 Hey guys, it's Lisa here and I'm super happy to welcome you to our weekly ITTT live session. Today we're going to talk about some usual teaching stuff and if you are interested in anything related to TEFL teaching or probably career building, so feel free to comment and I'll try to help you out and reach you back with my thoughts and ideas and maybe you'll find my suggestions useful. Okay, I have to fix my camera just slightly. I feel like it's moving down somehow. So I hope that you can hear me clearly and you can see me clearly. And if you see this video, if you see this live, please let me know where are you guys from. So what's something is wrong with my camera for some reason. I don't know why but it's just moving. It's just going down for some reason. Let me just check it out and fix it. Okay, it should be better now. Okay guys, so let me know where are you from at what stage of your career development are you right now. As for myself, I'm a TEFL teacher. I used to teach in China several years ago, but nowadays I'm almost online. So I still try to work in a real classroom. However, I just try to stick to this online teaching mode because it's more interesting for me. And I don't know, I think the future of online teaching is really huge. So it's something really special. Okay, so I still have this problem with my camera. I don't know why I've never had it before, but probably something is wrong with my tool, you know, which I've been using for holding the camera. Okay, I hope it's going to stop moving down. All right. So I can see that there are some people from India. Thanks a lot for letting me know. I'm super glad to welcome you to this session. And also, I can see a question from the Philippines. Nice to have you guys here. And let me just quickly switch the slide. And yeah, just a quick reminder. So this live session is provided by the International TEFL and TESOL Training. And our company is represented on various social networks. So if you want to get constant updates on TEFL teaching, TEFL certification, please check out our social media. And also, if you see this video right now, you can also see the QR code in the top right corner. If you scan it with your cell phone, you'll be able to get a 30% discount of any TEFL courses. So I hope you'll take this opportunity. So just enjoy it and stay with me because I'm going to change the slide once again. And we will just go further with the main topic, which is just some questions to an online non-native teacher. And I just decided to prepare several props so that I could share my personal experience with you. But if you guys have any questions on TEFL, self-development, motivation, teaching career, etc., please feel free to use the comments section. At the end of my presentation, I'll reach you back with my recommendations and stuff like that. All right, so just one second. So the first point I'd like to dwell upon is some problems with professional development and self-development, which many non-native English teachers face sometimes. And yeah, let's see what I'd recommend you to do. The very idea of being a non-native teacher is that it's extremely important to constantly develop. And I know that sometimes people who reach like the B2 level or, for example, the C2 level, they just completely stop improving their English skills. And it is actually quite wrong. I don't think that this approach is something to stick to if we are non-native English teachers or even if we are native English teachers. So improving our English is just vital. This is the main idea of just being a teacher because you have to be professional in the subject. So my general suggestion is take some English-level tests, for example, and try to work on improving your English skills. This is just super important. The next point is that it is important to learn teaching techniques. I know that when we start working, we sometimes just neglect really important strategies in teaching English. It's also a little bit wrong because we have to be up to date and teaching methodologies, teaching approaches constantly develop. And I can actually see the difference between teaching approaches these days and teaching approaches, for example, five years ago. So it used to be less interactive at that time. Nowadays, it's just all about involving students into the process and it's just extremely important. All right. And yeah, I also want to point out that there are many various opportunities how to learn teaching techniques. For example, you can take a TEFL course, which is quite obvious. It's one of the easiest ways to work on your teaching career. And it's probably the first step in your career building. But then there are also some other ways to improve. I would recommend you to check massive online courses. For example, there are sites like FutureLearn and Coursera. And those platforms are extremely useful. If you want to learn from the best companies like British Council, for example, and I personally took courses on FutureLearn about related to childhood development. And they are just extremely professional. So strongly recommend it. And also, I have just added a link to this British Council resource. You can see it right now, but I'm going to share this presentation at the end of the session. And you'll be able to click on it because it will lead you to a webpage related to English teaching. And there are so many useful information you can try to implement in your teaching process. So it's something vital as well. And the next point I would like to dwell upon is that it is extremely important to get some relevant experience. So I know that when we just start the career, it is not that obvious how to get this experience if we, for example, changed the career. I've met so many English teachers who used to be like managers or even doctors. So they came to the field. They came to this sphere from a different field. And they wanted to dive into it and provide the best services. But they were lacking some relevant experience. And for this reason, I think that the best way to get some is to start teaching as soon as possible. For example, I know that in our TEPL course, there are many students who start from the very beginning, like they start from scratch and they take this TEPL course before they get any experience in teaching. And at the end of the course, they find themselves being irrelevant to the job market. So I'd recommend you to look at volunteer teaching and maybe it's a great idea to take an observed teaching practice because there is also such an option. In ITTT, we also have this option, by the way. So just feel free to check out the website. Also, I know that professional teachers sometimes try to help out other teachers and they are just good to have an observed teaching practice for others. So it's also an option. And as for myself, I try to communicate with teaching community. And for example, in Russia, we have a really strong one. And there are many teachers who are just super eager to help you out and just give some suggestions and recommendations. So it's just really valuable. I hope you'll look at this opportunity as well. And online teaching is probably one of the easiest ways to get this relevant experience because it's super easy to find a student online. For example, if you create your personal account on some platforms for online teaching. It's just a piece of cake to find someone to teach. And then that's just a matter of practice. And the more you work, the more experience you get. All right. And now let's move on to some career development things. The previous part was related to self development and professional development. But if we look at the career building process, you probably find it complicated at the very beginning. But the more you practice again, the better you become. Okay. And the first point is that it is super vital to research the job market. I know that sometimes it actually happens not only with TEFL teaching, but with any other field, with any other profession. People just start looking for job offers online. And they just respond to those offers with their CVs. And they use extremely relevant CVs, which is a wrong approach actually. So it's important to make sure everything is up to the point. So, yeah, just make sure you research the job market and you look at the overall demand, teaching abroad options, for example, and online teaching opportunities. And you make sure that your resume fits into the requirements. And when we talk about resumes, about CVs, make sure that it is pretty short, but it has the most meaningful content. Then look at the relevancy to the position itself you look at. And make sure you show the most appropriate skills to the job you are willing to get. And sometimes it's also important to add some more information, which will stand out somehow. But it doesn't mean that you have to create some special design for your resume or add a picture which stands out. So to make your resume stand out is probably to add a cover letter, for example, and to add some valuable experience, which is not as typical to the job market as it may be. Okay. And then the last point, I believe it's the last point, it's super important to reach companies actively. I know that we sometimes just don't want to be active enough, but it's also a bad approach if you want to get a job of your dream. So make sure you are proactive in doing it and you try to reach companies yourself. Don't wait for them to respond to your messages or, I don't know, applications. Look at writing and sending a cover letter and a resume together on their various resources like on their website, on the first place, then what else, for example, some application forms and maybe social networks as well. So if you are really interested in the position, just try to be super proactive and try to make sure that they notice you. And another idea would be to write a product proposal. I know there are many companies which provide online teaching services, but some of them are not as fascinating as others. So they are limited in the product offers, for example, their services are probably not the best ones. So this is where you can actually give them value. And if you know that you can help them to become better, it's a great idea to propose them several ideas. So just try to think of writing a product proposal as well. So it's something really useful and working. Okay. And now I would like to move on to the Q&A session. So the beginning of my life was related to self-development and career development. And I hope those points were relevant to you and you can find them useful and maybe helpful. But right now I'm going to check the chat box and respond to your questions. So if you have any, if you still want to know anything related to TEFL teaching, career development, please feel free to ask me right now. I will be super pleased to see your responses and help you out with whatever you have on your mind. Okay. So just don't be afraid to talk to me via the chat box. Okay. And before I move to the comments, I'm going to share this link with you. So just one second. Okay. So I have already mentioned that if you look at the right top corner of this video, you can see the QR code, which gives you 30% discount of any ITTT TEFL courses. I'm also going to send a direct link to our website. So just feel free to check out that link as well, because it is a coupon link. And if you click on it, you will be able to get that incentive. Okay. And now let's go to the questions. Okay, so the first question was from Ava from the Philippines, and she asks if it's possible to become a TEFL teacher abroad if she takes a TEFL course. And my response would be quite simple. So TEFL course is important from different perspectives. First of all, it's your self development and professional development as a teacher. And secondly, when you apply for jobs abroad, TEFL certification might be necessary for legal things, for example, for getting your work visa. I'm not sure which countries require TEFL certificate, but for example in China, they ask about it for sure. And you have to provide it as one of the documents when you apply for their work visa. Okay. So yeah, I believe that TEFL certificate can be the first step on your TEFL journey abroad. Okay. Okay, so thank you so much for commenting. Sometimes I feel I get really frustrated about the point which this person mentioned in the video. But actually, non-native teachers can be even more helpful in terms of English teaching compared to native speakers, because we actually have this experience of being completely monolingual and becoming bilingual somehow. I can't say that, well, non-native speakers don't make mistakes. It's not right. So we non-native teachers can help in many various ways. For example, teaching English to children who are at the very beginning of their learning path. And also, an extremely important point is that some people are afraid to work with native speakers, because not all native speakers know the approaches, how to work and correspond to some personal issues. And for example, if you are a TEFL teacher and if you are a native English teacher, it's something to learn for you now. So myself as a learner, I'm super intimidated when someone says things like that, so it's just humiliating. And I believe if you were conscious, it would be better if you don't comment like that. Don't you think so? Okay, thank you. Alright, so I can see that someone asks about teaching resources. In this presentation, I have just shared several links related to teaching resources. The first one was to British Council. And I believe it's probably one of the best resources where you can find teaching tips and learning approaches and stuff like that. But also, there are a lot of websites related to online lessons designs. For example, one that I have been using is ESL Brains. I strongly recommend that one, but it's actually for intermediate to advanced levels. However, you can get their online lessons and adjust to the level your students are. And it's actually a really great resource. I am still not really sure what resources are you interested in. So please give me some more details and I'll try to recommend you some other platforms where you can find online teaching resources. Yeah, so I believe that the point is that you want to design online lessons, right? And you want to find additional materials for your lessons. If so, then there are special websites like ESL Brains, for example. But there are also resources which can be found for free without any subscriptions or something like that. Check out, for example, teachers pay teachers. They actually have some lesson plans which are for free. Some of them can be bought, but another idea is to check out teachers profiles and send and go to their own websites because they usually share useful materials on their websites as well. And it's also one of the ways to find teaching resources. So, yes, I would like to respond to this point, to this comment. Yes, I'm not a native speaker. I'm quite a bad person to speak on public. But I, guys, try my best and I hope you can understand that and just don't be that judgmental because we are all people here. And yeah, you know, okay. Alright, so thank you so much, Alexei. I'm pleased to hear that. Okay, okay. Hello, Nina. Nice to have you here. I hope that you have any questions related to TEFL and English teaching probably so feel free to ask. And yeah. Okay, just let's move on. Here is a question from Alexei. Okay, so does having an in-class TEFL certificate give you any advantages over an online one? Actually, when you get your TEFL certificate, it doesn't state that you took it online. So, I believe they are just equal. Of course, there is not that much of teaching practice in the online version. However, if you try to implement the knowledge from the online TEFL course straight away, you just have equal opportunities as those who get an in-class course. So, actually, when I found my first job in China, they just didn't ask me about in-class or online certification. They just accepted my TEFL certificate and that was all. And I think that there is not much difference between papers themselves. Okay. All right, guys, so if you have any further questions on today's topic, please feel free to ask. And yeah. All right, so that's awesome. Thank you for this question, Nina. So, if you want to find materials for learning English yourself on your own without any teacher's help, then I recommend you to check just various coursebooks from this in-use section, in-use line. I personally prefer Cambridge books and Oxford books. They are quite easy to self-pace. So, I can't recommend you any specific resources because I believe that the best way to master English skills is to use them in your daily life. But if you want some more theoretical approach, then probably sticking to a coursebook would be great. And one of my favorite ones is English vocabulary in use. And I also use English grammar in use together with that one. What else? Apart from that, I watch TV shows. Like, for example, now I'm watching Charmed, which is a really old TV show. But I like it a lot and there is much to learn from that TV show in terms of vocabulary and some grammar structures. Another way would be to listen to podcasts and there are many great YouTube channels. For example, Crash Course. If you are interested in various topics like science and, I don't know, history, books, whatever, you can go to that YouTube channel and watch their videos because they have tons of useful information. And apart from learning English, you can learn something else about this world. So, it's a great resource as well. What else? I also prefer to read books, some fiction books. For example, this month I've been reading, I forgot the name of the book because it's quite difficult. It's about 9-11, you know, about that tragedy. It's a really famous book. There is also a movie which is quite fascinating, but not the same as the book. And another book is one I've been reading as a part of a reading marathon. It's called I Capture the Castle. I'm going to take a CPE test maybe next year and this book is actually one of their set texts. So, that's why I chose that one. It's also interesting and it helps to learn English in use, like how it works in real life, in books, in written texts. So, that's probably it. If you don't practice English in your daily life, it's pretty hard to master it. It's my personal opinion. But again, if we circle back to the point of being a good speaker, it's not actually just about being fluent in English. It's also about conquering your inner self. So, if you want to speak confidently, it's not just about mastering your English skills. It's also about probably working on your personal issues. So, this is the point why I actually do these lives. I should say that speaking in front of the public is not my cup of tea at all. I feel really frustrated and ashamed of my accent, for example. But I think this is the way we learn and, yeah, this is the only way we can become better. So, these are all of my suggestions related to the point of improving English. Okay, I hope they are relevant to you and you can find them helpful somehow. Okay. And yeah, the last question, how Singapore for teaching. I am not an expert in this field. I know there is a section on our TEFL course.net website. Let's just check it out if there are any suggestions related to this particular country. Just one second. Okay, actually I have just checked the job section on the TEFL course.net website. And there is nothing about, there are no job offers for Singapore right now, but they actually update this section. So, maybe they will add any job offers. But still, I am not an expert in this country. And to learn more about work opportunities there, I would recommend you to search it on the net, because if you don't do your homework, you won't be able to know about this country. They probably have their unique requirements in terms of teaching. Yeah, in terms of hiring English teachers, for example, like Hong Kong. And it's actually interesting if they have any teaching programs, because for example, in Hong Kong, they have a special governmental program. And yeah, it's something worth checking. Okay, so if you want to get TEFL certified, what you have to do is first of all, either scan the QR code on the top right corner of this video. This way, you will be able to get a 30% discount of any TEFL courses with ITT team. Or you can follow this link. I'm going to send it once again to the chat box. So we don't have any specific requirements in terms of your education or English level. However, it is always better to be fluent and at least intermediate if you want to enroll into the course, because some information is really challenging and quite deep in terms of theoretical issues, theoretical points. So just, yeah, check out our web page and see if any TEFL courses are interesting and relevant to you. Okay, and yeah, I can see the next question. Thank you, Luisa. Thank you for reaching me back. Thanks for giving your friendly feedback. Well, that's actually interesting to know. I'm super excited that you prepared for FCE. And what about your C1 preparation? What are you going to take? Are you going to take one of the Cambridge certifications, one of those Cambridge tests, or you are looking at IELTS or maybe TOEFL? Let me know. Yeah, guys, so by the way, if you want to improve your English skills, taking a language test, which is IELTS, for example, is also vital, because this is the way you can reflect on your experience and understand at what stage are you. For example, as for me, two years ago in 2019, I actually wanted to apply for a university program, but it didn't work out that time. So I still took that IELTS test and I got C1. So I got 7.0 at the IELTS test. And it helped me to understand that my English was quite good, but I had to keep working on it to become better, to become a better listener, a better speaker, and so on. So this is something important for English teachers as well, I believe. And I strongly recommend you to look at this opportunity, even if you don't want to move abroad, to live in a native speaking country, or even if you don't want to study abroad, still a language test is really helpful. Okay. So thank you for the question, Amitava. I see that you have already been experienced in terms of professional development, and as I see it, you have to work on your CV. So it's quite important to design your resume, your CV, in the most appropriate way, because if you, for example, have a job offer and you don't follow the requirements in the job offer and just send them some irrelevant information about yourself that won't help you to get that job. And yeah, to master your CV writing, I'd recommend you to watch some YouTube videos. That's actually how I do, how I work on my own. But if you're interested, I think that for your TEFL certifications, maybe for the diploma course, they've got that job assistance, and they probably give you some recommendations how to design your CV. So try to reach out to our TEFL managers and ask them if they can help you with it. Okay. Hello, Andrew. So ITTT is a TEFL provider. So we don't actually have job positions. We don't have any teaching positions in the company. However, we collaborate. We work together with recruiters and teaching companies. And you can check out our job section. Let me just quickly copy the link once again. So if you follow this link, you will get to the job section of the website. And you can see if there are any updates around the world. If you want to work in a real classroom, you probably need to check the requirements in terms of the pandemic situation. Because, for example, again, in China, the main requirement is that you have to get Chinese vaccine before you apply for the visa. So it might be that for some other countries, it's also a requirement. So just make sure you check that out. But apart from that, I'd also recommend you to check some specific job websites or look at the opportunity of teaching online. I think that's the easiest way to get a job. Okay. That's awesome. So you're an experienced teacher, right? Yeah, I think you have to check out the job section first and then also just think of this online teaching opportunity. I think it's just amazing. I actually did several live streams related to online teaching. And in one of my previous ones, I talked about online teaching platforms. So check that recording out and maybe you will find an interesting opportunity for yourself. Okay. So thanks a lot, guys. I think there were a lot of questions and I believe the session has been lasting for quite a long time already. Thanks a lot. But if you have any further questions, let me just quickly change the slide. So I decided to create a Facebook group to keep in touch with you. So if you want, please feel free to join me on Facebook and let's just communicate there if you are interested in it. If you have any specific questions, I can also respond faster there. So yeah, I'll just be able to give you some guidance and yeah. So just let me copy the link as well. Yeah, so follow the link to the group and I'll be happy to see you there as well. Yeah, so on our tackle website, just let me quickly send the link as well. We have this session, we have this section, which is Contact Us. So you can send a message using this form or you can use, you can actually write back to the manager who worked with you when you studied with ITTT. Okay, so it's an option as well. But I believe you can use the form. Yeah, it should be the easiest way. All right, guys. So if you have any further questions and if you want to communicate with me, keep in touch. Yeah, just join my group, add me on Facebook. I will be pleased to work with you. I will be pleased to talk to you. Thanks a lot. Okay. All right, so there is a difficult question really. I'm not sure I can respond to it so fast. So what I offer to do is let me copy it and I'll think of giving my full response in my group, for example. What do you think? Can it work for you? Okay, guys. So there are some more specific questions. I can see them. And what I offer to do is just feel free to join my TOEFL group, my English lifestyle group. I have just shared my... I have just shared the link to it. And I'll try my best to respond there because I'm running out of time, unfortunately. Okay. Yeah, let's just answer the last one. So TOEFL or IELTS are English-level tests. They help you to understand at what level you are according to the European framework. So it's not actually about teaching. It's about your English skills on the first place. So it doesn't matter which test you prefer, either TOEFL or IELTS. They are both relevant because they are just both for finding out your level. Okay. So thanks a lot for the session, guys. I hope to respond to these two questions in my group. So I will wait for you there. Just feel free to add me. Feel free to join the group. And yeah, let's keep in touch. And I'll see you next week, hopefully. Okay. So I'll try to find out another interesting topic for you. And I'll see you next week. Thank you, guys. Bye-bye. Have a good day.