 Hello, hi, I am back for another live session this week. My name is Linda from ITTT over here. And yeah, hi, I took a break last week. I was traveling actually a little bit of traveling in Korea, not too far. But yeah, I enjoyed the cherry blossoms. So that's why there was no life for me last week. But yeah, I'm back this week. I'm super excited to be back. And yeah, today we're just going to have a Q&A session. So you guys can ask me questions about Teflon TESOL and everything, teaching abroad, teaching online, whatever you want to know about Teflon TESOL and all that good stuff. So yeah, that's what I'm here for today. So something a bit more casual. Let's have a chat. I like to, you know, get to know you guys better. You can get to know me and ITTT and Teflon and all that stuff. So yeah, let's have a chat. And if you can see me, if you can hear me, please just drop a hi or something into the comment box so that I know that you can see me and hear me and then everything is working well. Hi, Yannisha, we have somebody here. Thanks for joining. Hey, Yannisha, where are you at? Where are you watching from? I'm in South Korea about an hour and a half south of Seoul. It is Thursday morning. Thursday morning. Normally I go live on Fridays, but I won't be here tomorrow either. Hi, Tiana. Hi. So good to see you. Cedra from Pakistan. Hi. Thanks so much for joining. Cool. Hi, Juliana. Hi. Thanks so much. Bashir. Hello. Oh, good group of people. Awesome. Great. Thanks so much for joining today. So for some of you, it's still Wednesday. For some of us, it's Thursday. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, thanks so much for tuning in. I'm super excited today because last week I didn't do a live, so I missed you guys. I missed being here. Cool. We have someone from Nepal. Namaste from Nepal. Hi. Namaste. Actually, I visited Kathmandu in 2019. One of my last trips, you know, before COVID and everything. So I was so glad that I made it and I decided to go on that trip. I loved Nepal and Nepal was amazing. And I really, really want to go back and see more. Hi, Desi. Hey, hey. Desi says, hey, what's going on? Hi. What's going on? We're doing a Teflon TESOL Q&A. Let's have a chat. I want to have a chat with you guys and you can ask me questions. My name is Linda. I'm a Teflon expert at ITTT, a leading Teflon TESOL course provider. I'm here in my home office in South Korea. And yeah. So yeah. Tiana says, I was wondering why there wasn't one last week. Yeah, I was traveling actually. I was doing a bit of traveling and I kind of had to change my travel plans. It wasn't kind of actually expected because I did a trip kind of south in the southern part of South Korea and for cherry blossoms. So there's the city or this area. It's actually a tea growing region. So there's tea fields. And it's also very popular, famous for cherry blossoms. They have the whole like places full of cherry blossoms. And so the cherry blossoms started blooming earlier because it's been kind of warm and then there's been a bit of rain. So it's kind of hard to predict. So they were earlier this year. So I had to change my dates and I had to go down there earlier to see them in full bloom. So that's why there was the live last week. And I actually wanted to travel this week. So that's why I also have somewhere to go tomorrow. I'm actually doing a temple stay in Korea. A really famous, an old temple. And you can spend the night there and sort of live with the monks. So that's what I'm doing tomorrow. I think it's going to be really exciting. But I have to get up at 4 a.m. on Saturday because that's what the monks do. So I check in tomorrow afternoon at 3 at the temple and then there's like a program, you know, and it's in English. It's really cool. So they explain, you know, about the temple, the history of the temple and stuff like that. And then we join in with the monks and you join them, join them in prayer and meditation and like stuff like that. And then on Saturday we have to get up at 4. I have to get up at 4. I'm going alone. So I don't know if there'd be other people too or if it's just me. I don't know. So if you're interested, you can check that out. You can follow that on... How do I get rid of this? Hold on. Atletico's East on Instagram. I'll probably be sharing some stories about this experience. So if you're interested in that maybe then you can check that out. Yeah. Then we have Octavian from Virginia. Hi. Thanks so much for joining. And Octavian is asking, what are you doing in South Korea? So I've been in South Korea for almost six years. In May, it's going to be six years. My Koreaversary as I call it. And actually my first year, I was a full-time teacher in Korea at a private English school, a haguan as they say here. It's a private language school, sort of like an afternoon. My school was kind of like kindergarten in the morning. It was a private kindergarten, English kindergarten. And then in the afternoon, we had like elementary school kids. So they would come to that school after their regular elementary school. So that's what I did. And yeah. That's what I did my first year. And then I started working full-time for ITTT. And so that's what I do. And I still teach, you know, some business classes in Korea or also online classes. So that's been really fun. Yeah. So that's what I do. Juliana says, hello, Linda again. Today I won't bother you a promise. Oh, you didn't bother me. Why? You didn't bother me. You never bother me. I love interacting with you guys. So ask as many questions as you like and you know, make your comments. And like, that's what I like, you know, our exchange of information. So that's really cool. Sidra says, we cannot travel a lot because of COVID. Yes. I mean, we, you know, South Korea is very small. So when I say travel, it's, I mean, it was just three hours away where I went. So it's not really, you know, super travel. And like I'm, I was driving by myself. So yeah, there was no, not really a lot of contact with other people. And you know, people are wearing masks and there are a lot of restrictions, even like at the cherry blossom places, because that's really a thing now, you know, the cherry blossoms is cherry blossom season. So a lot of people usually go out to see them. And a lot, especially in Seoul, a lot of cherry blossom places actually got like shut down. You can't go there. You can't see them. Or only from, I think 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. you can go. So it's very restricted. They're definitely, you know, taking measures because of COVID. But it's, I feel like it's definitely better in Korea. Korea. Then compared to other countries where the numbers are super high in Korea, I'd still, it's considered high for Korea. But because Korea is so small and also we don't really have, we have only one border, right? A land border. And that's with North Korea. And you cannot. Cross that border. Right. So international travel is pretty much, you can really, it's pretty off limits. You can't really go anywhere and do anything. So we're pretty much stuck in this peninsula here. All right. We have Mohammed from Morocco. Hi. Cool. Thanks so much for joining. Octavian says, wow, thank you for answering the question. I appreciate you. I would love to meet a teacher like you in Virginia to prepare me very well for the LSAT. Cool. Yeah. That sounds like a really cool goal. I wish you good luck and all the best for that. I'm sure there's a lot of teachers around though that can help you. And not too much familiar like with LSAT and, you know, training centers and stuff. But I'm, I probably there's a lot of opportunities and chances to, you know, get good teachers there. So just do a Google search and hopefully something will come up. Cool. Jessica asks, what inspired you to go teach in Korea? Did you know the language and culture well before going there to teach? So, yeah, actually a bit of a funny story, but I actually studied in university. I studied business management and foreign languages. And one of the foreign languages was Mandarin Chinese. I was really interested in Chinese and China. And I wanted to go there and live there. And I did for a while. So I did an internship at a German startup company in Guangzhou for six months. That was my first China experience. And I absolutely loved it. It was really great. And then I also did a bit of teaching on the side because there's a lot of, there are a lot of teaching opportunities in China. And then I went to California to finish my degree. But I knew that I wanted to go back to China and, you know, work there. But, you know, as life does, it always kind of turns out differently than what you would expect. And so while I was in California at university, finishing my degree, I met my now husband who turned out to be Korean. So I was like, oh no, because I didn't know anything about Korea. I was not into K-pop or into K-dramas or anything like that. I didn't know anything about Korea. And so he kind of introduced me to all of that. And I still, after I finished that, my degree, he went back to Korea. I went back to China as I had planned. And we sort of did a long distance thing for a while. And I worked in marketing and I also taught English in China. And then I decided to get my taffle because I knew I wanted to go to Korea. And I knew I wanted to be in that city where my husband was. So that we could be together. So to increase my chances to land a position where I wanted to go in that city, I decided to get taffle certified. And that's kind of how I found out about ITTT. As many of you guys, I just did a taffle search or like a search, Google search about taffle certification. And I found ITTT and it looked great. And it has a lot of great reviews. And I liked the different course options, the online course. And I decided to take the 120 hour online course. And that's how I was introduced to ITTT. And then I got taffle certified. And they helped me find some recruiters for working in Korea. And then I came to Korea. And I've been here ever since. It's going to be six years in May. So that was my story. How I landed in Korea. Cool. We have Yulmar from Chihuahua in Mexico. Cool. Awesome. Sidra asks, what is your native land? So yeah. I was born and raised in Germany. My mom is German. My dad is American. And so I was raised, you know, with both languages. I have two passports. So I kind of consider myself, you know, from both places. But I did spend more time in Germany. I was born and raised there. I went to German school and everything. And then just later on I moved to the U.S. and I finished college there. And yeah. So that's the story. Yeah. Desi says, I'm interested in teaching in Korea as well. I'm 31. And concerned this maybe too old to begin in the industry, change careers. Oh, not at all. I think 31 is really not too old. There's a lot of opportunities even for people, you know, over 30, like, don't be discouraged. Yeah. I'm not too sure about the EPIC program. Maybe Tiana knows, is there an age limit with the EPIC program? Maybe, but you don't have to go through the EPIC program. You can apply for jobs, you know, by yourself. And you can definitely find a position. There's a huge demand in Korea. And I've worked at schools where they also hired older teachers, you know, even people in their fifties. So that was no problem. Okay. All right. So you probably see this banner going, like, down here at the screen. I can't talk, you know, you take a break from lives one week, and then you start forgetting how to talk. But anyway, this little scroll bar here, 30% off any Teflot TESOL course with I-T-T-T, I will be turning on a slide where you can scan a QR code. You can also scan this QR code, this one. And you get 30% off. You're also going to share the 30% off link into the comment section. I know some of you guys have already taken the course. You know, you've already signed up. You did all that. So that's great. But we always get a couple of new people every live. And so I don't want them to miss out on that opportunity. So that's this link. If you click on that, you'll get actually straight to the application page. And you can fill out your application. And you get 30% off any Teflot TESOL course from I-T-T-T. You can do this now. You can do this later. You can do this in a week. It doesn't expire. And yeah, it's also cookie-based. So if you click on the link now and then you return later on any, on like a different page from I-T-T-T, it'll still count. And you'll still get the 30% off. If there is a problem with 30% off, you can just message me. You can find me on Facebook or Instagram at Linnagos East. And you can check that out. And then if there's a problem, you know, maybe with the coupon or if it doesn't work for some reason, you can just reach out to me. All right. Then let me turn that off and just turn this on. So let's have a chat. Yeah, I just want to do this more casual today. Sometimes if you've watched my previous lives, I prepare different topics. And I have a presentation sort of style. But today it's more casual because I think we haven't done one of those in a while. And sometimes it's really good to just have, you know, a Q&A session and see what happens without having too much of a narrow topic. So there is a long question here from Ray that I want to look at. So let me read this real quick. Are there any countries where the I-T-T certification is not accepted? I have both a TEFL certificate and a T-SAL diploma that I've completed with you and they were really enjoyable. I have lived in Vietnam for many years, but from Australia and always wondered if I could travel to the Middle East where wages are three or four times the level of here. Yeah. So the Middle East, this is a big box. I'm going to turn it off. But the Middle East is a great region for TEFL teachers. Yeah, like you said, the salaries are so high. They're actually the highest in the industry. So the Middle East is a great place to go if you're looking to make the most money, which, you know, a lot of us are obviously. So that's great. Vietnam also great. I'm sure you had a great time there. No, so our TEFL certifications are internationally accredited, internationally recognized. They're valid everywhere. And there's no problem with that. They also, I have my certificates here so I can show you guys. Here, for example, that's the 120-hour certificate. And every certificate has a unique number here at the bottom. And with this number, you can go to the ITTT website and there's a link somewhere where it says like verification. And you can type in that number. And then you or especially your employers can check and verify that this really is a legit certificate, you know, that you've earned this and this is internationally accredited, that this is legit and all that. So that's why that's a really good thing to have, you know, and to let people know, like, look, you can check and verify with this number. So, yeah. Also, I mean, great. You have a TEFL certificate, any of the diploma, that's a really, really great portfolio, you know. So I think you'll definitely be able to find a position in the Middle East. They also oftentimes in the Middle East, ask for teaching experience. But since you lived in Vietnam, and I'm assuming you taught there, so that's no problem. Usually, I think they ask for a minimum of two years teaching experience for the Middle East. But it sounds like you're all set. It sounds like you fulfill the requirements. So, yeah. You can email us if you have an ITTT certification. Yeah. So if you're an ITTT grad, you have access to lifetime job assistance. So at any time, if you, you know, want to go somewhere new or you want a different job, you can email us and be like, hey, I'm an ITTT grad. I want to go to the Middle East. Can you help me? And our team will be able to help you and help you find a job where you want to go. So I recommend doing that. Okay. Let's see. Jessica. Jessica's question. So what has been the biggest culture shock while being in Korea? Mine was the Jimjebongs when I visited my first time in 2017. Yeah. So for anybody who doesn't know, Jimjebongs are public bathhouses basically and they are gender separated. So there's a section for women. There's a section for men where you shower and they have like different pools, different temperatures and different kinds of water and stuff like that. And you can shower. And there's also a common area where you can eat like snacks and food and like rest and stuff like that. And yeah. So basically the gender separated areas where you take the showers and you, you know, relax in the pools that is nude. So I think that's why that's a big culture shock because you're naked, you know, everybody around you is naked. But yeah. So yeah, that... I think my first Jimjebong experience was also a bit of a culture shock for sure. But yeah, biggest culture shock while being in Korea. Oh my God, there's so many things. And you know, when you've been in a place for so long, you kind of adjust and adapt. So sometimes it's like hard to think of things. But you know, you never adapt 100%. You're still you and you still have your own like culture, cultural values and like things. So I think a big, big culture shock for Korea is that the hierarchy is so important here, like age. So you have people, even someone who's just one year older than you or even maybe just a month older, you need to kind of use a different language and address them in like a more polite way. Like hierarchy is very important here and that can sometimes just be a little bit annoying. Like typically when someone's older than you in Korea, you cannot be friends with them. Like you can't be friends because they're older. So you're not... For friends, you need to be like on the same level, like the same age level. And that just doesn't really make sense to me. But I have a lot of like Korean friends who are older than me, even like maybe twice my age. And I still consider them my friends and they consider me their friends. So it is changing. But yeah, hierarchy is a big, big, big culture difference in Korea. All right. Cedra is asking, could you share the fee for the combined classes? Okay. They are going to depend. Let me see. The fee is going to depend on which location you choose. So I'm going to share the link with you so you can check it out because with the combined course, first you complete the online section by yourself. So you can check that out here at this link. So with the combined course, you first complete the online section by yourself at home. And then you would go to a combined center of your choice, typically somewhere near you. We have a lot in the US, but also in Europe and in Asia. And then you go there for between five and 10 days and you complete your teaching practice sessions. So it's going to depend on which location you want to go to. Then the prices are different. So I recommend you check out this link and check the location where you want to go. And there's the pricing. Mahmouda asks, how can you get a teaching job in other subjects like mathematics, business studies? Yeah. So some schools, it depends on the school. Some schools are strictly language, English language schools. So they would only teach English, but there's also schools, international schools where they teach those subjects like math and business and like biology, geography, whatever, in English. So if you want to teach that, then you would have to go to a school that offers that different subjects taught in English. There's definitely a lot of them. In Korea, I know there's a lot. International schools are just like schools, private schools that have different subjects and they're all taught in English. So you can definitely find that. You just have to do a little bit of research, look at the job description, look at what kind of school it is, and then you can definitely find that. Yeah, that's pretty common. Jessica says, sorry, so many questions. No, that's awesome. That's why I'm here. Great. So, okay. I'm a single mom interested in teaching in preferably Korea. Is this possible? Would they even consider me? Do you know some challenges that would come into my path if I tried to reach this goal? Yeah, so I think I'm not even sure how that works with the visa, but I would assume that if you get a teacher visa, the teacher visa is an E2 visa, you would have to ask at the embassy maybe if that visa also covers your child. I assume it would, but I'm not sure. But even in the interview process, if you say, yeah, you're a mom, I don't think that's much of a problem. I don't think they would see that as a negative thing. You just want to choose a school maybe where, because a lot of private schools, they have teaching hours from 1pm to 9pm, for example, the private afternoon school, what, after school, private schools? They have, usually they have those teaching hours, 1pm to 9pm. But I mean, if you can arrange your own child care, day care, I think you could definitely make it work. Yeah, I don't know too much about it, but I don't see a problem. I don't really see a problem with that. It's definitely possible. You might, I recommend there's groups on Facebook. I mentioned Facebook groups every single live, but they're just so great. And there is a group called X-Pad Women in Korea. I recommend you join that, and then you could ask those specific questions. And there's a lot of people in there, a lot of women in there with probably similar experiences, and they can help you more with that. I don't have a child yet, so I'm not too familiar. But go check that out. X-Pad Women in Korea, a Facebook group, and join, and then you can ask questions there, and they'll be able to help you. Okay, let's see what else we have. Fausan, hi, good to see you again. Hey, hey, we're doing a live Q&A session today. Okay, Lincoln says, good morning, ma'am. Thank you for teaching English. Are you live in Korea? Yes, or I live in Korea. Yes, I live in Korea about an hour and a half south of Seoul. That's where I am. Another question. I did my Tefl online with ITTT. See, I can't talk today. ITTT during the first lockdown in Hanoi last year. Now I'm working for public schools teaching first and second grade. My company sponsored my work permit. I'm a non-native speaker. Cool, congratulations, that sounds awesome. Yeah, awesome. So, yeah, even, you know, because we get that question quite a lot, you know, what about non-native English speakers? Can I find a job abroad? How does that work? So you can see, it is possible. You find a job in Vietnam, even as a non-native speaker, and they sponsor your work permit, so that is awesome. Perfect. Congratulations. We're all in Hanoi. Are you still in Hanoi now? Yeah, it's spelled, wait, I'm going to add expat women in Korea. That's the group name. Expat women in Korea, Facebook group. Just type that in and join, and you can ask questions there. And there are so many, like the group has a lot of members, thousands of members, so you get an answer quite quick and you know, a lot of different feedback from different people. So that's a really great group to join. There's also other groups, you know, like TEFL teachers in Korea or something like that. So you can do a quick search on Facebook in the search bar, you know, English teachers in Korea or there's also a group about what is it called, like legal things in Korea. So maybe you could also ask that, you know, it depends on like your, this one I think. The visa, you know, does your visa cover your child, things like that. It's called legal office for foreign teachers. Is that it? Yeah. So you could also check that out. I'll hit the link for you. This one for legal things in Korea. So maybe that's also another good resource. There's like lawyers there and yeah, they can help you. Jessica asked, do you have insurance through the program? So in Korea, yes. So in Korea as a teacher, you get a ID card. And with that ID card, you also are part of the national health care plan. So yeah, that's also part of it. Sure, you're welcome. My name is Ivan. Yes. I'm still in Hanoi. I'm from Tijuana, Mexico, right in the border with California. Cool. Yeah. I lived in San Diego. I know Tijuana and have been living in Vietnam for nearly two years now. Cool. Yeah. So there you go. Great example of someone not from an English speaking country, a non-native English speaker, getting TEFL certified, and now living in Vietnam teaching English. So that's really awesome. Congratulations, Ivan. Love it. Awesome. So I actually have a question for you guys. I also like, you know, asking you guys questions. So let's start off easy. I just have one really simple question for you guys. So where would you like to teach English? Would you like to teach abroad? If yes, which country? Or would you like to teach in your home country? Or would you like to teach online? Like, let me know. Let me know. Let me know. Where would you like to teach? I know that some of you want to teach in Korea, which is awesome. What about other people? And somebody wants to teach in the Middle East. We just had someone. I forgot the name. But yeah, somebody wanted to teach in the Middle East. So that's great. All right. Fauzan wants to teach in Saudi. Cool. Really hope so. Yeah. Where are you at right now? Cool. Usually for the Middle East, the requirements are a little bit higher. So you would need to be TEFL certified. You have a university degree, a little bit of teaching experience, and things like that. Okay. Tiana says the EPIC program does have an age limit, and that's 62 because that's the retirement age. Yeah, that makes sense. Perfect. So 31 is not too old for Korea, even for the EPIC program. And the EPIC program is a government-sponsored teaching program in Korea. So that would also be a great option alternative. Because you also, with the EPIC program, you have more vacation, less teaching hours, you're more flexible. So maybe that would work a little bit better, especially with a child. Thanks, Tiana. Okay. All right. Fawzan is from Algeria. Cool. Yeah. And you want to teach in Saudi Arabia? That's awesome. All right. Mohammed wants to teach in Tokyo. Awesome. Japan. Love it. Cool. Are you already TEFL certified? Are you taking a course? Great. So maybe you can also look into the JET program that's the government-sponsored teaching program in Japan. It's called... What does it stand for? Japan English. Oh, my God. Tiana. JET program. I forgot. Program. It stands for... Oh, the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. There you go. The JET program. And I did a live about the different teaching programs around the world, in different countries around the world before. So if you're interested in that, you can check that out. Yeah, I forgot to mention. We always keep obviously our live sessions in our playlists on YouTube and on Facebook, so you can check that out. And if you like podcasts, we always turn our live sessions into podcast episodes. And you can find the podcast on iTunes, on Spotify, Google podcasts, all the major podcast platforms out there. And you can search for the Teflon Chiso podcast by ITTT. And you can find it there. All right. Okay. Yvonne. Was it Yvonne? Yeah. Yvonne wants to teach in Taipei, in Taiwan, or Bangkok, in Thailand. Cool. Yeah. Both really great places. And the demand is also high in both places. So, yeah. And since you are... Let me pull that up too. EFL. Yes, all jobs here. We actually work with different recruiters. And one of the recruiters has a lot of a big network in Taiwan. So I want to share that link with you real quick so you can check that out. This is our partner site, our partner section with Teflon employers, recruiters, and people. So you can reach out to them and let them know that you are from ITTT and that you would like to possibly teach in Taiwan or Thailand, and they will be able to help you. And the great thing about Teflon recruiters is that they come at no cost to you, to the teacher. So whenever you hire a recruiter, the school pays for the recruiter, for the recruitment services, not the teacher. So that's really great. You can contact them and it's completely free for you. So I like working with recruiters. All right. We have Eric watching from Columbia. Hi. We are doing a Q&A session. And Eric, where would you like to teach since you just joined? I asked into our round of people here, where would you like to teach, you know, abroad in a different country, in your country or online? Let me know. Where would you like to teach? Okay. Juliana says I would like to teach English online for now. Yeah, that's awesome. I also recently started teaching online, and it's been really fun. It's been really great because a lot of my in-person classes canceled because of COVID. So I thought, you know what, maybe now is a great time to try online teaching. And it's been really fun. And there are also a lot, a lot of different platforms to choose from. You know, you can teach children or adults or business English or anything. And there's a platform out there. So that's really great. All right. Eric would like to teach in New Zealand. Very cool. Yeah. I love New Zealand. Awesome. Are you currently in Columbia? Are you currently taking a course? Let me know. Okay. All right. Then moving on a little bit more of a tricky question. What is your biggest challenge regarding teaching or Teflon TESOL? What is your biggest challenge you're facing with that? Maybe I have some advice. I can give you some feedback and help you. So what is your biggest challenge regarding teaching and Teflon TESOL? Is there anything? Let me know. Eric is currently teaching online. That's really great. Cool. Which platform are you teaching at? Would you like to share? And is there any challenge you're facing? What is your biggest challenge regarding teaching Teflon TESOL? Some good questions. Jessica is asking, what are the hours like when teaching online? So the platform that I work for, I basically teach however much I want. So I have my schedule, but you can make your own schedule. You can be like, I'm available from this time to this time on that day. And you can open up yourself for bookings and then people can book you. So you sort of have to build your own teaching schedule. So you can offer different lessons that you want. That's the great thing that I like about my platform. It's called Cafe Talk. And so you can basically upload your own lessons. So I do a lot of conversation classes. You can do like 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour. Like you can do whatever you want. And then people can book you at that available time that you have like open or available in your calendar. So and the more you do that, you end up having regular students. You can offer, they call it lesson packs. So students can purchase like bulk lessons. And then I have a lot of regular students now that, you know, book the same class every week. But I also get a lot of new people every week. And there's a feature on Cafe Talk that I really like. That's like when you can make yourself online for instant bookings. So you can be like, oh, I have time now and I'll make myself online. And then people can book you right away and you get like a notification. There's like a bell sound. And then you can do your lesson right now there and then. So that's really cool. Okay. Eric says my country of residence is Ecuador, but I'm originally from Columbia and I just use Zoom. Oh, cool. Yeah, that's really great too. So that's a great way to find your own students and then to teach without any platform. So that's really great because the platforms, they do take a chunk of your money, right? Because they have to make money too. So that's sort of the downside of, you know, the platforms. But if you work for a well-known platform, you're always going to get students, right? So that's a pro and con always with those kinds of things. Definitely agree. John is asking, how do you develop lesson plans if you have never taught before? Yeah, so that's the great thing about, you know, a technical course because our technical courses teach you how to develop lesson plans. How to create a lesson plan and how to, you know, create a good lesson plan that your students would like and that works for you. So even if you've never taught before, take, that's where, you know, why a technical course is so important, right? Especially as a new teacher, because it teaches you all of those things. And with our technical courses, what's great is that you get a lot of lesson planning practice and that material from the course, you can save it, you can print it out. There's a lot of lesson planning examples and you can sort of make your own binder full of materials that you can keep forever. And then you can, you know, keep the lesson plans and you can just tweak and adjust them to whatever lesson you need it for. And there's so many online resources, actually, for lesson planning as well. If you Google, like, you know, ESL lesson plan for young learners or whatever it is and then there'll be a lot of stuff available to you, you can download as well. Yes, okay, the biggest challenge, Mohammed. The biggest challenge faced in the tech, in the tech industry, in my opinion, is practical one rather than theoretical. For example, I cannot apply what I have studied theoretically. Yeah, you know, and that's quite normal, I would say. So don't be worried about that. So especially as a new teacher, you know, you take your TEFL course, you learn about the theory of teaching and obviously in reality, in like, the practical part is obviously very different because also you never know, like, what to expect. You know, every student is different. So you never know what you're gonna get and that's the thing about teaching, even though you take your TEFL course, which prepares you great deal, then your training sort of doesn't stop. Your training is always going to continue as long as you are a teacher, right? So your first class is not gonna be perfect. Your second class is not gonna be perfect. Neither is your third or fourth class, right? It just takes time. And over time, the more you teach, the more lessons you take, the more time you spend with the same student, you know, you get to know your student and what they need, what they don't need and things like that. That makes you also better as a teacher. So, yeah. It kind of goes like both ways, right? So you need to TEFL to obviously kind of get into it and understand teaching methodologies, but then like applying them, obviously in reality in your actual classroom does take time. It's not. And nobody expects you to like be perfect and schools also know that, right? You know, when they hire you and you're a new teacher, they know that. They know that you're not gonna be, you know, an amazing teacher right away. It takes time. And so typically at schools, they will have the older teachers help the new teachers. And at my school, at least, I had to listen in before we actually taught. We had to, it was a week, I think a week or even two weeks of observation where we had to sit in the classroom and watch the other teachers teach first and take notes and learn from that because also every school has their own teaching style, their own system. And even though maybe you are an experienced teacher, that school is gonna do it a little bit more differently because it's a school and so it's, you know, yeah, I hope that makes sense. I feel like I'm rambling again, but yeah. Okay, Jessica, another question. Great. Are there certain hours you need to reach each week when teaching online? So it depends on the platform. Some platforms, they have a minimal amount of teaching hours that you need to complete. Some platforms do not. So my platform, that's why I chose my platform because now minimum you need to reach or like anything like that. I can just, even like when you go on vacation, you can just mark that time, the calendar read, you're unavailable and it's fine. So with Cafe Talk where I teach you're super, super flexible. That's what I liked about it. But there's other platforms where yes, they have, you know, requirements, minimum hours, minimum, or even times you need to be online. So it depends on the platforms. Yeah. Let me see. All right, Eric. I want to know how possible is to have an agreement with you guys to benefit a small but worthy, good Teffel Tiesel training group of Latin American teachers. Is that a discussion in the comments? I don't follow. Sorry. But I'm sure there's groups, you know, on Facebook for Latin American teachers for sure. I'm sure there's a lot of Latin American teachers out there. You can just search. Okay. Another question from John is getting a job right after completing the Teffel course fairly easy or quick. Yeah. I mean, it depends on, you know, where you want to teach. The more flexible and open you are in terms of what kind of school, what kind of students, what kind of location, you know, it's going to be more quick. If you are very, if you like your options are very narrowed down, you're like, oh, I want to be in Beijing. It has to be Beijing. It has to be, you know, private school, whatever, then maybe it takes more time to find that perfect fit. But generally it's very quick. The more flexible you are, the better and the quicker. And, you know, once you have like your, once you have like your first teaching experience, you know, even if it's just a year, you know, you work for one school for a year. That's very valuable. And once you are in a location, for example, China, you work for China, you work in China for a year, you can make your connections there, networking. And that just happens naturally because you get to meet other teachers and, you know, they tell you what they did before or friends, other teachers at other schools and oh, that school actually sounds better. Let me apply there. So you kind of start networking and you can find more opportunities once you're there. So even if your first teaching job is not, you know, the dream teaching job, it's not the perfect job. It's still very, very important for your experience and for networking. So, yeah, hope that makes sense. All right, Yvonne says, I teach large groups so class management was important to learn. I don't lesson plan because my company has its own system, books and software, but the lesson plans are flexible so I can add or remove. Yeah, I can add or remove content easily depending on the lesson I'm going to teach. Cool, yeah, that's great. So that also depends on the school, some schools, like the Korean kindergarten where I used to work at. We had all the curriculums, all the lesson plans were like already made from the headquarters because the school is all over Korea. It's a big chain. So you don't have to do any lesson planning, basically. You just go and show up and obviously you prepare, but like you don't have to do any planning and figure out what activities to do or whatever you get that from the school. So that was really great. But some other schools give you more flexibility. You have to plan your own lessons. You have to make your own materials and things like that. So it depends on the school. Yeah. Okay, time for another question. And I'm going to drink a little bit of coffee. My throat is starting to hurt. Which specialized Teflortesal course are you most interested in? And we have at ITTT, we have three options. So that is the Teaching English to Young Learners course. We have the Teaching Business English course. And we have the Teaching English Online Specialized course. So which of those are you most interested in and why? Let me know. Let me know. Let me know. Okay, Eric has another question. My question is, could we come to an agreement for a TESOL Teflort certification program for potential clients? I mean, they are my clients. Oh yeah, okay, got it, got it, got it. Yes, well, I follow you now. So we actually do have an affiliate program that, you know, you can reach out to me. Let me give you my email address, my ITTT email address, Linda at TESOL minus Tefl.net. You can email me if you are interested in, you know, a partnership and then we can work something out. Here, that's my work email. Anyone else, if you have any questions, feel free to email me with that email available to answer your questions. Yeah. All right, back to this question. So which specialized Teflort TESOL course are you most interested in? Teaching online, teaching young learners, children or teaching business English? Which one and why? Actually, I took all three. I have all three of those. So I can help you figure out maybe which one you should get. All right, Jessica says online right now because I think it will be easier right now as a single parent. Yeah, online teaching is great. Also as a single parent and also great because if you want to go abroad later, you already have that teaching experience. So that's only going to boost your resume. So that's really great. Karen also online right now. I'm in Cambodia lockdown. Oh, good luck. Good luck. Cambodia. Oh, that's the place I really want to go to. Haven't been yet. Great. Yeah, online. Also John, the online course. Yeah, mainly because it presents another platform for someone to be able to work if you can't or don't have the money to teach in person or in another country, especially right now. I think so. Yeah, right now is a great time for the online course and to start teaching English online for sure. And my colleague Lisa, she does her live sessions on Tuesdays and she's from Russia and she does a lot of live sessions focused on like the non-native English speaker side of it. So, you know, how to advance in your career, how to go, how to get into teaching as a non-native English speaker and things like that. And she did a live because she also teaches online a lot. She did a live session about the different online teaching platforms. So I highly recommend you check that out because that's how I found my teaching platform where I teach now. So yeah, check it out. It's in our playlist. I highly recommend it. It was probably some time in February because I signed up for my, for CafeTalk, my teaching platform right after that live and then I started teaching in March. So it was very quick. And the interview process was very easy. That's also why I liked that platform because some platforms they require you to teach a mock lesson and things like that and I didn't want to do that. So I just had an interview with someone from the company and it was great. And I was able to start like the next day or like two days later. So it was great. All right. Eric is interested in teaching business English. Yeah, that's also really great. And Jessica asks, which is your favorite? So yeah, like I said, there's three. And I think all three of them are equally important. But I think as a lot of people mentioned this time right now because of lockdown and COVID and all those things, I think the online course is definitely great to get if you're interested in teaching English online because that part of teaching is really booming right now. There's so many places that you can teach online, so many different platforms and even like a lot of schools, actual schools hire teachers for teaching English online. So I think that one for right now is a really, really great option. And then I also highly recommend the young learners course because especially in Asia, I would say like 80% of your students are going to be young learners. And young learners is also pretty broad term. So it goes from literally like one year old to university can be young learners, right? So it's pretty broad and it teaches you a great deal. Especially I remember when I worked in China, I actually had two students that were like two and three years old. So that's really difficult, really challenging to teach children that young. And that course really teaches you a lot of great techniques and how to make it work. And actually that course also kind of splits it up into age groups. So I think it's like three different age groups because I mean teaching, you know, a toddler is very different from teaching an elementary school student than teaching a high school student. I'm starting to, I'm sorry. But you know what I mean. So yeah, that's why this course is also really great because it splits it up into age groups and gives you advice for every individual age group as well. In great activities and examples and that's why that's fun. And then I also took the business course because I was, you know, I've been in Korea for a while. I have like I'm in my same area all the time and I did networking. So I've gotten to know a lot of other teachers and companies who are in need of business English teachers. And so I wanted to take that course to just kind of even boost my resume more and because business English pays well. So I thought, you know, I'm going to take that course and I'm going to boost my resume so that I can take on business classes as well. So that's what I did. Okay. Justin asks, do I need a degree to teach English in Japan? Also, how does it take? How long does it take to finish the 120-hour course? Okay, degree. I think, ooh, I'm not 100% sure. I think you do need a degree, but you do not need a degree like in English or in TEFL. It can be any degree. And you also don't have to be a native English speaker, which is great for Japan. Yes. And then the 120-hour course, it depends. So you have up to six months to complete it, but most people finish it much faster. And, you know, it depends on how much time you have. Do you work? Do you, you know, you have more free time or how many units can you finish? There's 20 units in that course. I took the course when I was working full-time and I probably finished it in like three months, but you can do it even much faster. It's possible. So, yeah, but three months is a good timeline for that. All right, Yvonne says, I hold a degree in business. It'll be great to add the business course to my CV, yes. Same for me. My degree is also in business, so that's also a reason why I took the business course, because it just makes sense, right? Yeah. Okay, Eric says, it was great pleasure to attend this Facebook live. Thank you so much, Linda, for sharing with us. I'll make sure you get my email message. I got to jump on my computer for a class right now. Cool. Thanks so much, Eric. It was great having you. Yeah, please do email me, and then we can work something out. Awesome. Ooh, Walter says, I need someone to practice English with. Walter, what? Oh, that's awesome. Oh my God, I love Breaking Bad. Love Breaking Bad. So if anyone's interested in practicing with Walter White, English, or who knows, hit him up. That would be great. Okay, so we're one hour in. So I'm going to sign off soon. I just want to mention this again, and I'm going to make myself a little bit smaller. And the screen bigger. So you can see that for anyone who wants to scan the QR code and get 30% off a TEFL course or TESOL course from ITTT. You can do so. I'm also going to share the discount link again in the comment section. It is this one. So you can head there and get a 30% discount. You can do this today, tomorrow. A week from now, it doesn't matter. It does not expire. So I highly recommend you do that if you want to take a course or one of the specialized courses. Like we just said, the online teaching English online course is a great option to take right now, as are the other ones. It always depends on what you want to do and your goals. So I highly recommend that. But having those specialized certificates is really great. A great boost for your resume. So they're always nice to have. So yeah. Then I think I'm signing off. This was a great session. It felt great to be back this week. And I will be back next week again with another live session. And my colleague, Lisa, she is also going to be back with another live on Tuesday. So if you are a non-native English speaker who's interested in teaching English online, I highly recommend you check out Lisa and her live sessions. They're really great. She also has a lot of really great live sessions. About online platforms, teaching online, really cool activities you can do when teaching online. I watch those lives and I learn so, so much. So I highly recommend it. And thanks so much for watching. Thanks so much for all the people that come here week after week after week. I really appreciate it. And all the new faces. And thanks so much for being such an active crowd and asking all those really interesting questions and just sharing about your own experience. I really, really think it's so great. And it really makes our community great and so much stronger. So thanks so much. And I see you guys hopefully next week. Feel free to reach out to me at Linda Goes East at any time. That's my private handle on social media. Like I said, if you want to know what's going up, what's going on like with me personally in Korea, check that out. I also have a website, lindegoseast.com. It's pretty much a travel blog or like teaching in Asia kind of blog focused on Asia, South Korea, China, other Asian countries if you're interested in that. And you can reach out to me at any time. Don't forget the 30% off link, scan the QR code or use this link to get your discount. It's really great. So it doesn't expire. No pressure. And yeah, I hope to see you again next week. Thanks so much guys. Stay safe. And yeah, signing off now. Signing off. Oh, there's another one from Walter White. Yeah, thanks for that. If someone wants to learn chemistry, I teach chemistry in an interesting way. I heard that. Yeah. You guys are hilarious. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Have a wonderful day. See you soon, hopefully. Bye. Bye-bye.