120-Hour TESOL Course for Online English Teachers

How Do I Gain Access to Supplementary Resources?

If you wish to gain access to dozens of free resources, tips regarding employment opportunities and other cool stuff, join our language teacher community (the link is in "resources"). You will sign up to Teach Ahead for free, create a login and be able to access supplementary materials as you proceed through the course.

Overview of the Module

In this lecture, you will be introduced to the structure of the course, the course materials and our expectations of you as a student-teacher in ELT 1010. Contact us at weteachahead@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Module #1 Resources

• Teach Ahead's Language Teacher Community: Join the community to network, develop and grow as a professional teacher. Create a login to gain access to dozens of language teaching materials.

• Unit #1 Slides: 93 slides covering Module #1 to Module #10.

• Jarvis & Achilleos (2013) gives a comprehensive introduction to Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL).

• Course Breakdown: An overview of time spent on and concepts learned in each module.

• ELT 2010: Introduction to Corrective Feedback for Language Teachers: A free course mentioned in the lecture.

This short tutorial shows you how to navigate Teach Ahead's website.

Overview of the Module

In this lecture, you will be introduced to language teacher pedagogy. You will also learn about pressing questions and current trends in the research.

Module #2 Resources

• Teach Ahead's Language Teacher Community: Join the community to network, develop and grow as a professional teacher. Create a login to gain access to dozens of language teaching materials.

• Useful Research Journals for Language Teachers (Teach Ahead) - If you are interested in language education as a field of study, this blog post could help you find scholarly, peer-reviewed articles in the field of ALA.

Overview of the Module

In this lecture, we will introduce you to a few of the many acronyms and pedagogical concepts you will learn in this course. Don't worry. You don't need to learn them all! Here, we will discuss TESOL, TEFL and TESL along with their similarities and differences. Check out our blog post about TESOL, TEFL and TEFL in the "resources" section.

Module #3 Resources

• Teach Ahead's Language Teacher Community: Join the community to network, develop and grow as a professional teacher. Create a login to gain access to dozens of language teaching materials.

• TESOL, TESL and TEFL (Teach Ahead) - This blog post could help you understand the similarities and differences between these types of language teacher education.

Overview of the Module

In this lecture, you will introduced to online pedagogy and the key trends in today's world of education. We will connect it to language pedagogy.

While finding the overlap, we will also identify how online language pedagogy could differ from in-person language pedagogy. This will help set the stage for your development in this course, which is not restricted to online language teaching, but gives more attention to teaching online than other TESOL certificates do.

Check out our blog post about 10 ways teaching languages online is different than teaching languages in person. The link can be found in the "resources" section.

Module #4 Resources

• Kessler (2018) - This article could help you understand trends in online language teaching.

Overview of the Module

In this lecture, you will introduce the concept of reflective teaching and how important this is as an online language teacher.

It was a conscious decision to start this 120-hour TESOL by focusing on you, the teacher, rather than focusing on the students and how they acquire or learn languages. The reason why is so that you could tap into your experiences and beliefs and then apply them to the new concepts introduced throughout our course.

As mentioned earlier, feel free to follow (for free) to our language teacher community where we track and share our growth as language teachers (the link is in "resources").

You will also find a link to a free reflective journal which you could print out to track your development. This could be found in the language teacher resource repository (the link is in "resources").

Module #5 Resources

• 10 Ways Teaching a Language Online Could Be Different Than Teaching a Language In Person - This article could help you orient yourself with online language pedagogy.

• Teach Ahead's English Teacher Community - This is a space where you can network with and learn from other online English teachers. You are encouraged to submit responses from the course to the blog forums.

• Language Teacher Resource Repository - This is a growing collection of resources which usually have a cost. However, you have free access to these resources as an element of this TESOL course.
  You will need a login before you can access the repository. So, proceed through the previous link  (Teach Ahead's English Teacher Community) to create a login.

Overview of the Module

Congrats! You're halfway through this section.

In this lecture, you will introduce the concept of affective teaching and how important this is as an online language teacher.

As mentioned in the previous module, it was a conscious decision to start this 120-hour TESOL by focusing on you, the teacher, rather than focusing on the students and how they acquire or learn languages. The reason why is so that you could tap into your experiences and beliefs and then apply them to the new concepts introduced throughout our course.

All that happens in your career starts and ends with you. As mentioned earlier, feel free to follow (for free) to our language teacher community where we share mindfulness tips for language teachers (the link is in "resources").

Module #6 Resources

• MacIntyre et al. (2020) - This article could expose you to the challenges of transitioning to online language teaching. This online TESOL course has taken findings such as those from this study into consideration to better equip teachers with the tools they need to be successful.

• Teach Ahead's English Teacher Community - This is a space where you can network with and learn from other online English teachers. You are encouraged to submit responses from the course to the blog forums.

Overview of the Module

Now that we have begun developing productive strategies which will ideally help you to both survive and thrive in this profession, we will turn to begin working towards building your first document which could be included in the professional dossier that you submit your employers (even before obtaining your TESOL certificate).

This document is a language teacher philosophy.

This will help inform how you build your resume and cover letters. It will inform your pedagogy and career choices. You will begin to get a sense of your teacher identity and the first of three parts which will contribute to the first draft of your language teacher philosophy which you will submit at the end of Section #1 (in Module #10).

Module #7 Resources

• Pennington and Richards (2016) - This article introduces you to research on language teacher identity. This may give you more avenues to explore if interested.

Overview of the Module

In this lecture, you will be introduced to the concept of language teaching style and the components that make up your teaching style. Of course, you may not have taught languages (formally) before, so this could be an opportunity for you to reflect on your experience as a learner and to imagine the possibilities for you as a language educator.

This will give you a sense of how your beliefs (Module #9) and identity (Module #7) could inform and be informed by your language teaching style.

Overview of the Module

In this lecture, we will complete the introduction to your language teacher philosophy. We have touched on your language teacher identity and your language teaching style. Now, we will turn to your language teacher beliefs.

As we approach the end of Section #1 and the 25% point in this course, our advice to you is to not treat this as some sort of be-all and end-all of your teaching philosophy development. This course is cyclical, and we will return to your philosophy as we touched on concepts in Section #2, Section #3, Section #4, Section #5 and Section #6.

Instead, feel free to make mistakes in your preliminary beliefs. Make bold choices and be prepared to have your beliefs proven wrong (or right) as we explore research later in this course.

Check out the language teacher beliefs questionnaire which can be found in the Language Teacher Resource Repository (the link is in "Resources").

Module #9 Resources

• Teach Ahead's language teacher resource repository gives you access to dozens of resources you may access to help develop as an educator or to use in your language classroom.

• Gilakjani and Sabouri (2017)- This article gives you an overview of research into language teachers' beliefs.

Overview of the Module

Welcome to the end of Section #1!

Congratulations on making it this far in the 120-Hour Online TESOL Certificate course.

Listening to so many lectures and completing so many activities could be mentally and emotionally taxing. However, this TESOL is meant to resemble what you would experience in an in-person online-synchronous TESOL program. So, you're getting what you signed up for, and it's paying off! 

In this lecture, you will be introduced to the Section #1 cumulating assignment. You will be submitting the first draft of your language teacher philosophy. We call it a first draft because you will continue contributing to your language teacher philosophy throughout the course and your career.

Module #10 Resources

• Teach Ahead's guide to creating a language teacher philosophy gives you examples and a step-by-step tutorial to establishing and developing your educator philosophy.

• Payant (2017) - This article goes over the pros and cons of writing a language teacher philosophy along with recommendations for what should be included in a language teacher philosophy.

Overview of the Module

Welcome to Section #2!

In this section, you will learn about the theoretical underpinnings of language acquisition, language learning and language teaching.

This will include the following:

1. Approaches to ALA

2. ALA / ALL theories

3. Language teaching methods

4. Language teacher terminology

5. Language teacher lesson structures

This module will focus on 4 approaches to understanding ALA and ALL:

1. Behaviourism

2. Innatism

3. Cognitivism

4. Socio-interactionism

Module #11 Resources

• Unit #2 Slides: 74 slides covering Module #11 to Module #15.

• Teach Ahead's Language Teacher Community: Join the community to network, develop and grow as a professional teacher. Create a login to gain access to dozens of language teaching materials.

• Teach Ahead's guide to understanding these four approaches to ALA could help you comprehend the similarities and differences between behaviourism, innatism, cognitivism and socio-interactionism.

• Assaiqeli (2013) reviews a couple of the approaches to ALA that are of focus in this module.

This quiz will check your understanding of the content of the lecture for Module #11.

Overview of the Module

Our general understanding of ALA/ALL approaches are influenced by more specific theories.

This module will introduce you to 20+ ALA and ALL theories. Most of these theories could apply to or are influenced by multiple approaches learned in Module #11.

Module #12 Resources

• Teach Ahead's guide to understanding common ALA theories could help you to understand common ALA and ALL theories.

This quiz will check your understanding of the content of the lecture for Module #12.

Overview of the Module

ALA/ALL approaches (see Module #11) and theories (see Module #12) which come from research in linguistics and applied linguistics have led to the development of methods which guide language instruction in the classroom.

From these, we can craft language lessons, curricula and teaching materials. In this module, we review 7 language teaching methods:

1. Grammar Translation

2. Direct

3. Audio-lingual

4. TPR

5. CLT

6. TBLT

7. CBI / CLIL

Module #13 Resources

• Celce-Murcia (2011) - This article goes over a couple of the approaches explored in this module while reviewing the theoretical underpinnings of the methods.

• Kostadinovska-Stojchevska (2019) - This article gives an overview of teacher talk time and student talk time. These are two core concepts in CLT and other similar methods. Reading this will help you to prepare for Module #15 on language lesson structures.

This quiz will check your understanding of the content of the lecture for Module #13.

Overview of the Module

Do you have your pen and notebook handy? You'll need them.

This module is a rapid-fire round of useful language teacher terminology.

This is a list of terms that you will likely want to or need to understand and use in the first 1-3 years as a language teacher. Don't worry. You don't need to remember all of them now. Prioritize, plan and learn consistently.

Module #14 Resources

• Teach Ahead's big list of 200+ terms for language teachers will help you to better understand the terms presented in the lecture (and more!).

• Badjabi (2020) and Hatipoglu Kavanoz (2006) - tying together research on ALA approaches/schools, core theories, teaching methods and lesson structures (next module), the concepts of learner-centredness and teacher-centredness are key ideas in education and help guide the pedagogical philosophy of many teachers. Take this transition module as an opportunity to take a deeper look at these terms. Read at least one of these articles.

• Spada and Lightbown (2008) and Raymond & Rubadeau (2010) provide insight into another pair of key terms in language teaching: focus on form (form-focused instruction) and focus on meaning (meaning-focused instruction). Take this transition module as an opportunity to take a deeper look at these terms. Read both of these articles, but it is recommended to read Raymond & Rubadeau (2010) first.

Overview of the Module

Now that you have learned about language teaching methods, you could begin to create lessons with a research-backed, theory-based approach following a tried-and-tested structure.

In this module, you will learn about three common language lesson structures:

1. PPP

2. TBLT

3. The Flipped Classroom

Module #15 Resources

• Limitations of PPP (Bui & Newton, 2021) - This article details a few possible limitations of PPP.

• Criado (2013) - This article gives a brief overview of the potential pros and cons of PPP.

• Carless (2009) - This article compares and contrasts PPP with TBLT.

• Motlagh et al. (2014) - This article gives an overview of TBLT.

• Ozdamli and Asiksoy (2016) - This article gives an overview of Flipped Classroom methodology.

• There are 10 lesson plans based on the PPP structure, 10 lesson plans based on the TBLT structure and 10 lesson plans based on the FP structure for you to better understand these lesson structures.

This quiz will check your understanding of the content of the lecture for Module #15.

Overview of the Module

Welcome to Section #3: Applying Knowledge!

In this section, we will look at how the pedagogical knowledge and skills you have developed could be applied to different language learning contexts, particularly in the online format.

We will start by looking at pedagogical assessment. In this module, you will learn about seven types of assessment:

1. Diagnostic

2. Formative

3. Summative

4. Performance-based

5. Portfolio

6. Dynamic

7. Curriculum-based

Module #16 Resources

• This blog post will help you to contextualize the seven types of pedagogical assessment which are explained in the lecture.

This quiz will check your understanding of the content of the lecture for Module #16.

Overview of the Module

To better understand the needs, wants and objectives of your students, it's helpful to gain an understanding of the evolution and regulation of the English language. This will allow us to understand the role of standardization, and how standard norms could be more or less important to a student's development depending on the context. This could also determine how much the teacher focuses on accuracy vs. fluency or meaning vs. form.

Module #17 Resources

• Milroy (2001) - This article provides a critical take on language standardization, citing many potential drawbacks and challenges that it may cause.

• Ramlan (2018) - This article provides insight into a few of the affordances and practical uses of language standardization.

• Nwoko (2020) and Bakka (2018) - Read at least one of these articles to better understand the differences between prescriptivism and descriptivism. Think about and consider researching how these concepts relatd to language standardization and native speakerism.

• Dazdarevic et al. (2015) - Follow up on learning about descriptivism, the corpus-based approach to language teaching could help to teach language is more of a descriptive and less of a prescriptive manner (if this fits in with your beliefs).

Overview of the Module

In this lecture, you will learn about one of the most widely recognized language assessment tools: the CEFR. You will also learn about the Canadian Language Benchmarks, which are pertinent to the Canadian context. This will ideally prompt you to seek out the resources which help you to regulate and assess language in your specific context (if there is one).

Module #18 Resources

• The CEFR is a language assessment tool and measure of language proficiency which is used in many language institutions around the world.

• The CLB is a language assessment tool and measure of language proficiency which is typically used in Canada.

Overview of the Module

In this lecture, you will be presented with a few different considerations for material selection. This will give you more of a nuanced and critical lens for material selection, rather than only focusing on the CEFR benchmark (eg. "A2 learning materials"). You will also be supplied with dozens of tried-and-tested teaching materials for you to use with your language students.

Module #19 Resources

• Tomlinson (2014) - This article gives an overview of different types of language teaching materials, citing popular uses for each.

Overview of the Module

At Teach Ahead, we don't believe in a one-size-fits-all approach. The usefulness of different elements of this course is dependent on the context of you, the pre-service teacher.

Similarly, your teaching approach, methods and materials will only be as effective as they are appropriate for your student's contextual needs, wants and objectives. This module will give you an overview of context-based language teaching before diving into specific contexts. 

Module #20 Resources

• Belcher (2009) - This article gives you an introduction to English for Specific Purposes.

• Campion (2016) - This article sheds light on a few key differences between EAP and General English.

• This blog post summarizes and contextualizes common types of language classes such as General English, ESP, ETP and more.

Overview of the Module

Many of you will be teaching one-on-one lessons at some point in your online language teaching career. This module will introduce you to this context and provide a few key considerations.

Module #21 Resources

• This blog post goes over the realities of online, one-on-one language teaching, particularly on platforms such as Preply and iTalki.

• This Conversational English syllabus has been tried and tested by hundreds of online teachers. It's typically sold by Teach Ahead for USD 9.99, but as part of your purchase of this course, you get it for free!

Overview of the Module

The virtual world offers many opportunities for group-based language teaching. This module will introduce you to this context and provide a few key considerations.

Overview of the Module

Many self-employed teachers on platforms such as iTalki and Preply, along with teachers employed by institutions are tasked with teaching EGP: English for General Purposes / General English. This module will introduce you to considerations which are unique to this context.

Module #23 Resources

• This blog post goes over the realities of online, one-on-one language teaching, particularly on platforms such as Preply and iTalki.

• This General English syllabus has been tried and tested by hundreds of online teachers. It's typically sold by Teach Ahead for USD 29.99, but as part of your purchase of this course, you get it for free!

Overview of the Module

Teachers who wish to teach at the post-secondary level may find themselves teaching English for Specific Purposes. This module will introduce you to different types of ESP, such as English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and English for Occupational Purposes (EOP).

Module #24 Resources

• This blog post helps summarize and contextualize ESP.

• This Interview Preparation syllabus has been tried and tested by hundreds of online teachers. It's typically sold by Teach Ahead for USD 9.99, but as part of your purchase of this course, you get it for free!

Overview of the Module

Whether it be online or in-person, English proficiency testing offers vast employment opportunities to certified teachers such as yourselves. IELTS, TOEIC, TOEFL and Cambridge English prep. are great ways to gain experience as a language teacher, even if you don't have many years of experience. This module will introduce you to ETP: English for Test Preparation.

Module #25 Resources

• This blog post helps summarize and contextualize ETP.

• This IELTS Speaking and Writing Preparation syllabus has been tried and tested by hundreds of online teachers. It's typically sold by Teach Ahead for USD 9.99, but as part of your purchase of this course, you get it for free!

• Here is a link to Teach Ahead's free Introduction to Corrective Feedback for Language Teachers Course.

Overview of the Module

Welcome to Section #4: Finding Employment!

This is finally the part that many of you have been waiting eagerly for because we will be giving you tips and tricks on how to find employment as a language teacher in this section.

This module kicks off the section by introducing you to the language teaching economy. We give you a few statistics related to investments in the language teaching industry to give you an idea of the direction that the sector is heading in.

Module #26 Resources

• Litzenberg are Fraser (2023) discusses precarity in language teaching.

• Are you interested in joining our team of English teachers? Consider filling out this form and we'll get back to you if you qualify.

Overview of the Module

Teaching on a language education platform is the first step for many new language teachers. The convenience and ease of access is a clear selling point for many teachers. Depending on their financial circumstance (eg. expenses) compared to how much they make online, teaching on a platform could be a primary source of income. This module will introduce you to a few common language teaching platforms, such as iTalki and Preply.

Overview of the Module

Now that we've done some research on language education platforms, it's time to prepare a professional dossier and think about applying to positions.

This module is a very rough overview of the application process for popular language education platforms. The job opening status and requirements of these platforms change over time, so it's a good idea to check the blog posts in the resources which provide up-to-date information on these developments.

Overview of the Module

Many language teachers choose to work for a language education employer instead of working on a language education platform. Many language teachers do both simultaneously.

This module gives you an overview of the kinds of language education employers that you may encounter throughout your career. The pros and cons are deeply context-based, so be sure to consult our supplementary resources and research the employment conditions in your region.

Module #29 Resources

• Teach Ahead's Ultimate Language Teacher Job Board includes links to job boards from around the world.

Overview of the Module

This module wraps up Section #4 by discussing the typical process of applying to language education institutions. We also shed light on how this may be different from language education platforms so that you can feel prepared as you go through the application process. 

Module #30 Resources

• Are you interested in joining our team of English teachers? Consider filling out this form and we'll get back to you if you qualify.