White Elephant - English Idioms

The idiom "white elephant" refers to an expensive item that is costly to maintain, for example: Shortly after Tanya inherited her aunt's castle, it turned out to be a white elephant she could not afford. The phrase originates from a long time ago when white elephants where regarded as precious and even holy in Asia, especially in Thailand. When the king was displeased with someone, he would gift them a white elephant as the upkeeping would likely ruin them.

Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next.

This unit was a nice refresher for grammar and parts of speech. As a native English speaker it is sometimes easy to forget the rules of grammar which makes it hard to explain \"why\" to non-native speakers. It is important to have a general knowledge of grammar and parts of speech so as to effectively explain the rules and sentence structure.In order to be an effective teacher, one must be able to develop a comfortable atmosphere in the classroom. Teachers must be able to take on different roles and ensure all students are involved, comfortable and motivated to reach their goals. They must adapt their approach to their students' age, cultural background and their language skills.