Teach English in Cicun Zhen - Zibo Shi

Have you ever wondered why English is known to be THE universal language? Why is it that when you travel and ask for directions from locals, you speak English? And, not to mention, when these locals guide you through your way around the city, you’d encounter some who are not articulate and confident enough and still challenged whether in their vocabulary, sentence formation, grammar, and of course, pronunciation and accent. In this fast-paced technology age now, we do know that there are certain applications which we can download for free and for a fee over the Internet right at the convenience of our hands – our smart phones. This fact, however, is still very limited resulting to foreigners still using English if the app can’t do its job. This, for sure is one of the things that people would think of as to how English was coined as “the commonly used language in the world”. Now, in the realm of learning and teaching, there’s no argument why English is a subject commonly taught, and if not, mandated to be taught in majority of schools around the globe. This can even be challenging for countries whose mother tongue is English, all the more for someone who feels “obliged” to learn and acquire it just because it’s part of his academic life. Life after the academe doesn’t really let you entirely escape the use of English especially if you belong to a working environment wherein speaking it is in fact universal. For instance, you work in an international company which has a very diverse cultural background per se, people communication through phone and e-mail in – what do you expect -- ENGLISH. This is where TEFL does its course – like, literally. Now what exactly is TEFL? According to Google, TEFL is the teaching of English to people whose first language is not English, especially people from a country where English is not spoken. TEFL is an abbreviation for 'teaching English as a foreign language'. Every teacher and student has his/her own story to tell in terms of English as a foreign language. As for most teachers who want to teach abroad, taking TEFL courses (whether face-to-face or online classes) is something that is not on their priority list. In the long run however, professionals who partake TEFL courses would get to understand and appreciate the beauty of it. It’s like taking medicine when you’re sick – at first, you wouldn’t like the taste, but you get to appreciate it because of the way it heals you. BUT, there’s a catch, you have to be religious enough to take it on time, and with all discipline to make you feel better. The process is very basic though, for you to be able to teach, you must learn first and get that feel of being a student to be able to effectively understand on a student’s perspective before raising the bar higher to a teacher’s level. With regard to the topic involved, you definitely have to slowly learn from the mistakes primarily because this time, you’ll have to pass on the knowledge to both young and old learners in parallel. Constant reading and research would definitely help as times change, which means learning and teaching styles vary as well. Teaching means encouraging, and this is one thing that TEFL courses would cover, it’s a highlight as a matter of truth. Once you have finished the course, one thing’s for sure, your perception of English will change – whether you wish to pursue teaching, whether you become discouraged or encouraged, whether negative or positive, you choose. For me, I choose the latter. Choose to be happy!