#tefltrainer

[learnenglishwithjulia]

What are the advantages of volunteering in TEFL and how TEFL Trainer has it opened up job opportunities for me?

Diary submitted by Reanna C, Erasmus+ internship in Valencia It is clear to me that there are many advantages which have come from my time spent in Spain. Thanks to TEFL Trainer I have not only explored a new culture and improved my language skills, but also developed a better understanding of the options I have for when I finish university. This diary will concentrate on the different job opportunities working abroad has given me.  One main advantage of volunteering in TEFL for me, is that the opportunity has opened up many doors for me in the future. As a languages student I thoroughly enjoy travelling and living abroad. Living in Spain for 5 months has probably been one of the most enjoyable stages of my life so far; therefore, thanks to TEFL Trainer I now know I have the chance to do something like this again in the future if I wish. Whilst living in Spain I was able to absorb a lot of Spanish culture and really explore the city of Valencia to my full potential. However, the biggest advantage for me was the fact that thanks to my job at the language school I was offered free Spanish lessons in another academy. This was another great chance to improve my Spanish, and therefore, I took full advantage of these lessons which I feel have been very beneficial. ‘Speaking the language of the destination country multiplies advantages in the country’ this may include ordering in a restaurant, speaking to a doctor or dealing with bureaucracy (Colby, 2015). This has presented how teaching abroad has entitled me to more than just living in the country. Moreover, I have browsed the TEFL site and realised that there are a number of countries both inside and outside Europe which I can travel to with this qualification, including both summer camps and teaching jobs spanning over several months. This presents how TEFL Trainer has widened my windows of opportunity for after I finish university.  Secondly, the main advantage of volunteering in TEFL for me is that it has helped me realise that teaching is a possible job option for me in the future. I have always resisted the idea of becoming a teacher in the past due to both my parents being teachers, however TEFL has given me the chance to experiment with teaching languages first hand and I have realised I am better at it than I thought. Due to my mentor leaving soon after I joined a language school in Valencia, I was forced into taking a full time teaching role with my own class. At first this was a scary concept to get my head around, however, after a couple of days it became really natural. In addition to this, at the academy I was working with students aged 16 to 70. I realised I prefer this age range because it means that the students have given up their free time to be in your class and have a higher drive to learn, as appose to languages being a compulsory subject in a secondary school. ‘Older learners progress faster in the initial stages of language acquisition’ (Cenoz, 2009) and this may be because of their increased desire to learn. Consequently, TEFL has helped me develop a few key ideas surrounding the criteria I look for in a teaching job.  To conclude, the main advantage of TEFL for me is that I now feel more confident about my future. As I have mentioned in this diary, I now see teaching as a valid job option. Furthermore, thanks to TEFL there are countless destinations around the world that will allow me to take advantage of my qualification. This has made me feel more secure and I can now look forward to teaching abroad again in the future.  Sources: H. E. Colby (2015), Unlock Your TEFL Success, Published by GD Publishing LTD, (accessed: 14/07/19) J. Cenoz (2009), Towards Multilingual Education: Basque Educational Research from an International Perspective, Published by Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, (accessed: 14/07/19)  Read the full article

[learnenglishwithjulia]

Why did you decide to become a Teacher?

Why did you decide to become a Teacher?  Diary submitted by Christion W., Erasmus+ internship in Valencia I decided to become an English teacher because the opportunity crossed my path during my final year of study at University. Originally, I had no intention of teaching but my sandwich degree had given me the opportunity to do so. There was an internship opportunity posted online through my university portal. The opportunity had instantly grabbed my attention and now my passion for Teaching English has been re-ignited.  I have always wanted to teach in the past but I didn’t know which type of teacher I would become until I was exposed to teaching English at a private school in Alicante. I had previously taught English in Spain and I found it quite enjoyable. I was teaching younger students from the classroom and there was an amazing feeling I got when teaching non-English speakers. I find it quite rewarding being a teacher, especially when I see those smiles on my student's faces when they progress with their English. Carrie Lam, who is a Canadian certified teacher from Toronto posted a blog stating the 11 rewards of being a teacher where one of the rewards is making a positive impact on the lives of students. With reference to this blog post, it means a lot to me because I am the one that has been teaching them and advocating their success. Michelle Manno states in another blog post that becoming a teacher enables one to inspire others. Being a teacher has made me recognize how much of a difference a devoted teacher can make on a local community as students come from various backgrounds with different income levels. When I was younger there were many teachers that had inspired me and made me become the person who I am today and I want to also be an inspiration to others.  Taking up teaching again is something I knew would cross my path and this time around, I am well on track to receive a TEFL qualification. This is a great opportunity for me to earn this credited certificate, enabling me to teach English as a foreign language in many parts of the world which is an added bonus for me. it is highly important for me to travel as I enjoy learning about different cultures and traditions as I believe that this can open my mind and view the world from a different perspective. Furthermore, I have always had a passion to make a difference in the world and I feel as though teaching English is a way that I can do so.  Read the full article

[learnenglishwithjulia]

Why did you decide to become a Teacher?

Why did you decide to become a Teacher?  Diary submitted by Christion W., Erasmus+ internship in Valencia I decided to become an English teacher because the opportunity crossed my path during my final year of study at University. Originally, I had no intention of teaching but my sandwich degree had given me the opportunity to do so. There was an internship opportunity posted online through my university portal. The opportunity had instantly grabbed my attention and now my passion for Teaching English has been re-ignited.  I have always wanted to teach in the past but I didn’t know which type of teacher I would become until I was exposed to teaching English at a private school in Alicante. I had previously taught English in Spain and I found it quite enjoyable. I was teaching younger students from the classroom and there was an amazing feeling I got when teaching non-English speakers. I find it quite rewarding being a teacher, especially when I see those smiles on my student's faces when they progress with their English. Carrie Lam, who is a Canadian certified teacher from Toronto posted a blog stating the 11 rewards of being a teacher where one of the rewards is making a positive impact on the lives of students. With reference to this blog post, it means a lot to me because I am the one that has been teaching them and advocating their success. Michelle Manno states in another blog post that becoming a teacher enables one to inspire others. Being a teacher has made me recognize how much of a difference a devoted teacher can make on a local community as students come from various backgrounds with different income levels. When I was younger there were many teachers that had inspired me and made me become the person who I am today and I want to also be an inspiration to others.  Taking up teaching again is something I knew would cross my path and this time around, I am well on track to receive a TEFL qualification. This is a great opportunity for me to earn this credited certificate, enabling me to teach English as a foreign language in many parts of the world which is an added bonus for me. it is highly important for me to travel as I enjoy learning about different cultures and traditions as I believe that this can open my mind and view the world from a different perspective. Furthermore, I have always had a passion to make a difference in the world and I feel as though teaching English is a way that I can do so.  Read the full article

[learnenglishwithjulia]

What has been your experience with TEFL courses Online? Easier or more difficult than expected?

What has been your experience with TEFL courses Online? Diary submitted by Chloe L. Valencia Has it been easier or more difficult than expected? The TEFL trainer online course was very clear and well-structured and it gave me a good amount of knowledge about various aspects of the English language. I completed the course while I was in Madrid and Valencia. I believe that the topics were well ranged and they included not only grammar rules but phonetics was also explained. I believe that the videos were beneficial because you could hear how words or phonemes were pronounced and then I was able to explain phonology a lot better in the classes. Not only did it help in regards to phonetics but it also helped me explain grammar more precisely to the students. In addition, the course gave lots of detailed information, in regards to the different exams that the students can take and explaining all of the types and the levels they equate to. I found this part extremely useful as beforehand I had never taught students to prepare for those exams and I was not really aware of the variety that exist. Additionally in the classes sometimes students do not only have grammar/ vocabulary related questions but also questions about exams that they can do, often if students plan to do a year abroad with their university they need to obtain an English certificate prior. The course consists of 140 hours, however due to the fact that this is the only TEFL course I have ever done I am not able to compare it to others. I had 9 months to complete this course which proved to be ample time, I had studied the English language in some detail and therefore the grammar aspect of the language did not prove to be that difficult, however there were some aspects which were fresh to me and therefore they were slightly more challenging to begin with – namely the different exams and phonetics. One thing I would have liked the course to had have was when it came to the exams, it did not specifically state how long you had for each one before clicking on to complete it. Nonetheless, overall the course was well presented and I think that it was a good idea to put the grammar into practice with the quizzes at the end of each part. It has been stated that “Online TEFL courses are a good introduction that will help you see if you may actually be interested in teaching English abroad.” It shows the actual concepts that would be taught. Furthermore I really enjoyed the flexibility of this course and would recommend to people in the future. Reference: The Pros & Cons of Online vs On-Site TEFL Courses https://www.goabroad.com/articles/tefl-courses/pros-cons-of-online-vs-on-site-tefl-courses  #erasmusplus #erasmus #outwardmobility #teflprograms #tesol 

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[learnenglishwithjulia]

Being taught English grammar from a German point of view

Teaching in Western Europe - outside of Spain Diary submitted by Lee R., Valencia “Being taught English grammar from a German point of view.” To many English people, it is often assumed that everyone outside of the U.K. is able to speak English fluently so there is no need to learn a language. Moreover, in the case of Germans speaking English, the English are left dumbfounded by the ease at which Germans can speak. Regardless of this, what are some of the complications that Germans face when learning English grammar? This section will demonstrate some of the major hardships that Germans may encounter. As first glance, a potentially problematic aspect of learning is the part of English that relates more to Latin-based languages: progressive forms. Although German and English are grammatically alike with regards to prepositional verbs, German does not contain a progressive form. Instead, one would only use the simple form of tenses, for example, “I do” and “I am doing” are both “Ich mache”. In addition, the gerund form may seem confusing for Germans, especially in the context of using it in the form of a noun and adjective. This is the same form in English (i.e. The smoking man vs. Smoking). However, in German, it is broken down into its own distinct adjectival form (Infinitive + ‘D’) and an infinitive. Example: “Der laufende Mann“ = “the running man”  “Laufen” = “Running” Secondly, a small yet significant difference to note too is that every German noun will always begin with a capital letter in written form. As a result, one could say that this may become confusing when deciding which nouns to capitalise in English. Furthermore, punctuation such as commas can be challenging as there are far more rules that do not appear in English. For instance; the word ‘that’ in subordinate clauses is always preceded by a comma in German, therefore, many Germans will say “I believe, that” when it is not grammatically correct. On the other hand, according to Ba (2016), what Germans have most difficulty with is the concept of auxiliary verbs in the formation of questions and negation – what she describes as a “’Psychological’ hurdle”. This is because German would still use the main verb. An example to describe this would be with the question “Do you speak German?”. In German, one would say “Speak you German?” (“Sprichst du Deutsch?”). Due to this, it may take a lot more time to catch on to the structure. Fortunately, this has been made easier through services such as Netflix, where English subtitling is available so that people may have more exposure to these structures. What is often underestimated between both English and German is not only the number of cognates that they have in common, but also those that are also ‘false friends’. A prime example of this - what many people struggle with - is the verb ‘to become’. In German, the verb that is similar is ‘bekommen’, which literally translates into ‘to earn’, ‘to get’ or ‘to receive’. Subsequently, many people say, “I’m becoming a hamburger.” rather than “I’m getting a hamburger.”. In relation to pronunciation, ‘ð’ and ‘θ’ sounds are tough for Germans as the sound has not existed for hundreds of years in most northern Germanic countries (Boston Language Institute, 2013). This results in words such as ‘the’ and ‘think’ being pronounced as ‘zəˈ’ and ‘sɪŋk’ – something that is often stereotyped in the media. In conclusion, despite both languages being Germanic, there are multiple obstacles that can affect grammar apprehension, specifically in the context of auxiliary verbs and how these structures do not exist. In my opinion and according to what I have been told by Germans, the main problems lay with pronunciation and auxiliary forms. Bibliography Ba, S. (2016). What difficulties do Germans learning English encounter, any examples? . Retrieved from https://www.duolingo.com/comment/14062527/What-difficulties-do-Germans-learning-English-encounter-any-examples-Are-apostrophes-used Boston Language Institute. (2016). Having problems with pronouncing ‘th’?. Retrieved from https://bostonlanguage.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/having-problems-pronouncing-th/

#erasmusplus #erasmus #outwardmobility #tefltrainer #teflcourses #teflprograms #tesol  Read the full article

[learnenglishwithjulia]

How can we combine learning with leisure?

Diary submitted by Eve P. Ideas for an out-of-class English club Student Motivation/Classroom Management One of the key reasons for students not improving their English with sufficient speed is that apart from in their classes, they do not engage with the language in their own time. When students have no involvement with their target language at home, they lack interest and are slow to progress. By participating in interesting and fun activities through practising English, the learning of the language is more accessible, enjoyable and engaging. Out-of-class English clubs are the opportunity to inspire this engagement in the students’ leisure time. In order to engage the students in their study of English beyond the classroom, I have found that we must incorporate activities that are enjoyable for them. Rather than studying grammar exercises, in their downtime students should affiliate English with the topics and interests that they have in their own language. I have often found through teaching that students become their most animated and enthusiastic when discussing something important and relevant to them, and so for an out-of-class English club to prove popular it should cater to the students’ enjoyment.  The best choice of effective and fun ideas for an English club will likely depend on the age of the club members. Younger members may work better in organised activities while adults may thrive in relaxed activities that encourage discussion. Club debates would be an effective way of getting the members use English in a more natural way than they would in a classroom. Through focusing on current or controversial topics that everyone has an opinion about, the participants would be kept interested and excited and have the opportunity to learn vocabulary related to the topic. The members could also take it in turns to choose a topic for debate, keeping it relevant to them. Another idea for an enjoyable and engaging activity is listening to English music. The most popular music in the world is sung in English and there will never be a lack of worthwhile resources. The lyrics could be provided for the members to read through and interpret, using the songs message as a discussion topic. Some words could be eliminated from the song for the students to fill in as a listening exercise too. Watching films and TV series are another enjoyable leisure activity that can be beneficial for English practise and improvement. Not only is watching them good for listening but they also serve as cultural windows into various aspects of the English-speaking world. Through these fun and beneficial activities, learning English becomes less of a chore and more of a hobby. Through utilising productive pastimes in out-of-class clubs the learning of the language is combined with leisure and proves more engaging for the learners. Reference: Learning English.com – Creating fun English Club activities to Learn English, Available at : https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/creating-fun-club-activities-to-learn-english/3958234.html

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20-hour Specialist Course: Teaching Young Learners

How to teach Young Learners? Sign up to our comprehensive and accredited 20-hour Teaching Young Learners Specialist Course Discounted from £79 to £59 Read the full article

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TEFL Crash Course: Weekend Courses in Spain

TEFL Crash Course Weekend Courses in Spain, Madrid £399 20-hour classroom-based TEFL course in Madrid + Online Course Totalling 180 hours, Level 5  Read the full article