 Hello and welcome to the ITTT's weekly live stream. My name is Lisa and I'm super glad to welcome you at a new live session. So we are just about to start, but we are going to wait for some people to join us. So if you are watching this video as a recording, please skip this beginning in three minutes or so probably. Well, I'm going to introduce today's live session and stuff like that. But if you want to learn a little bit more about ITTT and about myself as a host of this sessions, stay here and let's do it together. So I'm super glad to welcome you guys. Thanks a lot for joining in. Let me know if you see and hear me clearly, because I'm not sure if my equipment is working, if my camera and mic are all right. So let me know via the comments section if the sound is okay and if you think the picture is all right as well. So yeah, let's do like that. Because I really want to make sure that there are no problems with this technical stuff. So let me know if you see and hear me well. And yeah, let me just quickly change the slide and introduce myself. So yeah, thanks a lot, Leo. By the way, welcome at today's session. I hope you will enjoy it and I hope you will find something useful for yourself. So my name is Lisa. You can see my full name on this slide. But I usually go by Lisa because it is easier. So my Russian name is slightly challenging, I believe, but it's the same as Elizabeth. So I'm an ESL teacher working online primarily. So I've been working online for two years already, starting in 2020, right before the beginning of the pandemic. And I'm also a TAPL and TESOL expert with ITTT. So where ITTT is a leading TAPL and TESOL provider, if you guys haven't heard about ITTT or if you've come across this TAPL provider and considering our courses, today's live stream is going to be exactly for you because I'm going to deliver a really popular question. I'm going to answer a really popular question regarding the TAPL courses to choose, especially if you're a non-native ESL teacher or if you change your careers. So stay tuned and let's do it together. So let's review the courses and probably outline a career track for you, your career development track. Before we move on, please let me know where are you guys from. So I am based in Russia in a city called Yekaterinburg. It's pretty far from Moscow and the weather today is pretty nice, although it's getting colder and colder and I have to put on this long sleeve and make myself comfortable with this warm drinks and stuff like that. So where are you from? Is it nice there? And yeah, let's just communicate a little bit before the session. Oh yeah, I see Philip from Manchester. I am glad to see you. So Philip is a fan of these live streams. Thanks a lot for coming again. So I hope today's session will be valuable for you. And there is also Faraz from Egypt. Glad to see you again by the way. I'm great. So it's 2 pm in my place. And yeah, I think it's time to start. And I also see a person watching on YouTube, which is great. I believe that there are not many people watching on YouTube like in the real time. So I'm always glad to see someone saying hello and yeah, showing, sending greetings from YouTube. Okay. And Leo is actually a native speaker. That's great to know. Thanks a lot. I'm actually really pleased when native speakers come to my sessions, because I'm a non-native speaker and I still have a lot to learn myself as a student. So thanks a lot for your support. I hope that this session is going to be valuable for you. And let me move on and change the slide. So let's jump right into the discussion. So the point of today's session is what tackle course to choose and how to build your career development. And before we start, before we consider the courses itself, it is extremely important to think about your teacher's development needs. So basically when non-native speakers or native English speakers ask me about some ways to start their teaching career, they are curious about getting certified and then they want to jump right into the work itself. But from my point of view, it's a slightly incorrect approach, because it is always important to think like in the future. So to think about your future perspectives, because if you consider teaching as just a side hustle, it's probably not practical at all to think too much about your professional development, although it is still important. So but in those cases, when you really want to make teaching your career, your lifetime career, then start thinking about your development needs as early as possible. And there are actually two approaches from my perspective. Think about your background and also consider your goals, your perspectives. So as for the background, answer the question. So are you a beginner teacher? So are you at the beginning of your teaching career? Or are you an experienced teacher already? So if you're that person who is just beginning this career path, then it is one way to build your career track. If you're experienced, then it's another process and you will think about some other needs as well. But at the same time, bear in mind that it is important to consider some specific goals related to the niche and the age group you're going to deliver lessons to. So basically, also think about who you want to teach, either children or adults or maybe you want to work with some specific groups like business English students or even special needs. So such special needs as, I don't know, dyslexic students or some other variants of special needs. So these goals should be in your mind when thinking about your development. And also choose between two modes of teaching online or in class. You can also combine somehow and many things related to in class teaching can be implemented in your online setting as well. So everything is interchangeable. However, when it comes to narrowing down your niche, you want to make sure that you're a professional in the specific field. And before I move on, I want to ask you guys, so what is your current situation? Are you a new teacher or you are an experienced one? And what are your career goals? What do you want to achieve? So let me know in the comments section. I will be pleased to know and I will also share with the audience. I will share your answers with the audience. And yeah, it's always interesting to know what are some thoughts and what is important to the audience. And I also want to draw your attention to this QR code at the top right corner of the screen. So if you guys are considering taking a TAPL course with ITTT, this QR code can give you a really nice 30% discount of any TAPL courses. And today I'm actually going to tell you about different options you can choose. You can look at while considering your career development. And yeah, I think that this incentive, this discount might be really helpful. And you can also just follow the link from the chat box. It looks like this. So if you think like doing the course, just feel free to copy the link and check out all possible variants. All right. And unfortunately, I can't see any comments. Maybe you guys are typing and it takes time. And for the sake of not spending too much time on it, yeah, oh, that's cool. So I'm not sure if it is a real name or not or just a nickname, but last says that he's starting a university degree to become a teacher. Oh, that's awesome. So you're a freshman, right? So if you think that teaching is something you're going to do for life, this live stream is definitely for you. And by the way, are you going to be an ESL teacher or just some general subjects? So let me know as well. And altogether, let's change the slide and see some options for different needs. So the first plan is going to be for early career teachers. So last, this slide is for you. And there is also a seat joining in. Nice to see you. A seat from Lebanon. Nice to see you at the course. So yeah, by the way, so last says that he isn't young. By the way, there are no age limits for taking a tuffle course or TESOL at ITT. And I believe if you start your university degree, it's also not a problem. It's not a problem as well. I believe that when you're mature enough and when you understand what you want to do in the future, it's always better than to be young and wild. That's actually what happened to me back then. And that was just how it was. But I feel like if I did something differently, it would be probably more beneficial for me. But anyway, so let's see what courses you can consider if you're an early career teacher. So basically at ITT we have several options. The first two ones, 50 and 60 hour teaching courses, they are related to those cases when you don't have any prior experience or education in the field. But you want to get some hands-on experience in planning, for example, or in teaching grammar and phonology. So the content of these courses is absolutely comprehensible for those people who haven't taught at all, but they want to understand what it is about and how to organize the experience in general. And they can be used as initial courses before getting any further education or starting teaching in general. But if you feel like you want to know the basics, the most important key points of this teaching job, then the 120 hour TEFL course would be more suitable for you. Because it is the most basic course that includes both things related to planning and also teaching some specific skills. But at the same time, it covers such things as, oh, I'm going blank, sorry. So it also covers stuff like classroom management and some organizational things as well. And also, I would like to mention that usually when you find a job, the general requirement would be to have no less than 100 hour course, 100 hour certification. So that is why the 120 hour TEFL course is the most popular option. So just because this is the general requirement all over the world, and if you get this type of certification, the chances are you're going to be eligible to work in various parts of the world. So the last certification listed in here is actually quite useful for those people who don't have any practical experience. So if you are, for example, if you are a non-native teacher, or even if you're a native teacher, but you don't have any teaching practice, you can seek this teaching practice recognition. And we will provide you this special certification where you teach, and then you finish some specific assignments and then get certified as a teacher with practice. So this option is actually suitable for both experienced and not experienced people, not experienced teachers. So you can also think about this option. And as for these courses, the two courses above and the last one are specialized TEFL certification courses. And the one in the middle is a basic course. So it's a general TEFL certification, which is required all over the world. And employers usually ask you if you have at least 100-hour certification. Okay, so let me check out the comments section. So Asif asks which countries accept non-native speakers. So Asif, the thing is it is actually very subjective to specific countries. So if you, for example, want to work in a certain destination, what you have to do is go to their embassy website or any other governmental website and check out the visa requirements section to see what are some specifications for teachers. So there are countries where only native teachers are eligible to teach. But at the same time, there are many places around the world where non-native teachers are accepted as well. But also, I just want to remind you that getting a job doesn't mean that you have to hold a specific passport or to be born in a specific country. It's also important to be proactive and show your interest. That is why I always recommend trying whatever destination, even if there are certain rules in accepting some specific nationalities. So in my personal experience, that was in China. So I got a job in China several years ago. So I was a native speaker. Of course, at that time, regulations were slightly different, and it was much easier to get to China compared these days. However, schools actually preferred native speakers there. But those companies that understood how the ESL world worked, they accepted those teachers who had education, experience, and who actually wanted to develop as teachers. And in those schools where I worked, I actually got a lot of useful trainings. And I should say that my teaching development started at that time and was provided by my employers. So always think that it is on you to find the best benefits and the best place to work. Okay. All right. Yeah. So let me dwell upon this as well a little bit further. So I'm going to change the slide and answer this question. So Paris asks if these courses can be combined or not? Yeah. So let's see. Before I answer that question, I also want to add that there are some other options. So if you guys want to seek some further development, it is also possible. And it is always really good for you as a teacher. Because when you narrow down your niche, you have more career prospects, more career opportunities, and you can open your hourly rate, which is a really great thing for your career development as well. Especially if you're a freelancer. Yeah. Hello, everyone who are joining right now. Thanks a lot for coming. So we are talking about different types of courses to choose for your non-native teacher career development. And on this slide, you can actually see three options. These are also specialized TEFL courses. But compared to the previous ones, these courses can't be combined. They can't be taken prior to the main general course. So if you haven't been TEFL certified, if you haven't got your basic TEFL certification, which is 120 hour course at ITTT, unfortunately, you can't proceed with these other courses. But if you are TEFL certified already, you can consider taking a business English course, a course in teaching business English, teaching young learners course, or teaching English online. So these three specialized courses are for those who have this primary TEFL certification. And let me now explain the thing with the packages. Of course, we have these great value packages. You can obtain several courses together as a bundle. They will cost a little bit more than this general certification. But in this case, you pay for the bundle, and you get this reasonable price, which is why these options will suit various needs and all budgets. The most general certification, the most general bundle would be number one, 170 hour TEFL course plus certification in teaching English online. So basically it's our 120 hour TEFL course, which is this general course, general TEFL certification. And then after completing the general course, you will be assigned with the teaching English online certification. So basically two courses together, but you pay less. The same about 2020 220 hour master package. So these course, this bundle includes a little bit different outline. Let me quickly check out the outline itself. So if you're interested, if you're curious in it, so basically 2020 hour TEFL course also includes this 120 hours certification. Yeah, let's just go to the special page on the website and let me check quickly. Because unfortunately, I don't learn it by heart and always forget. And recently we've also had some major changes in the courses outline. So they might have changed as well. So yeah, this package, the 220 hour master package includes the 120 hour TEFL certification and the 50 hour course in teaching English to young learners and also teaching business English. And there are two options for this package as well. You can do it on your own or with the help of our awesome tutor. So if you consider the tutor option, you can also get TEFL certification in teaching English online as a bonus. And as for the other packages, they also have some specific outlines and include more courses for less money. Just not to spend much time on explaining all these details here. Let me send you a link. So just quickly, I'm going to send the link to these courses right in the chat box. So if you guys are interested in the great value packages, check it out. And yeah. So and I'm going to answer the questions from the chat box. So let me see. So thanks a lot, Asif, for being so active. I really appreciate that because when someone asks questions, it is always easier to, you know, to deliver the session. Sometimes it happens like when I talk, talk and talk and then my throat gets so dry. I start, you know, my voice starts changing. All right. So which course I prefer? So several years ago, let me think when it was, so it was in October. Oh, actually, how many four years ago. So in October 2017, I took my TEFL course and it was the 120 hour TEFL course without tutor. So I wasn't that, you know, I didn't choose actually between the tutor support and without tutor support. I just decided doing everything on my own. But I believe that it was a mistake because it took me much more time than it could take. So basically, I had a lot of challenges doing the lesson plan, which was one of the requirements to get a TEFL certification. And these days, I'm thinking about suggesting you considering the option with the tutor support because if you have any troubles, if you have any questions, if you don't understand some contents, you can always reach out to your tutor and ask. And by the way, ITTT provides a 24-7 support. So if you have any issues regarding the technical aspects or the course itself, you can always get back to us and we will help you out. So this is what we provide for sure. And this is one of the advantages we offer to our clients. So if you have any, you know, troubles, we're always here to support you. What's next? So yeah, let me see Milo's question as well. So Milo is TEFL certified already. Congratulations. By the way, did you take your TEFL course with ITTT or not? So what course to pick next to increase chances? Well, so let me change the slide and show you these three options. So basically, if you want to continue your teaching development, your teacher career development, you can try to narrow down your niche, which is always a great idea because if you get more experience in a specific field, for example, business English teaching, it increases your chances not just to get hired but also to get paid more because specific courses, specific services always cost more. At least this is a trend in Russia. So tutors all over Russia try to narrow down their niche. If they are smart enough, you know, if I may put it like this, but the thing is many teachers still provide this general English courses to whatever students possible just to make at least some money. So those who want to, you know, develop the career, they change the approach and narrow down the niche, choose specific students to teach and increase their hourly rates. So in order to enhance your career perspectives, I suggest that you look at our 50-hour teaching business English course or teaching English learners course. And the last option would be teaching English online. Also, if you want to refresh your knowledge in planning, you can consider this 50-hour ELT academic planning course as well or teaching grammar and phonology. And I would say that teaching grammar and phonology might be really useful. And I'm actually thinking about this course myself right now because I have a group of non-native English speakers living in native English-speaking countries. And their problem is actually not the language itself. They are pretty advanced, but they still have some gaps in their grammar, which is why we have one group a week and work on grammar specifically. So this option also might be useful for those who want to change the career, somehow who want to set a higher price and stuff like that. And also, when you look for employment in some companies, being a specific field teacher is always a bonus because you can actually provide higher quality services to your students. In my perspective, being a general English teacher is your first step in the career. And then you have to move on and think about what suits you as a person best. That was my idea when I decided to work just with teenagers on exam preparation. And that is why when it comes to teaching young students, I work with teenagers only there from 13 to 15 years. And we work on the Cambridge exam preparation. And I would say that exam preparation is actually a great idea to offer services. And it is really popular these days all over the world. So consider it as well. And yeah, this teaching English learners, teaching young learners course can be suitable for this perspective. Okay, so I hope, Milo, I have answered your question. If you still have any doubts, let me know. And if you want to look at the courses a little bit closer, you can actually follow the link that I have just dropped in the comments section. And I'm going to answer Philip's question as well. So is Russia now becoming a good place to teach English? So it really depends. I would say that in Russia, we've got a really strong teaching community. But teachers are the Russian English teachers. So we have, you know, a pretty solid educational system regarding the teacher training. And then teachers who have this general degree, you know, in education, they also, if they are interested in teaching, they seek some some further career development ways, and all and constantly try to develop. So when it comes to offering private lessons, this market is actually boosting because like all over the world, because online teaching, and not just online teaching, but one on one teaching is a great way to, you know, for both students and teachers, it's a pretty convenient way and a comfortable way to work. So there are many companies that hire both native teachers and non native teachers. Those companies are online companies and also just this regular companies. I'm not sure about the visa process and stuff in Russia. It can be rather challenging for some specific destinations, just due to this, you know, relationships between Russia and the other countries. But generally speaking, yeah, there are many job offers within the country. You just have to research. And it's not that hard to get a job. Let me just quickly drop a couple of options you can quickly consider if you want to teach in Russia. So you can teach online basically for several Russian companies. And the most famous one is called Skyeng, like this. So you can Google it. And the other one is, yeah, I think like this, the other one is Yandex Practicum or something like that. But if you Google it, you will probably find the links. So these two companies are really big. And they work primarily with adult students. So if you feel like you want to try to work with Russian students, Russian adults, you can consider these two companies. So they are both huge tech companies in Russia. Just check their websites and see if such opportunities may work for you. But again, hourly rates might be really low in terms of your location and this company's market. So you always have to consider that, you know, Russia and many other countries have, you know, some some standard rates in terms of Russian rubble, for example, and American dollar. So exchange rates are pretty tricky here. And the life costs lower compared to the UK or to the US. That is why teachers may be paid much less than in first world countries, you know. So you also have to research this point as well. So if the country isn't the first world country, the chances are you won't get paid higher. And for this reason, I would suggest you trying to work as a solo teacher to work as a freelancer and see if there are opportunities to work for higher hourly rates. So that's probably it. And let me change the slide once again. So I don't have any further slides related to some career development and ITTT TEFL courses. So just a second. All right. So last last asks how to settle in a country. What country do you mean exactly? And could you give me some more specific explanations of your question? Because I'm not sure how to answer. It is really subjective, right? So if you consider moving to a different country, you have to basically research the life expenses, some possible life expenses, they might be really different in your country, in your mother land. Yeah, for example, if you are from the US, if you're a native speaker from the US, and you've charged like 25 dollars an hour, and you want to go to Russia, I'm not sure that you can get the same hourly rate in this country because the cost of life is much lower. It doesn't mean that the same thing will happen in some metropolitan areas like Moscow and St. Petersburg. So those places, they are rich and they offer more chances, more opportunities to teachers. Yeah, so it's really subjective. But basically what else should you consider is your cultural background. So before moving to a specific country, you have to research what rules they have, what cultural habits and stuff like that. Yeah, probably that's all. If you find an employer in your destination, in the destination of your choice, they will help to solve all things related to visa and whatever. So yeah, like this. Basically, that is all for today. I hope that today's session was useful for you. Let me know what you think by the way. And if you have any further questions, feel free to ask once again. Yeah, I am going to send the link once again. So this link contains the 30% discount or you can simply scan this QR code that you can see on the slide right now. Just follow the link from the chat box if it's more convenient for you. Yeah, that's it. And let me also say a little bit more about our live streams. So basically, we go live every week twice. I go live at the beginning of the week and my colleague Linda goes live at the end of the week. Linda is a native English speaker and she can also give you some hands-on experience because she used to teach in China, she worked in South Korea, and she also travels a lot around the Asian countries especially. So if you want to learn something specific related to the native English-speaking opportunities, just check out Linda's live streams as well. What else? ITTT is presented on various social media. So right now I am streaming on YouTube and Facebook, but at the same time you can find our profiles on Instagram and Pinterest and LinkedIn, if it is the most convenient social network for you. We share various useful information regularly there. So stay tuned and probably subscribe and follow to get notifications. Like, you know, click on this bell button to get updates. And as for Facebook, we actually share job prospects a couple of times a week, I believe, or maybe once a week. Check out the feed as well if you want to find some ways to teach. Yeah, that's pretty much, but I would like to invite you to my Facebook group as well. So I have a Facebook group on Facebook. It is for both non-native teachers and native teachers. And I'm trying to build this community and I'm going to share useful information related to teacher career development and language learning as well. So feel free to join in. And if you guys have any questions regarding table certification, teaching opportunities, ESL and stuff like that, you can always direct message me on Facebook or on Instagram maybe. So feel free to do that. And I will see you next week on the same day, at the same time. So I hope that we will get back together again. If you have any suggestions related to the live streams, to the coming live streams, if you want a specific topic to be covered, just feel free to suggest me as well. I will be really glad because I want to deliver the best services to my audience and help out as many people as it is possible. Yeah. Thanks again. Thanks for coming. Thanks for your support. It is very nice. It is very nice to work with you guys and have a great week. See you soon. Bye-bye.