Aloha, and welcome to Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We broadcast live every Thursday afternoon at 2 o'clock from 2 to 2.30 in the downtown Pioneer Plaza in the studios of Think Tech, Hawaii. Normally, I would say beautiful hallowoo, but unfortunately, it's a little rainy today and we had a tsunami warning, so we've had some challenges, but it's all going to be good. Today, we're going to be talking a little bit about some of the resources that are available to support small businesses in Hawaii. We are a show that promotes small business and their successes and the owners and how they make it all work. And there are people behind the scenes that provide the resources and the support to make sure that that all happens. And today, we've got Jamie Lum and Mark Ritchie from D-Bed, NT, and to come and explain a little bit more about D-Bed and what it does and how it supports small business. And D-Bed is actually a pretty big operation, isn't it Jamie? Mark? I mean, there's a lot of moving parts to this. Yes, it is. D-Bed, Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism is the state's economic development agency, so basically charged with economic diversification for the state and making sure that we have good quality jobs for our residents and so forth. So we do have Mark and I are from the Business Development and Support Division. So we've been working a lot with small businesses, helping them to export, helping them with some of our programs like Enterprise Zones that give them some tax breaks and community economic development. And so that's our area. Yeah, it's big. It's statewide.  And so I want to talk about D-Bed and find out all the different moving parts and all the different departments and divisions in there, but first, you know, tell me a little bit about yourself, Jamie, were you born into this position or is this something that you kind of evolved into at some point? I'm actually, I'm an old timer with D-Bed. I came into the department over 25 years ago, but I actually came through tourism. I was working for the Hawaii Hotel Association, which is now the Hawaii Logistics and Tourism Association, that Woofy Heads. And so I came in, I worked in the tourism, we were a tourism office, tourism branch, we took on all sorts of different forms until it became the Hawaii Tourism Authority, which is a separate entity, speaking of, they are an attached agency to D-Bed. And then I decided I wanted to make a change. And so I moved over to the business development side and got to find out more about some of the other industries and sectors that are growing in Hawaii. When you work in the tourism side, you're very focused on tourism. It's hard to see everything else that's going on in the state. So it's been very interesting for me. It's been about 14 years now that I've been on the business development side. Very good. And business development, how does that impact tourism? Is there a lot of opportunity for businesses to still get into that side of the economy? It's interesting. There are so many links. And actually a lot of things start from tourism. For instance, we work in helping companies that try to get their products overseas. And in a lot of cases, so many companies want to go into Japan because they see that when the Japanese tourists come here, they buy their products in Hawaii. And so naturally that starts to build a market for those products over in Japan. So naturally. Right. And there's a lot of linkages. We work also in the international education side, trying to attract international students. A lot of that starts with maybe a family comes here for vacation, and they learn more about Hawaii and then can see sending, you know, the student can see coming to study here. It's a nice middle ground too for people to send their students from the Asian rim to Hawaii. It's a nice transitionary place. It's got cultures from different sides of the ocean, and it's comfortable for them. And they can get that foreign exposure that the parents are probably looking for. Exactly. And it's one of our selling points. Mark, you've done things in the past as well, right? Yes. I've been at D-Vid just a little over three years now. Prior to that, I was working at a life science startup company or small company in Hawaii. And then prior to that, I was doing some economic development work in Hawaii. And prior to that, originally from Northern California, I worked in Silicon Valley.  I don't know if people remember that company, and then doing economic development work there. So I've kind of been working for a large company, startup companies, and then also economic development work. Well, you know, and that sounds like a perfect fit for business development in Hawaii too, because these are some of the industries that we've been looking at for quite a while. Right, right, right. And I've sort of seen it from the small company side, and then also kind of seen what other sort of governments, what other sort of economic development entities have done in other places as well. So a little bit of kind of what works, what doesn't, that type of thing. Very good. And you've been at D-Vid for three years? Just a little bit over three years, I think that in November it was three years. Congratulations. Thank you. So, you know, you're both from D-Vid. You've been there for a long time, you're relatively new. But, you know, and I've been in Hawaii for, since early 70s, and D-Vid's always been out there. They've always been doing things, and they've gotten bigger, and they've done more and more. But not only are they involved in the actual, you know, I guess the economic development arm for the state, but they also provide a lot of resources to help businesses tap into those opportunities too, don't they? Yes, definitely. We're going to start. Some of the programs that our division does is, I think, as Jamie mentioned earlier, we work at the enterprise zone program, which is basically in exchange for companies increasing the number of employees they have in sort of economically distressed areas of the state. They can get tax incentives, and so that's a very active program that our division runs. So, let me ask some questions about that as we go forward, if you don't mind. Okay, enterprise zone. So, there are going to be areas within the borders of Hawaii on the different islands that are identified as special areas that need some economic development. It's basically, it goes by census track, and then there's a very specific formula, which is a little bit complicated, but you always have to go back to the last 10-year census for the statistics on that. And then it's a county-state partnership, and the counties actually choose the zones. Our planning folks will show which areas of the state are eligible according to the definitions, but then the counties actually designate the zones, and then the governor approves of that, and those zones last for 20 years. And this program really started back in the early 90s, so a lot of those zones now are coming up for renewal. So there's been some tweaks and changes. Some islands are very successful, like Maui. They're actually losing census tracks because they're doing well. It works. It works. It worked. And that's exactly what you want to have. That's exactly it. But once the county and the state get together, they collaborate, they identify the area that this enterprise zone is going to be located, what's available in that zone? What makes it so attractive? Well, it depends on which zone it is. Some zones are very different. Somewhere probably like ag kind of areas. Some are kind of urban areas. Are Kakaako area here on Owa, who actually is in an enterprise zone. That was way before a lot of the condos and a lot of the current development you see, that will no longer be eligible when that zone expires here in a couple of years. So those tax incentives will no longer be available there. So depending upon the type of zone it is, it would be different type of incentives to promote whatever it is that they want to promote there. Right. So according to the enterprise zone statutes, it's only available to certain types of business activities and other certain industries. So ag is one of them, manufacturing, wholesaling, and then a couple of other sort of business activities are in the statute. So it's not available to retail and some other sectors. So it's specific to what they want to stimulate and to grow. And what are some of the incentives that's available within the enterprise zone? So within the enterprise zone, the state offers incentives and that would be a tax credit. And that starts, and it's for seven years, and it starts at, it's a non-refundable tax credit, meaning you only get the credit if you owe the state money. But it starts at 80% and declines by 10% each year. You get a GET waiver, so that you don't have to pay GET on things sold in the zone or on that county. And then the counties also have to offer up zones. And some of that may be with the property tax, you know, if you put in a new building or something, they won't, the property tax increase won't hit you for a couple of years. Some is just expedited permitting, that type of thing. But they actually, the counties try to offer these incentives to sort of go along with their sort of economic development plans. And so the state wants to offer up, you know, the enterprise zone program as a tool for them to sort of reach their economic development objectives. And if somebody wanted to find out more information on this, where could they go? Oh, they can go to our website, which is invest.hawaii.gov. And there's all these pull-down menus and just go to enterprise zones. And everything is described there. And everything is online, including the application. And then because these tax incentives are available to companies that increase job totals. And so when they enroll in the company, they get their sort of over seven years what the job totals have to be. And every year they go online and they report to us. And D-Bit certifies those things so that when the company files its taxes, that they can take those tax incentives. Yeah, that's it. Oh, that's our exporting program. Exporting program, which is another program that you can do. Very good. And is that something you can speak to, Jamie? Sure. So the state has received a $700,000 grant from the Small Business Administration. And the whole point of that grant is for the state trade expansion program, Step Grant. For us, we call our program, we've labeled it High Step. And it's to help companies that are interested in exporting, get into exporting, and those that are already exporting to expand. Very good. So. Well, and I would imagine that there may not be any percentages or demographic information on this. But I would imagine a lot of the companies in Hawaii would like to export if they're producing something. I mean, why not? That's just an extension of their market. Sure. I mean, it's definitely a way for them to grow, always a limited market. And the High Step program is designed, and we have three components to it. One is sort of the export training and counseling. So companies that say, yes, I want to start an export program, I think my product will be popular, let's say, in Japan, but to let them go through all the steps needed and what they have to think about in terms of regulatory environments, cash flow, how you logistics and things with exporting. So that's one component is to do sort of the whole training part of it. And then we do pavilions. And then also we offer individual company assistance for companies going into trade shows and things overseas. Is DBET a resource to help address some of the regulatory issues of getting into these markets as well? I think we can be a voice and an advocate in helping to work with other agencies, particularly maybe the federal agencies. And that's actually one of the things that, as we try to help our companies, if they have any trade barriers, that's one of the things that we, that SBET wants to hear about so that they too can kind of help at the federal level. And that's one of the hats that I wear is I'm on the board of the regulatory fairness for the Small Business Administration. And I help try to identify these regulatory challenges or hurdles. And then at the federal level, try to do something about it. But I want to talk a little bit more about the exporting program. But we've got to take a short break right now. And we'll be back in about 60 seconds. So we'll continue this. This is Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. We're talking with DBET. And we're finding out about all the resources that are available to small businesses in Hawaii to help them grow and prosper. We're going to take a short break. And we'll be back in about 60 seconds. Hi, I'm Donna Blanchard. I'm the host of Center Stage, which is on Wednesdays at 2 o'clock here on Think Tech. On Center Stage, I talk with artists about not only what they do and how they do it, but the meat of the conversation for me is why they do it, why we go through this. A lot of us are not making our livings doing this. And a lot of us would do this with our last dying breath if we had that choice. And that's what I love to talk to people about. I hope you enjoy watching it. And I hope you get inspired because there's an artist inside you, too. Join us on Center Stage at 2 o'clock on Wednesdays. Bye. Aloha. My name is Richard Emory, host of Condo Insider. More than a third of Hawaii's population live in some form of association. And our show is all about educating board members and owners about their responsibilities and obligations and providing solutions for a great association. You can watch me live on Thursdays, 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. each week. Aloha. Aloha, and welcome back to Business in Hawaii with Reg Baker. This episode, we're talking with D-Bed, and we're finding out about all of the resources that are available to small businesses throughout the state of Hawaii in trying to promote and increase the success of their business. And we were just talking about the export program that D-Bed has and how that can really help grow business and get them to diversify into an international market. And so, Jamie, if I was a business and I wanted to get into the exporting side of things, how would I do that? Well, under the High Step program, you would go to our website. Which is? Which is invest.hawaii.gov and under the exporting. Which is on the screen. There's a, you go to the High Step. And like Mark was mentioning, so we have our training component and then we have some other elements, financial assistance and our Hawaii pavilions. But what we want people to do, what we want companies to do is sign up, because we're going to have a general intake form. Tell us about your company a little bit, about what product or service it is you want to sell overseas. What market are you interested in? And, you know, those kinds of things. And then we'll go from there. We're working closely with the Small Business Development Center and also the Hawaii Pacific Export Council. Is this a competitive type of program? Not, no, no, not at all. Not this part of it. There is a part of it that is a, the financial assistance is a competitive part. But we want companies to sign up so that, because we want to take them through the process of learning about what it takes to export. So it's primarily an educational and awareness program on how to go through the process. Initially, yes, yes. We are going to have a kickoff on January 24th. And what is that kickoff? It's basically to make a formal announcement on the program. We want to invite companies to come and learn more about what's involved in the program and how they can sign up and how they can benefit and what the different components are, what they can get out of it. And that would be, that more information on that would be on the website as well. Would the form be there to sign up? They don't have to sign up to go to this January 24th event. They don't have to sign the form then. No registration. We'll have probably registration, but they don't need to fill out the form to come to this. We want them to find out. So even a company just thinking about exporting, they haven't even made that decision yet, should definitely come to this session to see about the resources available. Where is it going to be? A bit the foreign trade zone. Oh, that's right downtown here. The new Maxi, Homer Maxi international trade. They'll be signs up. The newer sign. Yeah, well, that's a beautiful building over there too. And it's two or three stories and it's really used. I think it looks brand new. It's a great building. Yeah, very good. All right, well, that's great. That's a great opportunity for somebody that's just maybe thinking about it. They could come out and learn more about it. They could find out some of the mechanics on how this works. Then if they are interested, then they sign up for the program itself. And then they could go through this and get a little bit more formal in the education. And then you've mentioned finance. Now, we all know access to capital is always one of the biggest challenges that small businesses have. What does this mean when you say that there might be some financing? So that's combined with our Hawaii pavilions. We actually do pavilions where we'll take 20 companies, 30, 50 companies sometimes, into a trade show. We get the boost space, do all the branding and everything, and then companies can come and exhibit. One example of that is the Tokyo International Gift Show. We take over 50 companies into that show each year in September, it usually is. But there's a lot of other companies in other industries and things where we don't do the Hawaii pavilions. And companies that maybe just are going overseas for business meetings and things like that. So for those types of companies, we have what we call the company assistance program. And between $5,000 and $15,000 is available per application for companies that have an export development program and are looking to go into a particular market or expand in a particular market. And for that, there's a very simple application, but also we're looking for their export development plan. And that export development plan is we want to see how they're going to get from point A to point B. Because since this is an SBA grant and also for our own state metrics and things, we're looking at increasing exports. So that is a competitive process is that we want to make funds available to companies that we think can actually get from point A to point B. In other words, increasing exports revenue and be successful in the year that those funds are available. And you've got limited resources, and you want to make sure that you give it to those that have the highest probability of success. So there's got to be a ranking that you go through to do that. How many companies do you think usually get through the process and actually get an award of some kind? For last year, we had over, because we did the same program last year, although the amounts were lower. It was, I think up to 5,000, up to 6,000 was the amount. But we had 72 applications put in for that. Well, that's good participation. Yeah. We'll end up with about 60 companies actually that actually got funded. Very good. So, but we expect this year because we raised the ask amount that will be, it'll be a little bit more competitive. It goes all the way up to 15,000. Right. That's a big increase. Right, in the application, we're not looking for them really just to talk about, let's say, one trade show they want to go to or something. We really want to see sort of a whole plan on how, maybe yes, that trade show fits into their export development and their market expansion somewhere. Very good. And what's interesting here is that we've only really talked about two of the different programs, but deep it's got a lot of things going on too, don't they? Right. Well, we've got our state energy office and they cover a whole gamut of energy issues from policy to some of the tax credit things and so forth. We have our creative industries, which the film office falls under. We have an attached agencies like HTDC, the High Technology Development Corporation and also Innovate Hawaii, which has a manufacturers grant which fits nicely into the sex port development because it's how you scale up your company to meet production figures if you're going to be expanding and going into other markets. So there's a lot of different programs that are available out there and a lot of different ways that companies can take advantage of the opportunity. And I know you, we talked during lunch, we had a brief conversation and I know the Business Action Center used to be part of the debate, but then it kind of transferred over to the DCCA. But that was an excellent idea and that worked, I think, has worked very well over the years. And for the audience who has not been familiar with what the Business Action Center is, you might be able to explain it better than I am, but it's pretty much a one-stop shop to really get the business set up and running. It gives you a head-starting and getting through all of the GET and registration and DOL numbers and all that. They'll help you put your application together and they'll tell you, based on what kind of business you are starting, what you'll need. If you need a special license or all those kinds of things. So yeah, they really, really take you through. They're invaluable. We refer them to companies. Yeah, and I refer a lot of people over there and I've been there myself occasionally. Number one, because I'm helping a client out, but number two, because I want to go through the experience and see how it works and, you know, rarely have I seen a lion over there and if there was, it's only a few people and you can actually get through and the people that are working there are usually very knowledgeable about what needs to be done and they can expedite things. And then they also bring in resources sometimes, like I believe, I don't know if they still do it, but once a week they'd bring in from the Bar Association, some attorneys to help. I think there was a sign-up sheet one time when I was there where they can sign up for this. So they'll bring in other resources to help businesses as well. But that was something that started by D-Bed. Yes, yes. So now tell me, you know, we haven't spent a lot of time on the T part, so it's D-Bed plus T, you know, and but tourism, of course, is our lifeblood here in Hawaii. I mean, that's where all of our, you know, a lot of our economic activity comes from. What are there specific programs in the tourism side kind of like to, you know, create new businesses or help businesses to grow and do things? I mean, is there the same type of stimulus there that there would be in other areas? I don't believe so. I can't really speak for an HTA, but, you know, we've worked with them. For instance, when we talked earlier about trying to attract international students. So some of the areas where we think that there's, you know, where we can work together, but in general, HTA, I don't believe, has programs to help. It's a pretty mature industry. Right, right. But I also know that there's a lot of peripheral business around tourism. I mean, everybody thinks of tourism as just the hotels and the resorts. But there's an awful lot of support services that support that, you know, for example, the laundry business, you know, and transportation, you know, and the trolleys and then all the gift shops and all of the different support type of businesses that surround that. But I would imagine that some of them get help from other areas too. It doesn't have to come from the tea part. Right, right. Although I will say the program doesn't necessarily help the business itself, but they do have funds that help increase tourism products so that there are more things for visitors to experience when they come here. When I was there, I was very involved actually in that part where, you know, increasing the number of festivals or those types of things that are experiences for, for, for visitors. The bubble hall is down in Waikiki and that sort of thing. So they do have funding for those types of things for tourism product development. Right. And this is kind of off topic but a little related. I'm just curious about this. The Loha Tower was something that was, you know, gonna be developed as a tourist destination or a point that they would go to. But I guess that's all kind of changed now since HPU has come in and taken over that area. But you still got the Loha Tower down there and that's a historical place. So is it completely outside of the tourism focus now or I can't, every time I look at that Loha Tower, I can't think of the history that's behind it. Right. So nothing planned to try to get the tourists out there. I guess HPU is just kind of taken over. I think so. Well, but HPU has got a lot of international students. So, and I think from what I understand a percent, a large percentage of their student body is actually international. So there is a tourism international piece to that. So maybe that Loha Tower is helping with that. Right. Yeah. Well, you know, we're about ready to wrap up. I would very much like to have you come back again for another show and maybe we can talk more about the other different programs that are going on. Maybe you can give us an update on the kickoff that's going to be happening in July. I think, you know. January. January. Oh, January. Oh. That's right around the corner. Yeah. Well, then I don't know if I can have you come back before then. Yeah. We can certainly mention it. You're right. But, you know, there's just so much that the new bid is doing and it's such an important component of what we're trying to do, at least economically in Hawaii. We just need to keep the word out and create that awareness. So, very good. I appreciate you both being on the show. Hopefully we'll see you again soon. Thank you very much. This is Reg Baker, business in Hawaii. We broadcast live every Thursday afternoon from 2 to 2.30. We focus on small business topics help businesses to grow and expand and prosper here in Hawaii. Until next week, aloha, and we'll see you then.


President of the United States and the President of Mexico. Well, welcome, please. I think it's a wonderful coincidence that these meetings have coincided and that we have an opportunity to get it. Welcome, you here for your own meetings. President Della Madrid and myself have just concluded our second meeting. We've had good conversations, and we both listened to what the other had to say. I believe that we both sharpened our perceptions, and at the same time, no, we deepened our personal friendship. And like good friends, we spoke openly with candor on those few issues in which there might have been differences between us. But let me hasten to say we found that the differences were not with regard to our goals. We both share a commitment to democracy, to the greater economic well-being, and a secure peace in all the Americas. Our differences, where there were any, were only with regard to the means of reaching the goals and objectives that we share. And both our delegations, at the ministerial level, worked very hard, and I think have made great progress on a number of bilateral issues. And let me just say to all of you here that, and I think I'm really speaking for what was the tone of our conversations, we must remember that we are all in this western hemisphere. Our nations were born of people that were seeking the same things. Freedom, better life in this new world was here for our forefathers to discover. We've been given great gifts, resources, technology, and above all, that spirit of freedom. Early in my administration I made a trip down through Central America and into South America, and in all of them said the same thing. There have been misunderstandings between us in the past, and maybe there's been an insensitivity on the part of our own country, the United States. But what I wanted to find out was how could we all meet as partners here in this western hemisphere, recognizing that from the tip of South America all the way to the north slope of Alaska, we are all Americans. We are all related in a sense that is not true in any other part of the world, that when we cross a border from one country into another, we still have that common heritage. We are all connected in a sense that is not true in any other part of the world, in a sense that is not true in any other part of the world, that when we cross a border between one country and another, we still have that same heritage. And if we look at ourselves, 650 million people in North Central and South America, and we look at the potential of what we can achieve, we can not only be a great force for good here in the western hemisphere, we can be a great force for good in the entire world. And thank you again for being here. Thank you very much. I'm very proud, pleased to have this. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, legislators of the United States and of Mexico, it is a great pleasure for me to be able to greet you at the beginning of a new inter-parliamentary meeting between the United States and Mexico. In accordance with our constitutional norms, the external relations of our countries are formed through a complex and broad process that has its culmination in the responsibility of the executive power. In accordance with our constitutional norms, the relations, the foreign relations of our countries are formed through a very complex process that is in the hands of the legislative and the executive bodies. It is one of the most serious responsibilities that this presidential system gives the heads of the executive branch both in the United States and in Mexico. But there is no doubt that the political process through which the foreign policy is formed has as one of its basic ingredients the opinions of the congresses and particularly of the Senate. That is why it is very promising that this meeting among legislators is beginning precisely when the meeting between the presidents has just finished. I agree with what my friend President Reagan has said just a few minutes back. Our dialogue has progressed as it should between good friends that work with dignity. Both sides have been led by the main guideline of our conversations which has been at the interest of our peoples. Mutual respect and also respect for one another's truth. As President Reagan has already said, we have made progress during these conversations. We have made progress in coming to a better understanding of each other and also in keeping each other better informed and bringing about certain solutions to some of our problems, problems which are every day more complex and deeper between Mexico and the United States. I have no doubt that the work that you will be beginning today will be another positive and constructive episode. In exchange of points of view within a framework of sincerity, of respect and of dignity, we'll give each one of our countries new elements of judgment in order to continue to work towards a stronger friendship and a relationship which is every day more cordial and more sincere. Gentlemen, my best wishes for your success in your work.


But technology is progressing at warp speed, not like us who are like this. Because we are human. We cannot progress at warp speed. We don't live faster because we Twitter. We don't have more friends in our social network. Our human tribe is 150 people. It cannot be 15,000 people just because we have linked in. We are not exponential. So you can safely say the power of technology has already surpassed the scope of our ethics, whatever your ethics may be. Technology is way ahead. And you know what? We can't do much about it. We can say, you know what? Let's stop artificial intelligence. Let's stop bioengineering because we have ethical issues. Good luck with that. But what are we going to do in our future? Because in the future, the other three billion are coming online. All those countries are getting geared up to participate in all of the global discussions. And we're going to see those countries exploding. What if we don't have ethical issues? If we don't have a moral compass, what do we do? Where are we going to go with this? I mean, quite scary thought. Technology really has limitless potential. For example, climate change. You know, a combination of the Internet of Things and the switch to renewable energy and cheaper solar could solve this problem. It could, clearly. So big data, data in the cloud. This is the newest hot thing after social media. You know, there always has to be a tag lying for people so they can invest in interesting speakers. But should humans themselves become technology? Should we think of ourselves like this? An open head to be augmented, to be fitted into a future, to make our heads more like machines because machines can then easier read our heads. I think it comes down to this, right? In the end, we weren't downloaded. We were born. And do you know what? There's a lot of people who wish that we could be downloaded. This is the interesting twist. Are we going to be allowed to have real children, you know, in a body 20 years from now? I mean, we're talking about science fiction here.


So we're here at the hire. Hello. Hi. So you have this is XY.com. This is a DLP projector. Yes. What's the name of this one? It's ICMini. ICMini. ICMini. This is UFO. UFO. Let's put it there, this one. Yes. So there you have it projecting against the wall. Like this. Oh, like this? Like this way, yes. And you can use the remote control? Yes. You can connect it with Wi-Fi directly and you can download the APT. So what is the resolution of the DLP image? 480. 480. Yes. And then you have all these connectors here? Yes. USB? USB. Micro USB. Micro USB. Earphone. Earphone? Can do HDMI? No, this is without HDMI. So only the smart Android TV, the smart Android in here? Yes. And what is the version of Android you have? 4.4. 4.4. Why? Can play all the video codec? Ah, yes. And can project the big image? Yes. Can do a big one like this? A big, big image right here. Okay. How much it costs? Is it priced? We suggest 299. 299 retail price. But you're looking for distributors? Right now you sell in China? Mainland? Yes. 1 or 2 years already in Mainland. And what is this? This is your phone. This is 720 resolution. 720p? 720p, yes. It looks a little bit similar to the gym go, no? Yes. It looks similar. But this one is with HDMI. What is the CPU? CPU. Is it a ROCKJIT? All of them are? Sorry, I don't know. M-Star? I don't know. And this one? I don't know the CPU. 720p? Why is there a lumen here? This one is 80 lumen. This is 500. 500 lumen, we can see it right here. It's project will come there. This is 24 inches. 84 inches. You have this kind of design here. And you have like this. And you have this one. What is this one? Laser? Laser projector. DLP also has 4HD. So full HD, short throw, laser. And support 4K. 4K? Yes, 4K. But the only 1080p resolution though? What? Is this full HD only? Yeah, yeah. You don't have 4K yet? Yeah, but support 4K. So there's no price on this one? No, no price yet. So there you have it. All these projectors trying to export them around the world.


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from ITTT back with another live session this week. This week a very different time, a time I've never been live before. It's very exciting. It is 8pm where I am right now in South Korea on a Friday evening and yeah I thought why not give this time a try and see what happens. I usually go live like 10 hours earlier so in the morning time for me but now I just thought let's see what happens because we're gonna switch some times up sometimes you know to get other people in who maybe don't have a chance to watch it in the morning time so yeah hi and welcome if you can see me if you can hear me please just leave a quick hello in the comments we are live on Facebook and on YouTube at the same time. Also do let me know where are you watching from right now where in the world are you and what time is it there and are you excited about today's today's live session let me know I am excited and I can't wait to see who is here today. So yeah also please before we jump in don't forget to like and subscribe so like our Facebook page subscribe to ITTT's YouTube channel we always share a lot of great content every day and also so that you don't miss any of our upcoming live sessions we go live twice a week so one time me and the other time my colleague Lisa who is a Russian native speaker actually but she is a very successful English teacher a non-native English teacher so we're getting the good of both worlds the best of both worlds basically here at ITTT our live sessions and yeah good to have you here today I can see some people are already watching so thank you so much please to let me know if you can see me and if you can hear me sometimes there are technical difficulties so if there's any issue just quickly let me know in the comments and just please let me know where you are right now where in the world are you right now where are you watching from what time is it there what are you up to thanks so much for tuning in for taking the time to join us today I'm super happy about that and I have prepared some slides for you guys as well so we can go through that together we're going to be talking about 10 advantages of taking a Teflon TESOL course with ITTT international Teflon TESOL training so that's our topic for today because there are so many different course providers out there right if you google Teflon or TESOL you're going to see so many different providers out there so I just want to highlight what I think are the 10 most important advantages of taking your course with ITTT and I know that some of you have already taken a course with ITTT and feel free to give your opinions on the different points that I'm pointing out and also if you have any other points you want to add to that at any time you are free to you know leave a comment in the comment box and also questions of course so we have a hello from Amy hello and we have Fares from Egypt 1 p.m. here great how are you today I'm very good thanks how are you Fares thanks for tuning in again it's awesome then we have Gonzalez Rove from Vietnam it is 6 p.m. okay cool very cool very nice whereabouts in Vietnam are you awesome great also please if you can see this little QR code up there in the right hand corner you can scan that and you get a 30% discount of any Teflon or TESOL course from ITTT so when you scan that you will see an application page you can fill out the application and you get 30% off any Teflon or TESOL course if you cannot scan the QR code no problem you can also use this link that I'm sharing in the comment section right now it looks like this so if you copy this link it also leads you to the application page you can fill out your application choose the course that fits you know your goals that you think is the best for you and do the application 30% off so maybe if you are not gets certified you should get behind and do that awesome hello we have somebody from Panama 6 a.m. in the morning awesome that's awesome cool hello there great okay now that we have that out of the way yeah we can get right into it and I am going to make myself smaller a little bit I'm still here but I want all focus to be on the slides for now and first I just want to introduce myself a little bit for people who are watching for the first time my name is Linda I am a travel writer and content creator under the handle on linda goes east you can also find my own website at www.lindagoeseast.com and also on social media at linda goes east I am from Germany at the US my mom is German my dad is American and I am based in South Korea I've been in South Korea for six years already six and a half years almost and before South Korea I also lived and taught English in China and I'm also teaching in South Korea and for the past five years and more a little bit more I have been a TEFL and TESOL marketing professional for ITT which stands for international TEFL and TESOL training and you can find us online at www.teflcourse.net and on Instagram at international TEFL training and there's a couple of other socials I'm going to share that with you at the end if you want to check us out please do of course and ITTT is a leading TEFL and TESOL course provider worldwide and I know that some of you are already certified and some of you are not yet so if you are not yet certified if you don't have a TEFL yet but you're thinking about it today's session will be very valuable for you and I hope you will be able to make a good decision after today's session like I said as always please just if you have any questions during the session feel free to leave a comment in the comment box and I will get back to you live right now so let's jump right in 10 advantages of taking a TEFL or TESOL course with ITTT and actually I'm just going to share a quick link with you guys at the beginning we have this page on our website actually that has all the different reasons and advantages of ITTT and I know it's really small you probably can't read it but these are only 12 now but this website the page on our website has like I think 46 different reasons why you should choose ITTT so if you're curious if you have a bit of time you can check it out later I just shared the link it looks like this so teflacourse.net slash best minus tefl minus course and you'll see all of those reasons and from those reasons I picked 10 some of them I combined into one because they are related so I'm going to mention 10 things today that I think are great about choosing ITTT and also not because I work for ITTT obviously but actually when I got certified when I got my own certificate and I have it right here when I got this I did not work for ITTT yet so actually I found them first when I was looking for a tefl course provider and I did you know I googled I did some research probably what you all did the same thing and I found ITTT and those reasons really convinced me to then get certification and I took the course I got certified and then I somehow slid into working for them as well but yeah I was convinced by the reasons first just like many of you are in this journey because like I said there are so many different course providers out there it can be quite intimidating and daunting to you know make your choice and pick the correct one right so yeah let's jump into my first reason and first advantage of why it's good to take a tefl course with ITTT and I think this one is also one of the most important ones so it is that all of ITTT's certificates and certification courses TEFL and TESOL are internationally recognized they are accredited and also university credit bearings so ITTT has actually been providing TEFL and TESOL courses since the 1990s so a very very long time and during this long time ITTT has developed lots of different relationships with many of the leading individuals and institutes and schools in the EFL industry and the ones that I've listed here are some of our main affiliations and accreditations so you'll see for example Lamar University from the United States so all of our courses are validated and also credit bearing by Lamar University then we also have the Paris College of International Education in France and SIAM Technology College in Thailand each student if you take a TEFL course with ITTT you actually not only receive your certificate but you also receive an official transcript from the Paris College of International Education along with your certificate which is really great and this actually makes ITTT's courses the only 100% online TEFL and TESOL certification courses available that are validated accredited and credit bearing from an internationally recognized university so that's a big point to consider because that's obviously the point of taking a certification course making sure that it is valid and accredited and recognized all over the world right so this is I think the most important thing because I know maybe a lot of people are only watching the first few minutes of a live session you can always obviously watch the replay and I hope you're sticking in sticking it out sticking it out but I just wanted to get that out of the way first so that everyone can hear it and because it's so important and then also we have the teacher training council our five-day combined courses I'm going to talk about the different course options also a little bit later but they are all moderated by the teacher training council and the teacher training council is actually an accreditation you know an international learning and development body so yeah that just right of the bat a little bit about the accreditation and if you are more curious about the exact details about our affiliations and accreditation you can also check that out on our website we have a very detailed page for that as well you can check out all the different universities and their websites from here as well so do check that out do check that out here teffelchorus.net slash affiliations and then you'll see all of our affiliations cool we have a question here from Mustafa hi and he's asking do you accept candidates from Morocco yes we do actually that's also one of the advantages I'm going to talk about but our courses are open to anyone over 18 native English speakers and fluent English speakers from any country in the world so wherever you are you are if you are fluent English speaker because our courses are in English only obviously and it is about teaching English so you need to be fluent then you can take our courses absolutely okay great so this is advantage number one let's have a look at the second one good so another point about you know the yeah accreditation side of things so our certificate we have certificate notarization services available and we have three different options how to basically validate our certificates so the first option is you can verify your online course certificate on our website so you can go to teffelchorus.net slash certificate minus verification and then when you I'm going to make myself just bigger for a second when you look at so this is what a certificate from ITTT looks like I just want to show you real quick so this is mine and every certificate has a here has a unique oh my god a unique number down here and with this unique number you can go to this website or your employer where you are applying can go to the website and can punch this number in along with your name and then they will see validation so that yes that you know this teffel or t-cell certificate is really from you and it's legit it's accredited from ITTT so that's one method to validate it for employers then if you need a little bit more than that you can also get a notarized copy of your certificate printed stamped and signed by a notary public and there's one even higher option so you can get a copy of your original teffel certificate authenticated by the ITTT registrar and then have it countersigned by a notary public at the same time so this is an additional option that we also offer because some countries or some employers for certain schools they will require um no notarization services but this is maybe just 90% of all the people who take our courses will not need this so this is only a small percentage of people that will require that but it's something that we also offer okay one more question here from Mustafa I want to answer so he says I have a BA in English full-time or online okay I guess you mean our courses so that's a great thing another great thing about our courses and we actually have different kinds of courses I'm going to talk about that in a bit but um the online courses we have online courses that you can take at your own pace and then we also have full-time four-week courses where you go to a training center and then spend four weeks there and do your training there okay cool then we have Min Min hi from Myanmar hi thanks for joining awesome okay let's have a look at advantage number three oh my gosh I have my little light here because it's already dark outside but I just almost smacked it okay so advantage number three about the practical content with tutor support so obviously our online courses or online courses in general they tend to be more focused on the theory of things obviously and lack actual teaching practice but that's why our courses they cover as much practical content hands on real life real world content as possible so it's a great balance between the theory and the real world stuff basically and this is enhanced with you know lots of videos and really interactive material you can also add a practical teaching element to your certification if you would like so the standard course that we offer is and the most popular is the 120-hour TEFL or TESOL course so you could take that plus six hours of real teaching practice to kind of top that up which is an option for people who want that and need that and then we also have the option of taking your TEFL course with a tutor so a professional TEFL TESOL tutor we always offer our courses most courses have two options a tutored one and a non-tutored one so non-tutored means it's just you you work through the material by yourself and the tutored version has this option where a professional TEFL and TESOL tutor guides you through the course towards the successful completion of your training you're able to you know have chats with your tutor ask some questions and get feedback and all that stuff so it depends on what kind of learning style you know you prefer if you are totally cool with just studying by yourself then the non-tuted version should be no problem but if you want that extra support that extra little bit of knowledge then the tutor is really great so yeah good hi we have also someone Rita from Algeria hi thanks for joining awesome good so this is advantage number three move on let's move on to the next one advantage number four yes so now we're going to talk about the different courses that we offer and I think what's great about it is that there's a vast range of courses which might seem a little bit overwhelming if you have no clue about TEFL or TESOL but once you talk with us your TEFL and TESOL experts and once you understand what your goals are where you want to teach what kind of students you want to teach what kind of English you want to teach you know business English beginner English um all these kinds of things um and where you want to teach do you want to teach abroad in Asia in Europe you know or do you want to teach online um then we can offer the perfect best tailored course option to you and I think that's what really stands out at ITTT that we have so many different options so we do have online options online TEFL and TESOL courses which are the most popular because you can just take them from anywhere you can study from your own home anytime anywhere we also have in-class courses so I already mentioned that a little bit but basically you go you go to a in-class training center we have over 30 different centers around the world in a destination either near you if you don't want to travel abroad or you know abroad in a country of your choice and you spend four weeks there and you do um your training you know with with a trainer and other classmates who also want to be teachers and then there is the combined option which basically combines both of the aspects so the online aspect and the in-class aspect so you complete part of your certificate online first and then you go to a training center for additional teaching practice afterwards so whatever you want we can offer and obviously like I mentioned so if you're not sure what you want or what you need for your goal where you want to be that's what we are here for so we can offer a consultation you can let us know you want to do this you want to go there you want to teach you know business english or children or whatever it may be and then we recommend the perfect course to you basically we lay out all the options and then you can make your decision so let's look at a couple of courses that we offer so the most popular like I already mentioned is this one the 120-hour TEFL certificate 120-hour because 100 it always for jobs abroad and also nowadays teaching english online the minimum is at least 100 hours of study pretty much everywhere so that's why the 120-hour course is the pretty much the the yeah the standard TEFL course you want to start with and this is what it looks like I have it here here and this is also the first course that I took with it oh let me make myself a little bit bigger but yeah this it looks like this has your name on it has teflon t-sole on it and also how many how many hours here how many hours and it's a really nice certificate it looks very very nice and they also or ITTT sends it to you anywhere in the world as well so that's really great and good to have so that's the 120-hour one the fun the good thing about this course is that it is completed 100 online so that's why so many people also love it because you can complete it from anywhere in the world wherever you are just with an internet connection obviously this course has 20 units and it's pretty much split between like teaching theory and methodology stuff and classroom management and lesson planning and all those things and also grammar so you're gonna learn everything you need to be a teacher basically yeah you can study this course at your own pace you have up to six months to complete it but most people actually complete it much much faster I think it took me four months but I was working full-time so if you're really in a hurry and you have a lot of time you could definitely complete it much faster yeah then you get this beautiful embossed hard copy certificate sent to your door once you pass and finish the course and yeah the notarization services are available that's what I already mentioned in the beginning for anyone who needs it typically like I said not a lot of people will actually need that I mean yeah this course actually starts at 249 US dollars and 339 with tutor so here you can choose like I said having a tutor or not then we also have specializations I also want to mention that three specializations that I also took all of them so first I did the teaching English to young learners certificate those are all 50 hour certifications so 50 hour TEFL certifications the young learners targets obviously how to teach English to young learners to children anything from literally toddlers to like teenagers then I took the teaching business English course yeah like like the name implies it is for learning how to teach business professionals in a business setting you know company people executives all that kind of stuff obviously because those fields are very specific and very very different and then we also have teaching online so this is also one that I took looks like this they all look the same the certificates they all look like this it's very nice and yeah so this certificate teaches you everything and all the skills you need to have to teach English online because that's also very very different compared to teaching English in a real classroom right so yeah those are the specializations then we also have bundles so I just want to mention that because when obviously with everything right when you buy bundles you can actually save more so it's actually cheaper compared to buying or purchasing taking every course individually then if you just bought the bundle the package it is cheaper so those are the options that we offer you can't find out all about these also on our website so depending on usually depending on what your goal is you know do you want to teach English more long term where do you want to teach English then you would choose a package with more hours and more courses included compared to when you just maybe want to teach English for a year or two and then you know do something else so it all depends on your goals that's how you choose your TEFL course we also did live sessions previously about how to choose the perfect TEFL course so feel free to browse our playlists on Facebook we have a playlist of all our live sessions and also on YouTube we have a playlist of all our live sessions so you can just browse that and pick and choose the topics that interest you and will help you the most and obviously you can always reach out to us you can also always reach out to me directly at Linda goes east on Instagram or Facebook I'm available and just anyone from ittt will be very very happy to consult and give you a consultation good okay let's see the next advantage here that is advantage number five so we're halfway through now this one is easy to study all our courses are very easy to study you can study from anywhere in the world and also at your own pace and I think this is why our courses the online courses are so so popular so you always if you choose to take a course with ittt you study through ittt's online study platform you can also so there you have access to all the materials and assessment strategies and you can also download them so that's what a lot of people do actually they will download all of the material and then keep a huge binder which is also what I would recommend to print it all out and keep it in a binder in a folder on your computer or in a binder actually print it out in paper and then you can really refer to it even like in the classroom because you actually get a lot of material like games and activities and even worksheets that you can actually use in your classroom so it's always a great idea to have those actually like as physical papers um yeah you have access to the study dashboard from any location with an internet connection and via any device you like such as PC laptop tablet or smartphone so you can study literally like with your phone sitting on the couch you could study no problem so yeah good advantage number six yes this is also a big one and a very important one you do get lifetime job assistance and access to EFL like partnerships so it is free and lasts forever so that means all ITTT course graduates have access to lifetime job assistance so at the end of your course when you pass your course you will let us know where you want to teach do you want to teach you know in korea or do you want to teach in china or in peru or online and we will help you find a job there because we have a huge database of different TEFL EFL recruiters that we work with and a huge network of schools that we work with and partner with and they all share with us unadvertised jobs so they they Sun is their job offers because they want to hire people from ITTT because they know our training is is you know is great and they want to hire ITTT certified people because they know our courses and the content of our courses and they trust that and they want to hire ITTT grads because it's very well known so that's what you will have access to and even if you don't teach right away so let's say you take a TEFL course you graduate you pass you get your certificate but you're not ready to teach yet for whatever reason let's say you're ready to teach maybe in a year or in two years or even in just in 10 years you can still reach out to us again and say hey i'm an ITTT grad and i am in need of the job assistance please help me out and we will get the process started for you so um yeah we also offer um actually help with TEFL resume writing um so we have you know support for that and also cover letters and also sometimes when you apply for a job um they also the employers they will ask they will ask to hold a mock lesson a short like um yeah like 10 minutes 20 minutes English teaching lesson via webcam or maybe in person and so we can also help with that and you know get you ready for that so that you pass that interview stage okay i have a comment here i want to just look on real quick i look at it's like it's already evening and my brain doesn't work anymore but yeah i'm trying my best all right uh yeah all courses sound great my first language is Spanish and second one is English my concern is that to get a position abroad they request native speakers so i'm not uh i'm not but i am full English i'm fluent in English with a bachelor's degree in English this is the only one that stops me so far yes there are um you know schools companies and also entire like countries that um only hire native English speakers but there's also a lot of places where you can actually find work as a non-native English speaker and um that's where i always mention my colleague lisa because she's a great example she is from russia she's a non-native um english teacher from russia and she taught english abroad she taught in china and i think she also did a little bit of teaching in thailand and now she's teaching in russia again but it's definitely possible to um find work as an english teacher also as a non-native english speaker abroad um also online so i highly recommend checking out because lisa did a lot of live sessions also already before so i highly recommend checking out our playlist because she actually shares a lot of great tips specifically for non-native english speakers on how to get a job where to get a job you know how to structure your um portfolio what maybe english language proficiency tests or certificates you can get to boost your resume and what you can do to find a position so i highly recommend that there are options out there it's not impossible it's not impossible you just need to know uh which countries which places are accepting um non-native english teachers and there are a lot actually so don't worry don't worry it is possible and even with a bachelor's degree in english and um that should not be a problem do not worry okay good so that was that about lifetime job assistance and our efl partnerships so now i want to move on to the next advantage which is excellent value for money yeah so considering all of the different you know courses that we offer and also the um the lifetime job assistance all the extra services that you get the hard copies certificates you can get the validation um this is really excellent value for money compared to many other um t-sol and tefl course providers sure you can do your google search and you can go on groupon and find um 20 tefl courses but they do not include nearly nearly half of what ittt's courses include so um yeah because we also get the question all but you just can't really compare those two um yeah so all our tefl certification courses we offer them to suit all budgets that's why i went through all the different course options so there's something for everyone in there from our 60 hour introductory course to our 250 hour diploma in t-sol to all the bundles you really you should find a course that is affordable and suitable for your future employment plans and also uh what maybe is interesting to some of you many of our courses they come with a free specialized course which will add a real shine to your future job applications so um the uh if you take for example the 120 hour course with tutor support you do get a free 50 hour course to choose from so you can take the 120 hour standard course and then choose either business english course or the young learners course that you can then do for free so um that's really great and a lot of people might not know that but that's something that we offer because we also believe that everyone uh no matter you know your background or where you from or whatever deserves the chance to make their dream of teaching abroad teaching english or teaching you know making a career a career teaching english online um and make that dream come true so yeah awesome okay then we're moving on to the eighth advantage advantage number eight which is yeah excellent reviews that's another good point and that's also something that uh why i considered it tt in the beginning years ago obviously nowadays before you buy anything uh literally anything before i mean i i look up reviews for everything restaurants where i eat on amazon no matter what i buy usually i look up the reviews right and also that's what you do obviously with your taffle course and so these are three great resources where you can read up on our reviews so that's google reviews it's trustpilot that's reviews.io you'll see that 99 of those reviews are excellent um and um yeah you can have a read i mean that's really interesting and uh you know you should do that there's a bunch of you know so many different people from all over the world from all different backgrounds and what they share we also share you know some of the reviews on our social media so you can check that out on our facebook page every once in a while you'll see a review pop up we also have a very big video testimonial section on youtube where people share their experience on video we also have a taffle blog where people share their stories and things like that so that's definitely something you can check out to convince yourself like i did um and yeah yeah you'll also see that on on those sites you'll see like the verified thing uh you know that those are real verified course graduates um real people who really took the course who then really left a real review because that's also something that you need to watch out for these days right but that's why we choose those three main platforms because you can get verified reviews on there which is obviously what you want and is the most trustworthy so yeah that's that and if you that's what i want to mention also on facebook actually we have reviews and if you have taken a course with ittt and you have not left a review yet and you like what you did you like we did um you like your experience please do leave a review we would really appreciate that and it can help other people make the same decision as you all right moving on to advantage number nine now yeah that's a great point as well so all ittt staff has personal experience living working and teaching english abroad and this is actually a picture of me when i was teaching my first year in korea it's a little bit blurry because it's i don't have the best quality picture from that time but yeah that was me in my first year in korea teaching at a uh english speaking kindergarten and those were my kindergartners they're five and six years old and we did a reading class there but yeah so all of the people who work at ittt all of them have experience they were either teaching abroad before they live abroad currently um you know they i mean we have people with 20 30 years of teaching experience abroad in asia in south america europe anywhere so um that's really something to look for in a good teflon t-sol course provider um you don't want people obviously you want um people who have done or are doing what you want to do because they know how like the real world and what it really looks like and how to get there so um that's just a good advantage i think worth mentioning i just want to say that and um yeah good and the last advantage let's see there is no final exam and no pressure so if you decide to take a teflon t-sol course with ittt all of them they include ongoing assessments as you work through the materials so after every unit there is a short multiple choice assessment after every unit so that removes the need for a final exam at the end there is a summative task at the end which is a short essay that you need to write but there's no big final exam per se so um it doesn't it's not all about this one final exam at ittt but what matters is an average um score of at least 75 percent across all the course unit assessments so if you um you know if you're not feeling good one day and you just uh you're not doing really well on one assessment it doesn't matter it's not hopeless you know you can you do better the next time and then the average is calculated so that's what's important here and um this really leads to minimal levels of stress and then you have more time planning your teaching adventure um you know making plans of where you want to move to or you know if you want to teach english online setting up your english virtual classroom basically so yeah i think that's a really good um way to end this so the last advantage that i wanted to mention no final exam um yeah and now i just want to show you like i promised you the other socials how you can or where you can find ittt it's a facebook twitter instagram also youtube obviously where some of you are watching from and then we are moving on to the q and a section of today's live session this is your opportunity to ask questions right now about today's anything that i said today maybe you have a question you didn't understand something or just anything else you want to know about teaching english abroad or online or teaching in korea specifically because that's where i live or more about ittt more about our specific courses now is your opportunity and you can also scan this qr code one more time to get 30% off your teflor t-sol course um and i'm just going to share the link one more time as well so if you cannot scan this qr code no problem you can simply click on the link that i'm going to share now in the comment section here looks like this and if you're listening to this as a podcast episode it will be in the podcast description if you didn't know we always turn our live sessions into podcast episodes so if that's something you're into check us out on itunes google podcasts um where i'll spotify all of the major podcast platforms you will find our podcast there it's called the tefl and t-sol podcast by ittt just throwing that throwing that out there all right okay so do let me know if you have a question about anything related to teflon t-sol and i'd be more than happy to answer it i still have some time on here i can still be here and answer your questions don't be shy i always say this please don't be shy in my live sessions i don't want this to be only me talking actually so i really like uh you know to have a conversation with you guys so please um you know join and ask me your questions that's what i'm here for that's what i love to do so yeah don't be shy and check out the discount and again don't forget to like and subscribe so you don't miss any of our upcoming live sessions we do go live twice a week and um yeah all right i'm gonna make myself bigger now again okay all right great we have a question here from sylvia sylvia says if i have finished my bachelor's degree in english is it necessary to take a teflon t-sol exam yeah good question so if you already have a degree in english um you know do you need a teflon t-sol so yes in most cases yes so specifically for places like you know there are a lot of places actually that require you to have a teflon t-sol plus a degree so it depends on where you want to go and a teflon t-sol is always useful because you might have a bachelor's degree in english so you know how english works but you don't have those teaching skills and there are some schools in some countries that really need to need you to have this piece of paper also for uh work visa purposes so in some places this is one thing that you actually need to show um to you know the immigration officers and like the people at the embassy to get your work visa so it is very important to actually have that plus your degree and the good thing is when you have a degree also in english that's a huge plus so that way having a degree a bachelor's degree in english plus a teflon you have very very good opportunities and most likely also going to get a higher salary than other people so that was really that was that's really good good and then another question also from sylvia so how is it working in korea do you need to know their language so that's a great question and this actually goes for anywhere in the world so we get this question a lot you know oh i want to move to korea do i need to know korean where i want to move to spain do i need to know spanish so typically as an english teacher you do not need the language you do not need to know the language of the country that you're moving to because you're there to teach english so they don't require you to speak their language obviously it helps it helps mostly in your every day day to day just life because you're not only you're not teaching 24-7 you also have a a like private life a free time life i guess outside of the classroom and if you know the language of the country that you live in obviously that's a huge plus so i do recommend um you know at least learning a little bit of the language that you're that you of the country that you're moving to before moving but it's not a requirement to know the language it is not oh and how is it working in korea it is very good um it's great there are a lot of opportunities for teachers at public schools through the program called epic so um you can apply through the program and then you go through interview process and then you might get accepted and you um work for a public school or you go through you know you do your independent job search or through a recruiter and then you can work for a private school so there's so many so many private schools like private english kina gardens or just afternoon schools um that really really need english speakers so there's a huge demand there so definitely korea is a good place to look for when you want to teach english abroad yeah also one of the like east asia is in my opinion the best place to teach english as a foreign language abroad so that is japan korea china and taiwan they tend to be really the best area also because the cost of living tends to be cheaper compared to western countries while the salaries are still high you also get great benefits in this region like paid housing paid airfare um health insurance um yeah it's really great end of contract bonuses pension severance all of those things so um it's actually great so you are able a lot of people are actually able to save a lot of money there and then obviously travel in their free time around other amazing places in asia so asia is a good place east asia and then also the middle east is a really good area for teaching they actually have the highest salaries for teaching english abroad and many of the countries there also have tax-free they pay tax-free salaries which is amazing so but their requirements tend to be a little bit stricter they need um a bachelor's degree in english and a t-sol or tefl and some even a master's degree and then two years of work experience and so it's a little bit more harder to get into the middle east but um you know if you are teaching maybe somewhere in asia first and then get your experience under the belt and then you move on to a different place i think that's the beauty of um teaching english abroad really because you don't have to stay in one place you know you can really move around and find uh you know go wherever you want and teach english there there is such a high demand in so many places i actually did some live sessions previously about um you know specific regions so how to teach english in asia how to teach english in europe so if you're interested in that again check out our playlists of live sessions previous live sessions on youtube and also on facebook we always keep them there and um check out our previous sessions for something that you're interested in recommend it all right thank you for the question that was great hmm we have nes man hi what's going on good good thanks for being here all right another one from silvia thank you for asking so many questions i really think that's great so she asks when you go and teach in korea do you first have like a mentor who guides you do you have to prepare all the materials so this really depends on the kind of school you work for so um if for example if you apply through the epic program like i mentioned the government funded program you actually do have like um a orientation i forget the word orientation period i think it's two weeks long with all of the new hires for that year i think it's in soul or in inch on just outside of soul where the airport is and you stay there for for two weeks or it might be a week and um you get like training how the program works and all of that and just life in korea they set you up a little bit so it's guidance if you work for a private school typically you're also not just left alone and thrown um you know into into just new world but you will also have you know co-workers and colleagues who will help you and be like a mentor for the first time and then about preparing the materials this also depends on the type of school you work for so some schools will already have a set curriculum with lesson plans and everything so you don't actually have to do any of that but some other schools they don't and then you have to prepare all the materials so that would be a good question to ask during the interview period for example when you interview with the school you could ask them that you know and that's also not like rude or bad to ask so you could ask so how does it typically look like at your school do you have a curriculum or will i be planning my own lessons you can definitely ask that okay then we have a question here from second chance hi i don't have experience in teaching if i clear tefl may i get a chance to work in asian countries yes definitely so most people actually who go and teach abroad um don't have any experience at first um and they do get hired so most schools some schools actually like hiring people with no experience because they can basically teach them their way of teaching so every school typically has like their own teaching style and way of doing things so they really like actually hiring new people so they can really kind of form them the way they want them to be teaching if that makes sense so yeah you can definitely find work if you don't have any teaching experience i did not have any experience when i started um and you know schools know that so they typically give you like training one or two weeks um or maybe longer and they give you someone you know a colleague you can like um get guidance from and yes asia is a great place to go and look for work as a non-native english speaker and as a native speaker um you know east asia china japan taiwan korea and southeast asia like taiwan vietnam cambodia um those are really great places to look for teaching jobs in asia i actually did a live session about how to teach english in asia um so i recommend you check that out it's in our playlist i see you're watching from youtube so you can go to our live video playlist and you'll find it there how to teach english in asia check it out awesome um yeah i always i mean my heart is really set on asia i love living and working in asia i taught english in china and also i've been now in korea for six years so um this is really i just love this region and um you know exploring all the different countries in asia it's just such a vibrant beautiful continent so rich in culture so yeah awesome yeah you're very welcome keep your questions coming it's very interesting let me see if i missed anything i don't think i have i'm pretty good at keeping an eye on the comment section but also yeah this is just me i'm doing this life alone i don't know if you if you're new maybe you don't know we don't have anyone like in the background helping me out or anything so if i miss a comment please don't um don't be sad all right great question great question silvia so is there like an age limit to being accepted in schools so um sometimes there are age limits so um typically that's like an upper age limit so some countries i know that is the the that is true in china and i think also in korea and maybe japan where they have a retirement age of 60 so if you're over 60 you might not be able to find work there um so it really depends on where you want to go what kind of country but actually when i was in china i also met a teacher who was over 60 who was still working and he was actually working for university he had a really good job so it really depends on the school you know um just yeah can happen but some schools actually prefer hiring older teachers so it really depends yeah it's not impossible hi marcia hi you don't have any questions good good no problem i appreciate you being here i hope you're doing well awesome good good all right i'm still alive i'm still here so if anybody else has any questions please keep them coming i don't mind at all um another question so what are the qualifications needed to teach apart from a taffle certificate like key skills good question yeah so again this depends on where you want to teach so some countries especially like the middle east where the salaries are so high uh you also might need um you know a few years of teaching experience some places might require a bachelor's degree like in english but typically it's a bachelor's degree a four-year degree plus a taffle and um that's typically all you need if you are a non-native speaker you might also want to get some kind of uh english proficiency certificates or something like a taffle or an isle or a i think it's called cpe certificates or something like that and um yeah also depending on where you want to go into what kind of field of teaching you know you can get one of those um specializations that i mentioned earlier so here you have to teach english online certificate we have one for business english and we also have one for teaching english to young learners so the more um you know obviously the more uh things you have to add onto your professional portfolio the better that makes sense for some countries like for going to korea you also need to have a criminal background check to get the visa like all those little things you need to do like health check um but yeah typically that's all you need all right sylvia what type of final essay do we have to write for the taffle exam yeah good question so we actually like i said it's a uh summative task oh i forget now how many words it is but it's not very long might be 600 or 900 words i forget um i do something like that and you can choose between the topic we give you like a list of 20 possible topics to write about it's all teaching related um so it's really not that difficult um as long as you you know express your opinion and incorporate a little bit of you know the teaching skills that you have learned in your course then oh thank you marcia marcia says it's 500 words you should work for it you know it better than me um so it's 500 words for the summative task and um yeah you can choose between i think 20 topics teaching related topics oh marcia is at work we are at the end of the term so i'm getting crazy oh i'm so sorry sorry to hear that i hope you'll feel better soon then that means i guess you have vacation very soon if you're at the end of your school year so that's that's exciting at least okay very good all right i think i'm going to take one more question so if anyone has one more question feel free to ask now and then i'm going to get ready and head out soon um yeah it's actually getting quite hot under this light ring lights are great but um yeah getting quite hot now you see i have a drink a lot staying hydrated yeah sure thing sylvia says thank you for being so kind and answering my questions thank you friend uh for asking all your questions that's great that's what i like you know don't be shy any question that you have there there are no stupid questions ask as many as you want let's see one more question i'm gonna take one more question who's gonna ask the last question for today the last question for today second chance says yeah thank you so much i'm being clueless about these things now i am okay thank you again yeah sure that's why i'm here that's why we are doing this weekly sessions you know giving you the opportunity because i know i'm looking at the website sometimes you know there's so much information it can be quite um overwhelming and um so that's why we come on live and we answer all your questions live and you know answer them like this i think that's a great approach because a lot of people might have yeah no time for reading all the information or god knows i mean it's just fun to do it this way as well so i was i'm glad i was able to help you out no problem yeah and like i said um if you are not get tefl certified t-sol certified now is a great chance during our live sessions we offer 30 off so only during our live sessions so this this discount code can only be found during our live sessions it's very special very very special so i'm gonna share um the code one more time before i sign off so everybody can take advantage looks like this so you just click on this or you scan the qr code that you see here or here here here um and you go straight to the application page you fill out your application and um you get you'll see the discounted price on there if you don't let me know um and i'll i'll fix it for you but um it should be working so yeah all right well great thank you so much for coming out at this time i know it was a different time than normal but i think we got a lot of new people today which is great it was really nice meeting all of you and i hope to see you again next week i'll be going live again next week so i hope to see you there um so like and subscribe like our facebook page subscribe to our youtube channel so that you are notified whenever we go live and um yeah please um come again and yeah okay second chance ask where are you from i am from germany and america so my mom is german my dad is american actually but i live in south korea i am in south korea right now it is nine p.m in south korea friday i'm getting ready to sign off now we were live for over an hour now usually we stop after one hour max so i just wanted to make sure that everyone got the chance to ask a question so i hope that all of you did you were not shy ask away also you can ask questions in the replay or just later we get back to you in the comments anyway so don't feel shy and then yeah i'm gonna wish you all a happy weekend have a lot of fun stay safe wherever you are and i hope you're going to come back again next week i'm going to prepare another great topic if you have any topic suggestions feel free to um you know let me know and i'll make a live session around your topic and um yeah okay last question here from bruham i want to go to the camp to cambodia to get in class training are they gonna help me to get a job yes they will they will and it's great um to get an in-class test of course so you're already there and you can already interview at schools and look around so that's a great approach so i had to recommend doing it that way as well especially for cambodia um where it's definitely great to um interview in person so yes i approve do that go ahead all right then thank you so much for tuning in and i'm gonna sign off have a wonderful weekend and see you again next week hopefully and then yeah bye guys bye