Check out Tesolcourse.com about TEFL Big Lake Texas and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad.
You could also be interested in:
This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned:
Primarily I have gained a deeper understanding of (and sympathy for) what learners of english face, when studying english. I often felt relieved that I never had to study english as a second language! However, in my current situation, I am surrounded by people who did study english as an additional language, and speak english very well. Interestingly, I am also surrounded by foreigners who have studied chinese as an additional language without the same level of success.
From a technical point of view, I have learned a lot about the structure of english, the idiosyncrasies and emphasis which all weigh heavily on the meaning of words or sentences. A rewarding aspect to this is that I have found that when I listen to non-native english speakers talk, I can pick up where their difficulties are. For example; I can now pinpoint where the tense is incorrect – even if just between present perfect or past simple. I even have conversations with people where the actual dialogue is very fluent… but the other person misses my tone of emphasis on parts of the sentence and therefore misses my meaning. I do not think I would have been so precisely ‘diagnostic' (! LOL) prior to doing this course.
I have come to appreciate that learning an additional language is not a linear process. Actually, it is a constant work in progress, with many facets (such as reading, writing, speaking, listening) which may or may not develop at the same rate. There are plateaus, confidence issues, situational factors and logistics to contend with. As a teacher of english I am going to be one phase of the students learning journey. My own experience of trying to learn chinese has been an interesting comparison for me while completing these units. I hope any students I teach english to, will have more success than I have had with chinese!
From a practical point, I feel I have put a lot of effort into my lesson plans. Putting a lesson together had been something I had wanted to learn on the course, as I feel it was an area of weakness for me – I am often aware, however, that the actual lesson may flow in a completely different direction. I can't say I enjoy doing lesson plans, but I do enjoy the research that goes into them.
Finally, I have developed a better idea about where my strengths are with teaching. I am fairly good at observing children/people and then being able to work out what they need. I can be creative with limited resources. I can be firm and consistent with my expectations on student behavior.
The things I need to be more mindful of are; Being organized outside and inside the class room, speaking slowly and at an appropriate level for the students, being confident in front of a group of people for a whole hour – at least! I'm sure all of these things will balance out with some more experience.
