TalktoCanada works.  It allows students to TALK and LEARN in a variety of ways that STICK — and that are useful.  When students say that they are confident in our methods and pleased with their outcomes — I know I am standing behind something that is for real.

With the changing ways of the world — everything towards technical and internet — e-learning is something that has taken a HUGE leap, and TalktoCanada is a step in the right direction.

I encourage you to take a step in the right direction with TalktoCanada!

http://www.talktocanada.com/individual-training/user-fees/

We have a lot of beginner students coming through our program here at TalktoCanada wanting to become expert English speakers.  They generally contact us the same way and tell us their goals which are very similar to the vast majority of our students — which is to speak as well as a native speaker.  Students need to change their idea of success when they are first starting out.  Instead of asking how fast or quickly they can become a fluent English speaker, they should be asking how long will it take to move to the next level.  For a beginner speaker this would mean no longer being a beginner but having a novice-intermediate understanding of English.  I am not saying that students shouldn’t strive to become very good at English, but take it one step at a time.  Like a baby learning to crawl and then eventually learning to walk…rarely do babies skip a step in development.  During your English learning don’t expect to  become an expert quickly, this takes time, patience and perseverance.   Our online English program can definitely help somebody but if you don’t have time, patience and perseverance, the TalktoCanada program won’t get you very far.

So when your serious about improving your English, focus on something within reach and which is achievable as well as realistic.  This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t focus on becoming an advanced speaker, just don’t forget like a baby you need to crawl before you can walk or like riding a bike, you need to start with training wheels.

Students who do register for just a 1 hour trial lesson, are usually very pleased with the results and we enjoy an over 90% registration rate after the trial lesson.  This goes to show you that a lot students are now seeing the possibilities and quality that can be obtained through an online English training company.

So if your on the fence and not sure about online English language learning with TalktoCanada.com the trial lesson is a great chance for you to test out our services without making a commitment.  One lesson will give you enough information to make an informed decision about our services, so I highly recommend you visit the link below to get started.

http://www.talktocanada.com/individual-training/user-fees/

A lot of our current students were just like you before they tried online learning.  They weren’t sure about TalktoCanada.com and they weren’t sure we could do what we said we could do.   Please register for our 1 hour trial lesson today and let us convince you that we are the right solution for your English learning needs.

Laura McCusker

Hey there, I’m Laura and although I’ve been lucky to live in Northern Ontario and British Columbia, the UK and also Taiwan, I currently live in my hometown of Hamilton, On. I guess you could say my house is multi-national as my dog was rescued in Taiwan and my boyfriend is Irish. I love learning about other cultures and working at TTC offers this unique advantage. My favourite travelling experience has to be Indonesia, which is not only beautiful but has fabulous people and truly smells like paradise with all the spices. I hope that one day I can make the trip again. I think people would describe me as hard-working, compassionate and creative as I’m always doing photography, cooking and even sewing. I love the summer and like to be outdoors as much as possible either with friends or just relaxing. (Even though I love reading….I am taking a break as I’ve spent the last few years reading nothing but textbooks!)

Being happy is really important and so is being yourself…honesty plays a big role in my life.

Dawna Hung

It is unrealistic to assume that employees will take it upon themselves and enroll in an English course – outside of working hours, and out of their own pocket no less.  As it is also a misconception to believe that everyone in business has a functional level of English.

There are many language training providers out there – face to face – telephone training – and e-learning.  All offer a different approach and cater to different groups in different ways.  As a company, you need to decide what your goals are and how you are best able to achieve them.

In this 4 part series I will go over the different aspects of corporate language training to help you understand the different aspects and importance of selecting the appropriate corporate language training providers for your employees.

Have a look at these previous blogs to get an idea about how TalktoCanada.com can meet your corporate training needs:

http://www.talktocanada.com/2010/05/getting-to-know-talktocanada-com-how-do-we-teach-english-online/

http://www.talktocanada.com/2009/11/how-talktocanada-com-makes-online-english-learning-personal/

http://www.talktocanada.com/2009/12/part-v-using-the-dogme-approach-in-group-lessons-putting-a-name-to-the-methodologies-that-talktocanada-com-uses-to-teach-esl-online/

Before we start training companies and students in English, they have a very common and similar question.  The question goes something like this, “How do you teach English?” The answer typically goes the same way.  TalktoCanada.com will help you improve your English by teaching you exactly what you want to learn.  Since starting TalktoCanada.com, we have trained all of our teaching staff to center around the idea of asking the student exactly what they want.  Most students know what they want.   The most common things are; business English, test preparation (TOEFL/IELTS), conversational English skills or vocabulary building.  Sometimes a student doesn’t have anything particular that they want to focus on — this is also a great opportunity to touch on everything and determine which areas need the most work.  Usually when students don’t know what they want they usually need help with their confidence.  Confidence is a big concern for a lot of 2nd language speakers and by working with a tutor you have the opportunity to talk, practice and make mistakes in a non-threatening environment.

Depending on the type of student  you are, beginner, novice, intermediate or advanced, we will work with you to improve all the areas that you feel you need help with.

If your looking for more detailed information about our teaching methods I suggest you read the following blog posts below:

Part I: The Basics of Dogme – Putting a name to the methodologies that TalktoCanada.com uses to teach ESL online
Part II – Key Principles of the Dogme Language Learning Approach – Putting a name to the methodologies that TalktoCanada.com uses to teach ESL online
Part III – “To Structure or not to Structure… that is the question….” – Putting a name to the methodologies that TalktoCanada.com uses to teach ESL online
Part IV: Cookie Cutter Language Learning – Putting a Name to the methodologies that TalktoCanada.com Uses
Part VI – Modifying the Dogme approach to accommodate your students’ needs – Putting a name to the methodologies that TalktoCanada.com uses to teach ESL online
Part V – Using the Dogme Approach in group lessons – Putting a name to the methodologies that TalktoCanada.com uses to teach ESL online

Teacher with TalktoCanada.com since 2010

My name is Jenn Foldi and I was raised and currently reside in Ontario, Canada.  I attended Wilfrid Laurier University and obtained a B.A. in Contemporary Studies, as well as, a minor in Psychology.  I enjoy traveling internationally because I like to experience and gain a better understanding of the world we live in.  In my spare time, I like listening to music, spending time with friends, and going for hikes with my dog.  I also enjoy reading and the last book I read was Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.  If I were to describe myself in three words they would be: kind, friendly, and patient.  The motto I like to live by is “Live in the present moment”.  I enjoy this idea because many people, including myself, tend to live in the past or future and when it really comes down to it the present moment is all we truly have.  So, I try very hard to stay in the present and appreciate what is happening at that time.  I really enjoy working for TTC because it is a very fun job and I love working with international students. I like how eager they are to learn English and I also take pleasure in learning more about their country and comparing the similarities and differences to Canadian life.  I really feel that the more we learn about others and their ways of living, the more insight we gain about ourselves and who we are as people.

On some of our job ads, I feel like saying daytime junkies need not apply, we are just looking for hardcore night owls.  We also look for staff who don’t mind working around the clock, if you’re only available limited hours and don’t like working like a maniac some weeks it’s best to avoid working as an online teacher (this is not just with us.. this is with almost ALL online jobs).

If you’re looking for that elusive cushy management job with TalktoCanada.com.  Take a long hard look in the mirror and ask yourself, do I want to be available 24/7 (really I am available 24/7 – blackberry, skype, phone, chat —  it’s all part of the job — and to juggle that job with real life sometimes is tricky — but OHHHH so worth it!).  If you thought it was tough being a teacher with TalktoCanada.com, management jobs are 5-10 times tougher (ha! try 100 times harder Marc — this is Jillian again btw).  Try being in bed (what??!! You get to sleep??!! – just kidding!!) and getting a call to replace a last minute teacher having connection problems or to do a last minute two hour demo for a new corporate client.  For the record, TalktoCanada generally hires from within for management positions, so if you’re a teacher with TalktoCanada we may be watching to find those that meet the very difficult requirements for a management job.  If you want to get a little glimpse into the jobs of managers at TalktoCanada.com, I suggest reading some of the multitude of posts by our favourite manager Jillian Zavitz (haha thanks Marc!) :) or by visiting the links below for our ‘Day in the life of Manager’ series.

Marc Anderson
Alysia Bartley
Jillian Zavitz

Thanks to Jillian for commenting on my post in RED.

Nicole Ross

Working with TTC since 2010

Hi Everyone! My name is Nicole Ross and I am from Bathurst, New Brunswick.   I went to St Thomas University and also the University of Maine in Presque Isle.  I’ve taught Elementary schools and also High school, but never anything online before I joined the TTC team.  I have to say this job is pretty awesome.  There’s all the flexibility in the world (as now a days, you have internet everywhere) and you work in your own space.  I love all things caffeine related and reading/documentaries about history.   During my free time, like anyone else I just like to relax and have fun.  I spend my days venturing out travelling in my car to God knows where.   The last book I read was “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  To describe myself in 3 words is something quite hard to do.  The only thing that comes to mind is that I am loyal,  a hard worker and quite talkative.  I have 2 mottos’ I constantly live by: 1) Things can always be worse and 2) take every stride 1 step at a time.  Focus on what is going on right now rather than worrying what’s going to happen next week.