Day 2 - TEFL training for EPIK
So I've completed another 10 hours of intensive training and my 20 hours in class segment. It was another long day and towards the end of the day my mind was turning to mush. Today was spent learning how to teach grammar, and how to get students speaking, listening and reading. The second part of the training centred around producing and teaching a 10 minute lesson.
Overall they didn't go into too much detail with regards to grammar, but it was enough for me to realise how little most people know about grammar. We also practised our tenses, so "simple perfect, perfect continuous and so on. Most of this stuff we know already, but may not know how to construct a sentence and explain to non-speakers how to say it.
The second part of the day we had to teach a 10 minute lesson, we were split into groups and I made sure that I was with other people that took the activity seriously. There were a few people that improvised and thought it was a good idea to carry on improvising, safe to say I didn't want to be in that group!
Each group was given a subject, age group and knowledge. Ours was Adult - Business Class and our subject was Business Idioms. At first we thought "how the heck are we going to do", "I don't know any business idioms". However, we managed to nail some really good idioms, We then incorporated some of these idioms into student/student activities.
Once again we ran out of time in the end, so had to rush it a bit at the end. Overall it was a much better experience than yesterday. I think looking back it was really lucky that we got advanced. It's harder to teach students who literally know nothing. The other classmates did really well considering its only the second time that we've taught. Some of the other classmates didn't annoy me as much as yesterday. Although one of the culprits came in about an hour late, which drives me a bit crazy!
I think this course has taught me how little we actually know about the science behind the English language, and how difficult it must be for learners to learn our language! The English language is a complicated language, and sometimes really illogical.
If you're a Brit I would really recommend The TEFL Academy, The weekend course was really well structured and provided for a good foundation into teaching English.I now have the 100 hours online to look forward to. I'm absolutely shattered, but it feels good.
I need to complete it in 4 weeks, 6 weeks at an absolute push. I can do this and it feels good to be getting somewhere!