Testimonial: learnTEFL.com - a good way to become TEFL certified

Even though I went to Teachers College at Columbia University, and I have experience teaching, I like to keep up-to-date on the latest teaching trends, methods and debates. Therefore, I decided to take an online course to become TEFL certified. TEFL stands for Teaching English to Foreign Learners. If you want to teach English to foreign students, this type of certification will help you greatly. I recently went on a trip to China and it became apparent to me that virtually every English center there requires TEFL certification.

If you want to go overseas and teach, I would highly recommend this course offered by https://learntefl.com/ They even have a job placement specialist who can help you a bit and answer any questions you might have. If you are a fluent English speaker, a good person, and you care about helping others through the field of education while experiencing other cultures, by all means become TEFL certified and get out there! You can have amazing experiences while helping folks.

Now, lots of folks who speak English believe that they can teach English to others without any special training, and if you look through classified ads at folks who offer English tutoring, many of them have not studied education and have not had teaching experience. It is a huge fallacy to assert that just because you can speak English you can teach English. A sound knowledge of English grammar is necessary as well as a knowledge of various teaching methods and materials that are effective. Frankly, a good teacher must also have certain character traits. I think a good teacher has to be patient but a bit assertive while always remaining positive and supportive.

So I recently completed a TEFL certification course through learnTEFL.com and I was quite satisfied. The course was actually more challenging than I thought it was going be, but anyone who is dedicated and serious about putting enough time into studying the lessons should be able to pass this course. It is a 150 hour course packed with thought-provoking lessons.

There are 12 modules with quizzes after each (except for the 12th), 3 assignments and 1 final exam. If you take this course, I would recommend that you keep a notebook and take notes of new terms or interesting concepts for each module, because the final exam is comprehensive and it really does a good job of testing the important points throughout the course. There is a lot to learn that can be applied to your teaching of English.

The course follows the Communicative Approach or the CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) approach. According to this approach grammar is important but it is in the service of communication or fluency. In fact, I liked many of the issues that they brought up while introducing this approach. For example, I have always wondered what the best approach would be if a student were speaking while making multiple grammar mistakes. According to this approach the teacher should allow the student to finish before going over the mistakes. Honestly, I am not sure I totally agree with that, but I did some research and it seems that if you allow a little time to pass before correcting an error, students are more predisposed to learn. So these folks are probably right after all.

Also I enjoyed reading about the difference between "prescriptive" and "descriptive" English instruction. "Descriptive" English instruction focuses on how people tend to speak English in the general population. "Prescriptive" English is the type of English that follows established grammar rules. For example, most English speakers use "if" incorrectly. They will say, "I don't know if I should wear a sweater today." This is "descriptive" English. But "if" really shouldn't be used this way. "If" should be used in conditional statements - "If it rains I will wear a hat." The word "whether" should be used when you are indicating a choice: "I don't know whether I should wear a sweater today." These folks do not force you to choose one approach over the other, but I sensed that they lean more toward "descriptive" English. I lean more toward "prescriptive" English since most of the foreign students I teach or tutor are professionals or students, and I feel they want to speak a high level, grammatically accurate type of English.

There are numerous fascinating issues addressed throughout the course - another would be motivation. There is a section where future English teachers are offered tips to help them motivate students who seem apathetic or unengaged. I created a formula long ago which goes: desire + confidence + focus = achievement. Unless a student is motivated he/she is simply not going to learn. 

Essentially, this course touches on numerous issues that are essential for a conscientious English teacher. Based on my experience, and I am not being compensated in any way for saying this, I would recommend that you check learnTEFL.com out. You'll even have your own experienced tutor/mentor to help you. Mine was such a sweet and kind person -  I am really grateful for her concern and support and assistance. 

Good luck!!!! Get TEFL certified and get out there and help people learn this amazing world language!!!!!!!!!!!!!   

57 million Americans have a side hustle.

Have you ever thought about starting your own small business while you still hold down a full time job?

Incredibly, 57 million Americans do this. As of last Saturday there were 327,355,053 Americans. So, roughly, 1 out of 5 Americans has a side job, which can also be called a side hustle.

to hustle = to work very hard
to hustle someone = to cheat a person out of money, to lie to a person to get money unfairly

So 'hustle' in a side hustle is used as a noun even though the word is used primarily as a verb.

Here is an interesting article about this trend in American life. What really seems to be interesting is that Americans are pursuing their side hustles primarily to make extra money, and not out of a sense of enjoyment or enrichment or passion. 

How about you? What kind of side hustle would you like to create and would it just be to make extra money?

The article:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/28/people-start-a-second-business-for-a-lot-of-reasons-but-mostly-its-this-one.html

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

a side business - to start something on the side means that you already are doing something important, but you want to create something smaller as well. So a side business is a small, extra business.

pursuing a passion - doing something because you love it or desire to do it

the plain and simple truth - the basic truth

the side gig - the side job, the side business, the side hustle; gig means job

a finding - a discovery

finances were the main driver - money was the primary motivation

escaping the rat race - in the 1960s young people in the USA coined (created) the term 'rat race'. Being a part of the rat race meant you were living like a rat in a highly competitive society, just working, working, working, competing, competing, competing and not think much about what you were doing or could be doing instead. You were racing through life like a rat, and not savoring and understanding and appreciating life like a human being. So many young people wanted to 'escape from the rat race' - they wanted to find different types of jobs or activities that would make them feel better and help them learn more or appreciate life more.

it makes sense - it can be easily understood

myriad aspects - many different parts of something

affiliate marketing - getting other people to assist you as affiliates (junior partners) and rewarding them when they make sales for your brand

would-be side hustlers - possible side hustlers

he cites - he refers to, he points to

to monetize and scale - to make money and grow

an undying passion project - a project for which your passion will be undying (your passion will not die)

a viable model - a possible model, a realistic model

one caveat - one warning. caveat comes from the Latin expression: Caveat emptor!!! = Buyer, beware!!! (This means that before you buy something you should be super careful.)

to fall into a trap - to make a common mistake, like walking into a trap that someone has set to catch an animal

a paradigm-shifting idea - an idea which changes everyone's perspective or belief about something. 

proliferation - a fast multiplication of something, when something multiplies quickly

to break new ground - to do something new

to be empowering - to make one feel stronger and more confident

a transition - a change

to be primed for something - to be ready for something

an entrepreneur - a business person