5/27/24, 11:54 PM Teacher Record-Teacher
Dashboard TEFL Certificates Study
Overview: Module 1
Unit 1: The TEFL World
Unit 1: The TEFL World
In this Unit, we will explore two very important elements. Knowledge and understanding of these elements will serve you well
on your TEFL journey.
Unit 1: The TEFL World: Questions
Unit 2: L1 and L2 The first of these elements relates to some specific characteristics of the English language.
Unit 2: L1 and L2: Questions
Unit 3: What makes a competent and… 1. Some Specific Characteristics of the English Language
Unit 3: What makes a competent and… Why would you want to learn about some specific characteristics of the English language? Well, we
imagine it’s quite helpful and interesting but there are other reasons.
Unit 4: Setting the stage
You may be sitting in the staffroom one day when, say, a native-Chinese teacher colleague asks you
Seating
this: What is special about the English language? How will you feel if you cannot answer this?
Classroom rules
Your colleagues-to-be in many countries will view you as an expert and will believe you know everything
Instruction-giving about the English language. Again, this question may come up in an advanced class.
Unit 4: Setting the stage: Questions
This has happened to us and it could easily happen to you. So, absorb this and it will serve two purposes: it
Unit 5: Icebreakers will provide help and interest for you, and it will get you out of a tricky situation.
Introduce your partner But there is also another critical reason. You need to be fully aware that there will be key differences in
language structures, grammar, vocabulary usage etc. in the native/first language of the learners you will be
Introduce your partner explained teaching, compared to your native English language.
Teacher Tic Tac Toe
You’ll have grasped the importance of this already if you have studied a foreign language at school or
Mingle / Find someone who... university, or if you are a seasoned traveller who likes to pick up a bit of the native language of the country
you are visiting.
Mingle / Find someone who... explai…
Introducing warmer questions
Specific Characteristics
Unit 5: Icebreakers: Questions
Here are some specific characteristics of the English Language:
Unit 6: Student Feedback
Unit 6: Student Feedback: Questions Fairly easy to learn
English is one of the simplest and easiest natural languages in the world.
Of course, the concept of easiness is relative, and it depends on which language a learner knows already. However, the
concept of simple is undeniable. English is a fairly easy language to learn, understand and speak when compared to very
complex languages such as Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and Japanese.
Latin alphabet
The English language uses the Latin alphabet, the most universal, simple and short alphabet (only the Greek alphabet is
shorter and simpler). In addition, in English, the Latin alphabet presents its most clean form as a true alphabet with only 26
basic letters.
Its simple inflection
Inflection is the name for the extra letter or letters added to nouns, verbs and adjectives in their different grammatical forms,
e.g. cat, cats; eat, eats; big, bigger.
English is considered a weakly inflected language when compared to, say, French or Russian. Its nouns have only traces of
inflection (plurals, the pronouns), and its regular verbs have only four forms, e.g. look, looks, looked, looking.
Even for irregular verbs, there is almost no variation in person (except the 3rd person singular in the present tense, e.g. I eat,
you eat, she eats). The English language can indicate the relationship of words in a sentence with only the minimum of
change in their structure. There are other languages which do this but this is a strong characteristic of English.
Its receptiveness
A major characteristic of English language is its receptiveness to accepting and adopting words from other languages. Here
are a few examples from Spanish:
alligator from el lagarto meaning the lizard
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