Chris Westergaard from The Language House TEFL Prague Interview
We sat down and interviewed Chris Westergaard of The Language House TEFL in Prague about teaching abroad, living in Prague, TEFL courses and other things. Here’s some of the snippets from our conversation.
Q: Tell us a little bit about your background Chris.
Chris Westergaard: I started teaching English when I was 20 years old and basically fell in love with it. I started teaching in Vienna during a study abroad program and then moved to Prague after graduating university. From that moment, I’ve been teaching English ever since.
Q: How did you start The Language House TEFL?
Chris Westergaard: After I had been teaching for a few years, I knew I could create a great course. I didn’t plan on actually training it, but I knew it could be done. It’s a long story that involved a lot of hard work, but 2004, we had our first course. We’ve been running courses monthly at The Language House TEFL in Prague ever since.
Q: You’ve been living in Prague for a large percentage of your life, what do you like most about it?
Chris Westergaard: Prague is an amazing city. I fell in love it with it the first time I visited. I could go on and on about what I like about it, but it’s literally my favourite city in the world. I’m lucky to be able to live here and do what I do.
Q: What do you currently do at The Language House TEFL? How would you describe your job?
Chris Westergaard: When I first started the school, I really did everything. That included a lot of the training, course creation, observations, marketing, managing...etc. I’m lucky now to have a great staff of 14 people who help out with all of these things. Most of my job now is trying to make people happy. I think most people would still consider me as being the ‘face’ of The Language House TEFL. I still do training, but most of my work is on the internet, marketing, helping out with trainees and managing the staff.
Q: I assume then that you don’t teach as much as you used to. Do you miss it?
Chris Westergaard: Yes I do! It’s hard to manage teaching regular ESL classes anymore. I really do enjoy teaching regular English classes, but it can be hard to find the time. What I miss most about regular teaching classes is meeting all of the great Czech students and having a consistent class. A great thing about teaching in a foreign country is that you make all of these great connections in the country you’re teaching in. It’s fun to communicate with all of these people.
Q: What advice would you give people interested in teaching abroad?
Chris Westergaard: I would just tell them to do it. There’s a lot of great TEFL certification courses out there and it’s pretty much a regulated and legitimate industry. Just do some basic research on a training program and make your move. I always recommend taking a TEFL/CELTA course abroad. This applies to native English speakers. If you’re not a native speaker, do some research first because it can be harder to find jobs in certain areas.
Q: What are the biggest challenges that new teachers have in the classroom?
Chris Westergaard: The biggest hurdle is for new teachers to understand that teaching is a skill. There’s so much of a technical side to being good in the classroom. Many new TEFL teachers aren’t aware of this. So, when they come into their TEFL course, they can get discouraged when they encounter problems. Most people feel that they’ll be perfect right from the jump. That’s the not the case. Teaching is a complete skill. There’s techniques that need to be learned and practiced.
Q: The Language House TEFL has become an extremely popular TEFL certification in Prague, and by all standards, worldwide. What do you contribute to the success of the course?
Chris Westergaard: As mentioned, we have a great staff. We all get along well with each other. Students feel this from us and it creates a great environment for learning. The Language House TEFL community is also a big plus. Since I started the company at a young age, it made sense for me to create a community. I knew what it was like to be alone abroad. So on our course, we try to help with everything. This includes staff helping graduates, but also graduates helping each other. So, even years after graduating from our TEFL course, people still feel connected to The Language House TEFL. They look at it as being an important part of their abroad experience. I think most courses don’t or can’t do this.
Q: The Language House TEFL mentions their graduate community a lot. Can you describe more about that?
Chris Westergaard: Sure! So during the TEFL course, we really try to make current students bond with each other. This includes having a great two-day Prague orientation and various weekly outings to show students interesting areas of Prague and the Czech Republic. During the course, we get past graduates to take the current students out. This helps everyone to get to know each other more and bond with past classes. We throw giant parties too. I mean GIANT parties. Last year, we rented out an entire castle, made it a costume party theme and made it open bar. We are always doing things like this to get our graduates together. The graduates, themselves, also help with all of these things. We have theatre groups, improve groups, poetry groups...etc. So, at any time, there’s always something going on. I think when you promote a productive and caring group, you’ll get that. It’s kind of it’s own entity now with everyone knowing each other. I think at any time, we probably have 200+ graduates living in Prague. We also encourage this community worldwide and have graduate groups in Korea, Vietnam, Thailand...etc.
Q: If someone wanted to get the most out of their teaching abroad experience, what life lessons would you give them?
Chris Westergaard: I would tell them that the experience is probably temporary. Most people teach for a year or two, and that’s fine. Make the most out of it. Learn the language if you can, meet new people and open yourself up to new experiences. Don’t worry too much about money if you don't have to. If you are coming from the UK, Canada or USA, you probably won’t make as much money teaching as say working in an office back home. Don’t worry about that. Be in this thing for the experience. There’s so many life lessons you can learn from jumping out of your comfort zone. Embrace the change and the experience.
Q: Czech is a hard language to learn. If someone is only teaching for a year in Prague, do you recommend them even trying to learn the language?
Chris Westergaard: Of course! This applies to any place you are living: Learn the language! Here’s a tip though, you don’t have to fluent or even nearly fluent. Just try with the basics first. So many people (especially Americans and Brits) never make the effort. You won’t learn the language by just living in the country. That’s a myth. You have to actively practice. The benefits of speaking the language, even a little bit, is that people treat you so much better. Also, you’ll leave with something. It’s embarrassing to live in a country for a year or two and not learn anything. Make the effort, study, practice, and you’ll find the experience abroad much more rewarding.
Chris is the owner of The Language House TEFL in Prague. If you want to find out more about this TEFL course, please look at their website The Language House TEFL