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As far as I can remember, I always wished to become a teacher in a foreign country. The most thrilling part about it was to convey knowledge and extend my cultural awareness and exposure. When I heard about that online course after graduating from university, I immediately thought it would be the best option for me in order to achieve one of my greatest dreams. After the completion of this course, I will move to Tokyo, Japan with the strong will to teach English to all different types of students, regardless of their age or current English skills. Now that I am almost done with this online course, this essay gives me the opportunity to take a look at my improvements and achievements so far. I will more particularly focus on what I feel is the best thing I learned through this TESOL course, that is to say the overall complexity of being a teacher in terms of cultural awareness. Truth be told, and taking my lifelong respect towards teachers into account, I never came to realise until now the great deal of responsibility this role carries, neither did I realise the astonishingly numerous amount of factors that ought to be considered when teaching in a foreign country. The first point I became aware of is that we, teachers abroad, need to be extremely mindful of cultural differences in the classroom and how these can impact teaching and learning outcomes, both inside and outside the classroom. Without this awareness, we risk creating a cultural gap that can hinder positive relationships with students and their families. As a matter a fact, this course put the emphasis on what I thought is the major component of a successful teaching career; establishing a healthy and respect-based relationship between the teacher and the students. Regarding the case of teacher working abroad, this TEFOL course showed me that the key point was to create a culturally responsive environment, while adding a pinch of entertainment and light-hearted atmosphere. As a teacher, you cannot create a culturally responsive classroom if you don’t take the time to get to know your students as individuals. Establishing set times to sit down with a student can give them a chance to speak about themselves in a more personal setting. Some students may not feel comfortable talking about their life outside of school with the whole class listening. That is the reason why we ought to show a genuine interest in each student's understanding of content and their general well-being. Creating a culturally responsive classroom is all about creating an environment in which students of all cultures feel comfortable and ready to learn. However, teaching itself is much more than a formal teacher-student approach, it actually requires a certain degree of sensitivity and delicacy in the handling of the classroom. In fact this TESOL course opened my eyes on the fact that there is a tremendously deep discrepancy between how people generally perceive the act of teaching and what it actually implies. On another note, it overall helped me to improve my self-awareness and confidence by reinforcing my will to pursue the path I had always dreamed about.
