ITTO Blog | TEFL TESOL Certificate Courses Blog.

Travel Abroad

If you never heard of Playa del Carmen, you are in for a treat!! A short drive from Cancun, Playa is on the Mayan Riviera of Mexico. Formerly a fishing village, Playa has been “discovered” and is growing. Think of it. The main street, 5th Avenue, is only a few steps from the beach. How is that for convenient? Not only that, you have access to the world´s second largest coral reef (oil spill not withstanding). It goes all the way to Beliz. Want pyramids? Now, you can have them just a short distance from Playa. Bring your camera because you definitely want to capture these on digital cams or film. There are all kinds of things to see and do in Playa, and it is easier to get around than a large city. If you plan on traveling in Mexico after or before your ITTO course, you should put Playa on your itinerary. You won´t be disappointed in this lovely place. (The food is good, too.)

Travel Abroad

If you never heard of Playa del Carmen, you are in for a treat!! A short drive from Cancun, Playa is on the Mayan Riviera of Mexico. Formerly a fishing village, Playa has been “discovered” and is growing. Think of it. The main street, 5th Avenue, is only a few steps from the beach. How is that for convenient? Not only that, you have access to the world´s second largest coral reef (oil spill not withstanding). It goes all the way to Beliz. Want pyramids? Now, you can have them just a short distance from Playa. Bring your camera because you definitely want to capture these on digital cams or film. There are all kinds of things to see and do in Playa, and it is easier to get around than a large city. If you plan on traveling in Mexico after or before your ITTO course, you should put Playa on your itinerary. You won´t be disappointed in this lovely place. (The food is good, too.)

What´s New at ITTO

ITTO will soon be getting a new staff member. When it actually happens, we will inform you. We also have a brand new printer that does color. This is great for trainees who use a lot of visuals for their classes. Color always has a better effect when used to explain vocabulary. Besides, new “toys” are always fun to use. Plus, you need to check out our specials! They are amazing. If you are planning to come to the November course, for example, you get a free trip to Puerto Vallarta at the end of the course.
For August 30th, you save $200 USD. Great deals for anyone. Think of all the goodies you can buy for souvenirs with the savings.
Check it out.

Greeting and Salutations

Good Grief! July is already gone. Why do the months of July and August always go so fast? At ITTO trainees are studying and doing their practice teaching. They are busy, of course, since the course is intensive, but they are absorbing a great deal of input regarding the communicative approach in teaching English as a Foreign Language. It gives a great deal of satisfaction to watch a trainee go from knowing very little about teaching to a great deal of self-confidence and ability at the end of the 10 hour teaching experience. With the feedback from the instructors, trainees hone their skills, and with the experience from the practices, they become good teachers. There is a lot of news, so read on. Enjoy.

TEFL Article

TEFL Article

Partitives? What´s with that?

OK, so it has been a while since you took English, particularly if you do not remember grammar school where you learned, well, grammar. The first year college stuff goes pretty fast, too. So, now you are expected to teach partitives, and you do NOT remember what they are or how to use them.
Never fear. We are here to help. Partitives occur when you are teaching all those non-countable nouns, such as water, rice, coffee, pizza, etc. It is important to have the students understand that with non-countable nouns, you do not put “a” or “the” in front of the noun. In some languages, it is automatic to do so, but in English, no. This is where the partitive comes in.
You may drink coffee, but you can also have a cup of coffee. You may eat rice, but you can have a helping of rice. You might gorge on pizza, or you might eat a slice of pizza. You can drink water, or you may drink a glass of water.
The term “partitive” means “divide”, according to the dictionary. Thus, you are simply using a term which specifies how you “divide” what you are eating or drinking as a specific amount of the non-countable noun. Easy, huh?

Teaching Abroad

Adjusting to a New Environment

So, you are now in a new country hearing a different language, seeing different architecture, sniffing different smells, and most definitely eating different food. Sometimes the culture shock can be overwhelming to people. It is a question of learning to adjust.
Some personalities welcome this change. They are curious about the world. Perhaps, they have done some traveling prior to making the decision to work in another country. Perhaps, not. True, if you have traveled overseas for any length of time, it makes it easier to adjust to a new environment.
At first, you might be busy finding a comfortable and reasonable place to stay. If you cannot speak the local language, get help from someone who is bilingual. There is always someone, perhaps another teacher, who is always willing to help. Also, depending where you work, the school may provide housing for the teachers. Nice.
There is also the adjustment to the hours you work. “We´re not in Kansas any more, Toto”. You are more than likely NOT going to have public school hours. If you are qualified and lucky, you might get a job with a university, where you get more pay and fewer hours. For most us, we will get a split shift. This means hours in the morning, usually from seven in the morning until eleven or noon, then again from three until nine at night. If you have the talent for taking naps, then you will be fine. However, it does take making an adjustment.
Another rather important item is the food. You may find nourishment which is familiar, but do not count on it. There are usually fantastic restaurants near places which cater to tourists, but if you are not in one of these places, you might not find McDonald´s or your favorite style pub on the corner. Hopefully, you have done your homework and are aware of the type of food this country eats normally. In Mexico, for example, most people know tacos. They also have heard of Tequila if they have not already imbibed some of it on one occasion or another. However, if your taste buds crave a thick, juicy steak and an Idaho baked potato, forget it.
You have to adjust.
How long does this take? It depends on the person. Some people are happy eating new foods, others will miss food found only in their own country.
It is far easier to adjust than be miserable. Sooner or later, you will be going home for a visit. The odd thing here will be trying to adjust to home after being away, especially if it has been a year or more.
On the other hand, if you are flexible, open-minded, curious about the world around you , and enjoy new experiences, as well as teaching English as a Foreign Language, you will do well. Relax, Adjust, Enjoy.

Teacher´s Resources

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/work/esl/articles/esl_jobs_are_online.shtml

Where the ESL Jobs Are
Online But Off the Beaten Path
By Duncan MacLeod
Searching for an overseas English teaching position can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. True, job opportunities abound in countries like China and Korea but the key to a successful ESL job search is not just finding a job but finding the best possible job for you. In order to do that you need to do know what your options are — all of them.
The beaten path to overseas teaching job search success includes well-known ESL employment websites like Dave’s ESL Café (www.eslcafe.com), TEFL.com (www.tefl.com) and my own site, TESall.com (www.tesall.com) . These sites and dozens more like them list thousands of job vacancies from schools and recruiters around the world. They are updated daily and for the most part provide excellent access to job opportunities. That said, not every employer seeking foreign English teachers uses the big-name ESL websites to advertise their job vacancies. In fact, many of the larger, more recognizable names in the language school industry advertise elsewhere. So do schools looking for quick access to local candidates. Knowing where to look for these off-the-beaten-path job postings is the key to accessing a whole new world of ESL employment possibilities.
Mainstream Employment Sites
Try searching for overseas teaching positions on mainstream employment resources like Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, Yahoo! hotjobs, Workopolis and countless others. It doesn’t matter if you are an American and the site is Australian; generally speaking, employers are looking for native speakers from any of the well-known English-speaking countries, not one particular nationality. Many of the larger, better-known chain schools place job ads on these sites. Examples include Nova, Geos, English First, Peppy Kids Club, International House and the British Council. Some of the bigger placement agencies like Footprints Recruiting and Saxoncourt also use this medium to advertise to the larger audiences they require to meet their recruitment needs.
The key to navigating most mainstream employment websites is usually keyword searching. Most of the larger, general-in-nature job sites do not have dedicated ESL employment categories so you are going to need to find overseas teaching jobs by searching for terms like “tefl,” “teach english,” “tesol,” “esl,” and “english teacher.” Those same terms can be combined with the name of the country you want to teach in to narrow your results. These same search strategies are of value when using a job search portal like Indeed.com which crawls the postings of multiple job sites and makes their job ads searchable by keyword.
Primary Websites
• Monster.com: www.monster.com
• Yahoo! Hotjobs: hotjobs.yahoo.com
• Workopolis: www.workopolis.com
• Careerbuilder: www.careerbuilder.com
• Indeed.com: www.indeed.com
• CareerOne: www.careerone.com.au
Local Newspapers and Web portals
Schools and recruiters looking for teachers at a local or regional level often turn to newspapers and Web portals based in and/or aimed at their market area. These sites can be fertile new ground for ESL job seekers but they have their drawbacks. Some of the advertisers will be looking to conduct face-to-face interviews, a difficult requirement for a new teacher job searching from their home country. Others may be seeking teachers who already have visas for part-time work. That said, motivated job seekers still in their home countries who are willing to relocate on potentially short notice have lots to gain by seeking work via local newspapers and Web portals.
You can find these local resources via Google but “square one” for this type of job search should always be craigslist, the granddaddy of all local employment resources. craigslist is an enormous if largely untapped job search resource for English teachers because of its global presence at the local level. For example, you can find jobs posted by recruiters and larger chain schools on the Seattle and Vancouver versions of craigslist while smaller schools might post locally, on the Mexico City or Bangkok editions of the site. Click on the “education” category of any edition of craigslist to access ESL-related employment opportunities.
A final local resource that is definitely worth investigating is the Yellow Pages of your target market. You won’t find actual job ads but you will find the contact details for almost all of the language schools in a given area. This is a great way to undertake a proactive job search (see DOs and DON’Ts: A TEFL Primer for North Americans) at the local level. Hint: you may need to learn how to translate “language school” into the language of your target market in order to search the Yellow Pages for contacts.
Primary Regional Websites
Europe
• Prague Post: www.praguepost.com
• Think Spain: www.thinkspain.com
Asia
• Koreabridge: www.koreabridge.com
• Hong Kong Expat: hongkong.asiaxpat.com
• Shanghai Expat: shanghai.asiaxpat.com
• GaijinPot.com: www.gaijinpot.com
• Pusanweb: www.pusanweb.com
• Forumosa.com: www.forumosa.com
Latin America
• Brazil: www.gringoes.com
Middle East
• Saudi Arabia: www.arabnews.com
School and Recruiter Websites
Some English language schools and recruiters are big enough that they do not always have to place off-site; their sites generate enough traffic on their own to maintain in-house lists of job vacancies. Such is the case with global powerhouses like International House, Wall Street, inlingua, Berlitz and English First. The same is true of some of the bigger recruiters and placement programs like Footprints Recruiting, Westgate, the CEC Network and Interac. In the case of some of these organizations, you need to go to them because they do not need to go to you.
Recruiter Websites
• CEC Network: www.teachingoverseas.ca
• Westgate: www.westgate.co.jp
School Websites
• International House: www.ihworld.com
• English First: www.englishfirst.com
• GEOS: www.geoscareer.com
• Harmon Hall: www.harmonhall.com
• British Council: www.britishcouncil.org
• Berlitz: careers.berlitz.com
• Wall Street: www.wallstreetinstitute.com
• Inlingua: www.inlingua.com
• Bell International: www.bell-centres.com
• ACC: www.acc-english.co.jp
• Hess Educational Organization: www.hess.com.tw
• AEON: www.aeonet.com
• YBM Education: www.ybmecc.co.kr
• Tronwell: www.tronwell.cl
• Vaughn Systems: www.vaughanteacher.com
• Shenker Institute: www.shenker.com
Online but off the beaten path: most teachers never realize how many jobs are actually available to them when they execute their ESL job search. The first step towards finding your dream job is to find the job ad. Expand your search beyond traditional ESL employment sites and open up a whole new world of employment possibilities.
Duncan MacLeod is the coordinator of Go Teach, www.goteach.ca, an introductory one day TESOL workshop, and founder of www.TESall.com, the Internet’s first vertical search portal for TESL/TEFL job seekers.

Travel Abroad

Want one of Mexico´s best kept secrets? Want a beach that is reasonably priced? Want to feel safe? Read an edited version about this exotic, beautiful place in Mexico.
Why is Manzanillo and the state of Colima
the safest in Mexico?
by Susan Dearing
There is no reason to be afraid to come to Manzanillo, or to Mexico, for that matter.
Culturally, Mexicans and Canadians/Americans look at many things differently. (Forgive me, my Canadian friends; I am not lumping you into the American group, but we do share some of the same concerns about safety.)
STRONG POLICE PRESENCE
For Mexicans, having a strong police presence makes them feel safer. For foreigners, it makes us nervous seeing police on every street corner, watching them driving around in cars with lights flashing, on motorcycles making traffic stops, and in big black and white Dodge Ram trucks with tough-looking men in bullet-proof vests holding assault rifles.
When driving around the country, we see the military presence at improvised road blocks, and powering around in huge military vehicles visibly “armed and dangerous.”

“If Manzanillo is so safe,” foreigners ask, “Why are there so many police?” Manzanillo government has doubled the police force, as has the state. The cops are everywhere. It is assumed by our elected officials that a strong police presence will serve as a deterrent. But for some, it makes us more paranoid seeing all those gun-totin’ men in uniform. Our Manzanillo government has a different way of looking at things, and elections are in July.
The extreme police presence is designed to make Mexican national tourists, as well as our local Mexican citizens feel safer. Unfortunately for some foreigners, it scares them into thinking that Manzanillo is a war zone. Quite the opposite, and as you read on, perhaps I’ll be able to dispel some common myths.

My first trip to Mexico was in 1970 in a ‘70 Chevy El Camino. It was a 2-week trip that took me clear to Mexico City and back to the Chicago suburbs. My husband (now, put an “ex” in front of it) and I had a blast! Did we worry about safety? Back in the 70’s it was hippies and blue jeans and freedom of expression. Flower power and adventure. Mexico was a country to be explored–an experience–with nothing familiar, not even the language. Especially the language! In Mexico, I felt like Alice, falling down the rabbit hole and finding herself in Wonderland!

Did anything bad happen? Not once. Well, we got lost repeatedly–maps of the country were sadly lacking back then, as were directional signs. With my totally worthless Spanish/English translation book, I asked questions, but never understood the answers. Ice was a necessity, but the only way you could get it was to spot an ice truck and follow it. We would hold out pesos in our hand, and the driver would take what he needed and break up a block of ice for us to put in our cooler.
When we came into a small town, we offered cokes and ice to its inhabitants–mostly kids, but some adults, who gathered around the El Camino like it was a space craft, and for them, I suppose it was. I spent lots of time taking their pictures with a Polaroid instant camera and giving the pictures away. The way Mexico used to be: Old adobe-over-hand-made brick, wooden doors, sod roof.
Many wonderful memories like these made me move to Mexico. From the first time in 1970 to 2009–almost 40 years–my personal safety has never been a concern. In fact, in 1982 the issue became: “How can I move to Mexico and make a living?” With each vacation to Mexico, the love affair with this beautiful country became more passionate, until I was consumed with desire to make the “off-again, on-again” relationship permanent.
My 5-year plan to move to Mexico took me first to live in Puerto Vallarta. Though there weren’t any safety concerns for me personally, there were some serious corruption issues, and I found it impossible to do business there.
What about corruption in Manzanillo and Colima? True, there is a “good ol’ boys club” of the old families of the area, but mostly, it is all about politics, and if you’re a foreigner, none of it matters to you. Living here as a retiree, or visiting as a tourist, you’ll never see it or be exposed to it. A policeman in Manzanillo, most likely the only government employee you’ll notice, is paid 3 times the Mexican national average cop’s salary, and orders are out that they will be fired if they take bribes. That doesn’t mean the occasional new cop on the block won’t try, but you probably won’t see him a few months from now because word will get back to his superiors.
Photos, right: New Security Complex and new Police Station

In Manzanillo, we have a number you can call to anonymously report a crime, or a corrupt police officer: 089 from any land line. You can report child abuse, espousal abuse, drug dealing, drug or alcohol abuse, theft, or even a belief that something is amiss. The response time in most cases is under 5 minutes. If you want to report a policeman for accepting a bribe, you will need to record his name, badge number, and license plate number of the patrol car or motorcycle. If you need help for any reason, such as you can’t speak Spanish, call Roberto Soberano on his cell 044-314-353-2059. Roberto is the “Guardian Angel” of Manzanillo, officially working for a local radio station, and he will look out for you. A cell phone is a very good investment, and if you find you travel through various towns a lot, it is good to have a business card from various lawyers in an address book, like I do, and be ready to call in the event of a dishonest cop, or an even bigger problem.

Teachers Resources

Here is a great article which includes some terrific sites to find online teaching English jobs.
We have had many inquiries both from our onsite students as well as our online student.
Enjoy.

What´s New at ITTO?

What do you mean, you haven´t checked? You have time and money to burn? Well, if not, then by all means read about our specials for all over the planet in TEFL Certificate Courses. We even have one you can take online.

www.teflcertificatecourses.com

What´s New at ITTO?

What do you mean, you haven´t checked? You have time and money to burn? Well, if not, then by all means read about our specials for all over the planet in TEFL Certificate Courses. We even have one you can take online.

www.teflcertificatecourses.com