[Who is my English teacher?]
[What is a TEFL Certificate?]
[What is the 'teaching practice component' of a TEFL certificate course?]
[How can teachers who don't speak Russian teach '0' level students to speak English?]
[What is TEFL Methodology?]
[What are the advantages of having a native English teacher?]
[Why do teachers use audiocassettes in class?]
[Which English course is right for me?]
[How often and for how long should I study English?]

Who is my English teacher?
All Language Link teachers are native English speaking, university graduates and hold a special internationally recognized certificate/ diploma in the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language. Most readers are familiar with the type of training and education that a Russian, English teacher receives. Less familiar is the training received by native English teachers. As with everything else, this can vary greatly. Worldwide, approximately 67% of all native English teachers are without qualifications. In Russia, the situation is no different. Of the remaining 33%, the vast majority possess either a Certificate in TESOL validated by Trinity College, London or a Certificate in CELTA validated by the University of Cambridge (previously known as CTEFLA). The British Council considers these certificates to be a minimum requirement for those wishing to teach English to speakers of other languages. No other certificate is recognized by the British Council.

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What is a TEFL Certificate?
A TEFL Certificate is a specialized certificate given to those who have completed a prescribed course of study in the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language. Graduates of such programmes have studied a range of teaching-related subjects such as phonetics, grammar, morphology, and methodological studies. The heart of a TEFL programme, however, remains the 'teaching practice component' wherein a teacher has ample opportunity to practice those techniques and strategies used to enhance a student's ability to learn English.

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What is the 'teaching practice component' of a TEFL certificate course?
The 'teaching practice component' is considered the most essential part of a TEFL Certification Programme. Indeed, the importance of it is realized when it is understood that a prospective TEFL teacher begins teaching English to foreigners on the second day of the course. Though new to teaching English as a foreign language, the teacher must confront an authentic, multi-lingual class of language learners. This serves several purposes. First, it allows the teacher the opportunity to experience first-hand the difficulties involved in teaching a class of language learners whose native language is not English. As the class is multi-national, the teacher must 'struggle' to make him or herself understood. At first, this is extremely difficult. Unable to speak their language, the teacher must rely upon various techniques which have been proven effective in helping students to understand English even though they may never have heard it before. Many of these techniques involve physical demonstration, placing language into context and repetition. In other words, EFL teachers are 'actors'; they don't just speak to the class, they 'act out' the words so that comprehension is made easier.