Top Hardest Languages To Learn

Stephen Krashen differentiates between the concepts of language acquisition and language learning in this way: He likens the process of language acquisition to adolescents and young adults living outside of their native country in a year long exchange program where they attain near native fluency but remain unfamiliar with phonology and/or grammar rules. He links the concept of language learning to the traditional approach of teachers/students in classrooms with specific focus on structure and grammar rules. Krashen summarizes, “Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill.” He further states, “Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language-natural communication-in...  [Read more]

Yes. One of the many benefits of teaching English abroad is that it can provide a great environment for learning a foreign language. It is no secret that being fully immersed in a different culture, where you are constantly surrounded by a new language, is the most effective way to quickly develop your understanding. Throughout your time living and working as an English teacher abroad, you will inevitably have endless opportunities to practice your language skills. As well as using the language as you go about your daily life, there is also a good chance that you will have access to local language courses that are far cheaper than those available in your home country. Another possibility is the network of friends that you will likely make among the local citizens. Often people are more...  [Read more]

INTRODUCTIONHow did you learn to speak your native language' Notice, this shouldn´t be such a puzzling question. Do you remember when you learned to tie your shoes, ride a bike, and eat with a fork' Sometimes we can remember a parent helping us to do these things. But have our parents helped us learn to speak our first language' Do you remember when your mother taught you the past tense' When your father laid down the rules for passive sentences' We don´t remember these important moments of our childhood because they never occurred. Sometimes we as adults study for years to acquire a new language. It is then quite wonderful to think that children, by around the age of 5, have more or less mastered their first language, excepting some vocabulary and a few grammatical structures....  [Read more]

Download our free Guide to Teaching English Abroad for a wide range of information regarding the world of TEFL/TESOL. The guide covers all the essential things you need to know before you begin your teaching career, from what qualifications are available to securing a teaching position in the country of your choice. Download it today and take the first step on an exciting new journey.  [Read more]

In order to learn to read either a native or foreign language, the reader must be able to identify words quickly and accurately. This process is known as decoding. Decoding words involves changing what the reader sees printed on a page into spoken language. The reader then decodes the word by sounding it out, using the context around the word for clues about it's meaning. In order to sound out words, a reader must be able to relate specific spellings with specific sounds. Phonics is the process of relating the sounds of the words to their spellings. There are many ways to teach phonics awareness and use. However, most types of phonics instruction focus on the sound- spelling relationships so that the new reader can come up with an approximate pronunciation of the word and...  [Read more]

Here I was, waiting to teach a 'Lets Learn English' session with the Pacific and Asian newcomers to Australia. I was to continue the conversational English lessons with them. The attendees were looking forward to the class. I could tell this by the enthusiasm in their greeting as they arrived and by their hunger to learn in previous sessions. What's more we were having fun as we journeyed into the English language together. What's the biggest problem these students have I thought' The simple answer is 'the peculiarities of the English language, or more specifically'words. So what are words anyway' They're just sounds or noises that we utter after all. Unlike lower animals we may not bark neigh, moo, roar, purr or growl, but we do react instinctively to what's happening around...  [Read more]

TaLK stands for Teach and Learn in Korea which is a government sponsored program that places foreign nationals into elementary schools across South Korea. TaLK is a similar program to the much larger EPIK; however, the TaLK Program differs by focusing on placements in underprivileged areas that might otherwise struggle to attract foreign teachers. Participants on the program will gain valuable teaching experience throughout their time in South Korea. There is also plenty of free time for exploring the local culture and for travel across the country and wider region. The TaLK Program is open to college graduates or current undergraduate students who have completed at least two years of a degree course. You must also hold a passport from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada,...  [Read more]

  In this TESOL review video Ray talks about how the 120-hour online TESOL course he took with ITTT helped him to learn the necessary skills to teach English as a foreign language. Ray recommends the course to anyone considering a career teaching English abroad or online. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. In this unit useful tips were given for lesson planning. I learnt that a lesson plan helps to guide what you want to impart, it can be used as...  [Read more]

The age, background, and motivation of the students in your ESL classroom will vary greatly depending on where you are teaching and the school or institute you work for. You could have a class full of university students, hotel workers or even high flying business executives. Alternatively, you might work in a government school teaching a class of children aged anywhere from five to sixteen. Each of these groups has its own characteristics, and different teachers have their own preferences. Just remember that by completing a reputable TEFL certification course before you head off abroad, you will learn all the skills required to deliver effective and enjoyable lessons to almost any group of learners. A large percentage of teachers working in ESL classrooms overseas will find their...  [Read more]

  Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. I've experienced teaching adult beginners and kindergarteners in groups, and teenagers individually. For myself, teaching adults was the hardest as they have their own knowledge and perceptions in the English language. Also, gathering people from different backgrounds was also not easy whereas young learners including kindergarten through middle school students are more open to absorb the new language and...  [Read more]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word "hobbit". This word was invented by J.R.R. Tolkien for his 1937 novel "The Hobbit". Today, the word is widely known because of the immense popularity of J.R.R. Tolkien's books and the movies made from them. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. As the teacher we often forget how our actions are perceived by the student. Even if our lateness is beyond our control, the students may not...  [Read more]

'You learn a lot in your classes, but you can't learn about human relationships and about life from a book.' -Julie Venci, Washington UniversityIt was a little daunting at first. In fact, I was downright nervous. 'Go out and find someone in the community to do a student profile on.' Find someone in the community' I was already plunked half way across the globe, in a totally different culture attending a TESOL Certification course, and now I had to go out on my own and offer someone an hour-long, free one on one course'oh, my!Conducting a student profile seemed like an impossible feat, but as time progressed I came to realize the importance of one. As described in a chapter from the Diversity Institute: 'In order to effectively choose teaching methods and help students learn,...  [Read more]

You learn a lot in your classes, but you can?t learn about human relationships and about life from a book.? -Julie Venci, Washington University It was a little daunting at first. In fact, I was downright nervous. ?Go out and find someone in the community to do a student profile on.? Find someone in the community? I was already plunked half way across the globe, in a totally different culture attending a TESOL certification course, and now I had to go out on my own and offer someone an hour-long, free one on one course?oh, my! Conducting a student profile seemed like an impossible feat, but as time progressed I came to realize the importance of one. As described in a chapter from the Diversity Institute: ?In order to effectively choose teaching methods and help...  [Read more]

  Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. This unit is mostly about the tenses: present simple, present continuous, present perfect, present perfect continuous. I think this unit was the hardest unit for me because, I actually have a hard time using the tenses myself. Especially, present perfect and present perfect continuous. However, it is a little bit more clear to me of the difference between each tenses.I think it would have been better if there...  [Read more]

  In this TEFL/TESOL review video, Alexey, from Moscow, describes his experience on ITTT’s online TEFL/TESOL course. He points out that the course provides a great overview of grammar, teaching techniques, methodology, classroom management and lesson planning. In Alexey’s opinion ITTT’s course is one of the best on the market for those wanting to teach English abroad. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. That was the hardest...  [Read more]

  Place of articulation deals with the placement of the vocal organs when producing a sound. Before we can cover the particulars of places of articulation, we'll need to take a look at the various vocal organs and their locations. Moving from the front to the back we'd begin with our lips. We can use both lips in order to create a sound or we can use one of our lips with one of our rows of teeth, usually the top, in order to produce another sound. We also have other sounds, which use both of the rows of teeth. Further back we have what's called the alveolar ridge. That's the bit of the mouth that may get burnt when we're eating a pizza that's a bit too hot and the cheese burns just behind there our top two teeth. That again is the hard bit just behind our top teeth, called the...  [Read more]

  In this episode, we cover the pronunciation of the word tenet. This word refers mainly to princibles of a religion or philosophy. Some synonyms for tenet can include principle, belief or doctrine. The word comes from the Latin word tenere meaning ‘he holds’. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. I learned a lot about phonemics and how to teach pronunciation. The hardest part for me was how to figure out how to translate phonemics without...  [Read more]

  Eugenio is working in Japan as an English teacher and recently completed our 120 hour TEFL course. He enjoyed the course and was able to try the new-learned techniques in his classroom. He also worked closely with his tutor and was able to finish the course within a few weeks. Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next. This unit went over how to teach students proper forms of pronunciation in english. It included lessons on phonetics, how people...  [Read more]

It was while attempting to wrap my brain around the meaning of the construction "must needs", which I had encountered so often in classical English Literature, that I was incidentally drawn to an inves-tigation of modals. Modals, I learned, are semantic expressions of modalities: which is to say that they are nuanced constructions designed to express the speakers point of view with regards to his subject: be it his degree of certainty regarding the truth of a proposition he is propounding, his expression of permission, obligation, or necessity implicated in a situation, or his opinion regarding someone?s- or something?s- ability or volition with respect to a potential. Said differently, a modality is merely a point of view, and a modal a linguistic...  [Read more]

It was while attempting to wrap my brain around the meaning of the construction "must needs", which I had encountered so often in classical English Literature, that I was incidentally drawn to an inves-tigation of modals. Modals, I learned, are semantic expressions of modalities: which is to say that they are nuanced constructions designed to express the speakers point of view with regards to his subject: be it his degree of certainty regarding the truth of a proposition he is propounding, his expression of permission, obligation, or necessity implicated in a situation, or his opinion regarding someone's- or something's- ability or volition with respect to a potential.Said differently, a modality is merely a point of view, and a modal a linguistic vehicle for expressing that...  [Read more]

For many English speakers worldwide, teaching English abroad has recently grown to be a lucrative career path. This is largely because teaching salaries are getting more and more competitive as a result of the swiftly rising demand for the English language in many countries around the world. Additionally, online teaching opportunities have been booming, and many teachers have moved their workplace entirely to the virtual classroom. Due to a combination of high salaries, low cost of living, and a wide range of fascinating cultures to discover, Asia has long been one of the most popular regions for teachers. Traditional hotspots like South Korea and Taiwan are still well-liked since new teachers can earn between $2,000 and $2,500 per month on average, while experienced teachers can earn up...  [Read more]

Stephen Krashen differentiates between the concepts of language acquisition and language learning in this way: He likens the process of language acquisition to adolescents and young adults living outside of their native country in a year long exchange program where they attain near native fluency but remain unfamiliar with phonology and/or grammar rules. He links the concept of language learning to the traditional approach of teachers/students in classrooms with specific focus on structure and grammar rules. Krashen summarizes, ?Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill.? He further states, ?Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language-natural communication-in which ...  [Read more]

In the past when someone had a diploma from a school like Harvard or Yale it automatically means that they'll find a good job in the future. This myth has been proven wrong in the work place. Students with great diplomas are now finding it harder to find jobs that will accept them. Why' The students are leaving schools with knowledge that is unapplied and unused making them, in a sense, robots. This phenomenon reminds us of a famous quote, 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.' So, how does one solve this dilemma' Very simply put, application, and what better way to do it than through games.One of the hardest things to do is getting the students to use and apply the knowledge that was taught, this could be done easily with game. Games don't only help motivate the students...  [Read more]

Congratulations if you have recently completed a TEFL certification course and are now looking for that all important first teaching position. As learning English is commonplace in the majority of countries around the world, qualified TEFL teachers rarely find it difficult to secure a good job. However, the level of demand can vary greatly from one place to the next, which also means the level of requirements can vary. What is required in one country might be completely different to the requirements in its immediate neighbor. As mentioned above, the demand for qualified TEFL teachers varies considerably and can have a big effect on where you might end up working in your first teaching position. Certain countries also have stricter rules and regulations than others, as do individual...  [Read more]

There are common issues that all learners inevitably face. : The complexities of future tenses, modal and phrasal verbs. Aside from this, study habits and memorization of vocabulary are other hurdles that all students must jump. But each country, region, city or village will have its unique set of issues that will make language acquisition more complex. Having lived and worked in the region of Catalonia for the last 3 years a number of complexities of English learning have been brought to my attention Though the problems for learners in Spain/Catalonia may not be altogether unique in all aspects, I will attempt to clarify those that seem of particular issue in my short experience teaching here. The culture of language acquisition has become a larger issue as Catalans have...  [Read more]

All of my life I've been told that English is one of the most difficult languages on Earth to learn, and I should thank my lucky stars that it was my first language and I would never have to go through the agony of learning it later in life. Of course, I thought this was B.S. when I first heard it; after all, I learned English when I was like three years old. How hard could it be'It wasn't until I began to learn another language, Spanish, that it began to dawn on me just how convoluted and peculiar some parts of our language are. In Spanish, if you can say a word, you can spell it. That's it. Sound it out and you've got it. But English is chock full of all these funky, weird rules for spelling like I before E except after C. Okay, you got that' Now you can spell anything, right'...  [Read more]

If you choose to enrol on our superb TEFL course in Australia you will learn how to teach the English language in one of the largest and most beautiful countries in the world. Australia is a popular destination for TEFL training as it offers an abundance of spectacular natural attractions such as the famed Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) and the Great Barrier Reef, as well as a fascinating indigenous culture that dates back thousands of years. On top of the county’s natural and cultural attractions, you will also find that Australia has a remarkable recent history which has led to it becoming the dynamic and vibrant country that you will experience during your time with us. There is a high demand for English language teachers throughout the country so you should have a very good chance of securing...  [Read more]

For the ESL teacher in China, it is vitally important to understand common pronunciation problems the Chinese student has pronouncing English words.Using the internet, one can find several websites that provide important information regarding these common pronunciation problems.First it is important to understand why the Chinese have difficulty pronouncing English.A search on the internet provides the following link: http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol36/no1/p37.htm, On this website, Cheng Fanggzhi, an associate professor at Binzhou Teachers´ College in Shandong Province, China has an article titled 'The Teaching of Pronunciation to Chinese Students of English'.According to Cheng Fangzhi, the Chinese students have great difficulty with 'gap' consonants such as:...  [Read more]

Presuming that you have already done a bit of research into teaching English as a foreign language, you will probably already be aware of the basic role of an EFL teacher, i.e, to teach non-native speakers to speak, read, and write in the English language. However, there is a whole lot more to the role of an EFL teacher than simply standing in front of the class and teaching vocabulary and grammar. Your exact role will depend on the individual employer and the environment where you are actually working, but there are several things that will be expected of you in most situations. For many teachers the most time consuming aspect of the job is planning and preparing lessons in advance. While teachers with plenty of experience can often get by with minimal planning as they will have taught...  [Read more]

This is one of the most frequently asked questions we receive from trainees before, during and after every TEFL certification course, it is also one of the hardest to answer. There are many factors that influence how long it takes to secure an English language teaching job, but the good news is that the vast majority of our graduates do land a teaching position after successfully completing their course. One of the biggest factors is where you choose to work, as the demand for teachers varies greatly from region to region and country to country. China has such a huge demand that there are often not enough candidates to fill the available positions. This is particularly good news for newly qualified teachers as you will have little trouble securing a job at any time of the year. Other...  [Read more]