Free Webinar Workshops
Stay Tuned for Upcoming Webinars
You’ll learn…
how to make lessons fun & effective online
how to get your students to speak and keep speaking
strategies for marketing your online teaching and building your business as a freelance online teacher
how to avoid common online teaching mistakes
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“I learned so much and had a very successful lesson this week from the tips I gained from attending your webinars- thank you!”
“I use zoom to teach my students and I always look forward to developing my skills and knowledge. Your webinars can’t be missed!”
Latest Blog Post
How to teach grammar: text-based lessons
Last week on the blog, we walked you through how to teach grammar using a test-teach-test framework.
In this post, we’ll look at an alternative structure for a grammar lesson: a text-based framework. We’ll show you exactly how to present contextualized grammar through a text, plus how to find and adapt the text to make it suit your lesson needs.
Be Your Own Grammar Guru
the Online Grammar course Specifically for ESL Teachers
Grammar. If you've just started teaching, you may have learned this the hard way: being native English speakers doesn't mean we actually know anything about it.
Are you...
about to take the CELTA course and in need of some solid grammar knowledge before you start?
fresh off the CELTA course and feeling like your head is still spinning? (past perfect continuous what now?)
tired of feeling like a deer in the headlights every time a student asks you a question?
genuinely into English grammar but in need of a better/ simpler way to explain it to others?
This is the course for you! We all have to start somewhere; this course is everything you need to build your grammar confidence and finally feel like you really know what you’re talking about.
Expand your horizons
Weekly Newsletter
Looking for new ideas? Tired of digging through course books to find fresh activities for your lessons? Get teaching tips, downloadable resources, and inside information delivered straight to your inbox in the weekly email newsletter. You’ll get a wealth of info every Wednesday.
Ready, Set, CELTA
Free CELTA Prep email course
You got accepted into the CELTA course. Congrats! And now you're wondering what you can do to prepare. Because you've heard it's intense. Like... really intense. And that there's no guarantee you'll pass. Take it from a couple of CELTA trainers- the rumors are true. But you've come to the right place! As CELTA trainers, we've helped candidates through the ups and downs of the course, from day 1 to day 20. We've seen all the successes and all the freak outs. And now we've put together this little course- totally free via email- so you can start CELTA with a head start.
TOEFL BLOG
Need strategies for Teaching the TOEFL Exam?
Your student has just asked you for help in preparing for the TOEFL exam, or perhaps your boss has asked if you can start teaching an exam prep class. If you haven't taught for the TOEFL before, or if your first reaction was, "the what exam?" then you'll want to read up on what the exam entails, how to teach TOEFL speaking, writing, reading, and listening, and most importantly, how to help your students kill it on exam day.
Online English Teacher
The TEFL Training and Certification Course specifically for Online English Teaching
Lesson Plan Library
Ready-made, student-centered online lesson plans - all materials included.
cover sheets with summary, aims, and links to all materials
detailed, step-by-step procedures
well-designed materials: colorful, student-centered presentations, interactive activities, and built-in answer keys
clarification slides with all relevant information about meaning, form, and pronunciation - even CCQs are included!
practical solutions to any potential challenges
“One’s destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things. ”
Podcast
Expand your Horizons
Because we’re continually in awe of just how big and small the world really is, we’re bringing you stories of teachers living their dreams. Whether traveling the world or working at home in their local communities, they all infuse the daily grind of teaching with a little extra inspiration.
About Me
Welcome!
We're happy you're here.
We created TEFL Horizons as a way to share our passion for ESL training and teaching. As lovers of language and communication, we started as ESL teachers and have since worked in a variety of countries and contexts, in everything from exam preparation to ESL career coaching. As CELTA trainers, we’ve also helped hundreds of teachers develop their skills, and we delight in hearing from our graduates around the world who are living their dreams.
Our careers in TEFL have taken us around the globe, introduced us to incredible teachers and learners in all walks of life, and solidified our respect for language as a bridge across borders, a breaker of barriers, and a builder of true connections between people from all backgrounds.
This is a place where teachers can hone their craft and students can develop their skills. This is a place to share ideas, ask questions, and grow in your development as a teacher or learner. We offer this place as a map to guide you to the goals on your horizon.
Lauren Harrington
With almost twenty years of experience teaching and training everywhere from Taipei to Transylvania (for real!), Lauren has had her fair share of notable ESL experiences. She was once invited to give a "small presentation" in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, only to find, upon arrival, that she would actually be speaking in a gigantic, packed auditorium-- on national television. She went with the flow and chalked it up to another example of the maxim that a good English teacher is ready for anything.
While her favorite place to be is in the classroom, Lauren also has a passion for materials and curriculum design as well as all things visual. Between teaching, training, and traveling, she finds time to practice her photography skills. She particularly enjoys shooting her favorite subject: vegan cuisine.
Shannon Felt
As a lover of literature and grammar, Shannon soon found that teaching English was just as much fun as studying it. That realization sparked a career that has taken her from Addis Ababa to Budapest. Even after more than ten years of English teaching and training, she still never gets tired of a good pun. While she relishes all aspects of her work in the classroom, she particularly enjoys helping teachers and students with exam preparation and has a knack for improving scores on the writing sections.
Shannon can often be found indulging her addictions to chocolate and Turkish coffee, both outside and inside the classroom.
Contact Us
We'd love to hear from you! Feel free to reach out with questions or comments.
If you're interested in services such as coaching, training, or private tutoring, you can also inquire here about availability. Just fill out the form below and be sure to include the service you're interested in under the "subject" section (i.e. One-on-One Training for TOEFL Exam Prep/ Online Grammar Tutoring/ etc). We're looking forward to working with you.