There are plenty of reasons to take a TEFL certification course.

Even if a TEFL certificate isn’t a legal requirement, most employers require it.

You’ll also receive great job support and get introduced to like-minded people who hope to find their first TEFL job overseas.

But what will you learn on an internationally validated TEFL certification course such as the one TEFL Campus offers?

The answer is simple: plenty. More specifically, here are 5 ‘How to’ lessons you’ll learn while taking a TEFL certification course.

1. How to minimize teacher talk time

2. How to maximize student talk time

First two go hand-in-hand: minimizing teacher talk time and maximizing student talk time.

Both of these principles are absolutely core components of modern TEFL methods. TEFL is not a lecture and students need to participate. We are not teaching history, or mathematics, or civics. We’ve got to get our students communicating in the class.

It seems simple, but it is harder than you think. You’ve got to have other components like asking clear questions, staying relevant to the topic, not correcting each and every mistake, and keeping a good enough pace to keep your students’ attention, but not too fast to distract them.

You must also be able to get as many students talking as possible during student centered activities, where the attention is off of the teacher, and we’re really focused on getting everybody talking as much as possible.

3. How to demonstrate

The best activities are meaningless unless the teacher knows how to demonstrate them.

We have to stay away from verbal explanations because they literally get lost in translation.

Basically, the premise here is that you have to show, not tell. This is something we focus on over and over again during a month long course, because it’s something that is critical to understanding our role as an TEFL teacher.

4. How to organize the board

Until technology eliminates our need for a white board (or even a chalk board) teachers have to be able to use the board effectively.

It’s a central piece of our classroom, and we have to know how to organize our teaching points by using things such as columns, mind maps and diagrams.

We can also use summary tables, even color to good effect. All of this is great practice that you’ll get while doing your observed teaching practice.

And again, organizing the board is absolutely critical to a good EFL lesson.

5. How to maintain interest

Just like the best activities mean nothing if you can’t demonstrate them, the best lessons are meaningless unless you can maintain your students’ interests.

You’ve got to teach grammar without teaching boring grammar principles.

You’ve got to keep lessons relevant to the students’ lives, letting them know how important this new stuff is, and how useful it is in their everyday lives.

We want to be able to create this seamless flow of a lesson and keep a good pace. Finally, keeping the fun factor alive, and having a good time in the classroom will ensure students are paying attention.

In conclusion…

these are just a few of the critical skills that you’ll need to learn about before you’re entering the EFL classroom for the first time.

You can learn about this stuff in online courses, and through books, but you’re never going be able to duplicate the practice that you get while doing an onsite TEFL certificate course.

Getting input from the lecturers and getting good advice from experienced teachers cannot be duplicated through anything other than onsite TEFL training.

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