tailored to the individual, based on beginner to advanced skills. While Business English is most in demand, general English courses are also available. This encourages those with almost no comprehension of English to begin more slowly. Frequently, online courses include learning to speak, listen, read and write, rather than focus on one or two components. The coursework is varied and interesting, pertinent to the individual.

An online English school uses unique and innovative teaching methods to capitalize on the flexibility of the Internet. One-on-one classes focus on spoken English. This may include role-playing or conversational dialogue. Some courses employ language games to facilitate the learning curve. After participating in an online English language course, students are better equipped to travel in English speaking countries. Vocabulary is strong, interaction and conversation is familiar. Successfully mastering English pronunciation and comprehension is time consuming. One-on-one classes can take the time to ensure you succeed. For more information or to register for TalktoCanada’s online courses, visit our web site at TalktoCanada.com.