While everyone has a different reason as to why they are taking a
tefl course, everyone can agree that there are countless benefits in completing one. I have a strong belief that understanding one another can only be accomplished by engulfing oneself into another's culture. That being said, I have always dreamed of living in another country and found teaching
english as a great way to earn an income, simultaneously. To accomplish this goal, I sought out to earn a
tefl certification. While this reason was my own, others will always have their own reason to be
tefl certified. The chance to go to another country, their love for teaching, learning another culture, the list goes on and on, and I assure you … never-ending. Thus, the question, “Why complete a
tefl course?” can be answered with many different variations. However, after completing the course, I have found that many of my initial reasons have changed. I have found that completing a
tefl course has provided a strong foundation of
english grammar and properly prepared me for the challenges a
teacher faces.
As a native
english born speaker, speaking
english comes natural; so one would think. I have been studying
english all my life and practice it every day for 25 years … what can I possibly learn from an
english course? Then I got the learning material and opened it up to find present tense, past tense, future tense, modal, phrasal verbs, parts of speech, etc. I thought to myself, “What is all this.” The foundation of
english grammar is something we use everyday yet we lack a strong understanding as to how and why we use it. The basics of a native language, in my case
english, may have never been taught and just expected to just ‘know.'
tefl course taught me the foundation of
english. While I will always be learning new information, I feel very comfortable with sharing and teaching this information to new learners. Without
tefl, I would have been facing many difficult and embarrassing challenges ahead of me.
I was very impressed that
tefl did not just focus on
english but, also, the challenges a
tefl teacher would face. From managing a classroom to ESA lesson planning,
tefl course covered it and more. From past experiences shared by other
teachers overseas, I have found motivating students and classroom activities were paramount in making their classroom successful. Lesson 10's video focused on how both motivating and classroom activities play a key role in the success and failure of the ‘example'
teacher.
tefl used the video giving great insight and keys to overcome many challenges that a
teacher would face.
Quite frankly, without the requirement that
teachers must be
tefl certified, I would have never taken the course. Quite frankly … I am extremely happy it became a requirement. These schools entrust you to teach their students a new language. Students put their faith into you as an
english expert. Would it be fair to schools and
teachers to go there completely unprepared? Absolutely not! Completing a
tefl course lays the foundation of
english that is expected of you and as for first year foreign language
teachers; you get a profound understanding of the expectations that lay ahead of you.