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TEFL Lawrence Nebraska

Check out Tesolcourse.com about TEFL Lawrence Nebraska and apply today to be certified to teach English abroad.

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This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned:

said:
(8) Why Complete a tefl course Before signing up for ITT's online tefl course, I had been teaching esl at a university for almost 2 years. I found the job very rewarding and tried very hard to prepare lessons that my students would find enjoyable but also valuable to their future study. I was even entered into a teaching competition among 100 other teachers (Foreign and chinese teachers) and was awarded 2nd place for my energy, organization, and lesson planning skills within the classroom. I felt proud of myself for achieving such a high honor with very little experience teaching and absolutely no experience in teaching esl. I knew of other teachers that were tefl certified and often inquired about the training but never felt that I needed the course myself. However, after completing this course, I found that my previous ideas of the training were completely wrong. I believe that doing the ITT tefl course was the best thing for me not only as an esl teacher but as a native english speaker as well. As a teacher in china, my students constantly complained to me that the grammar and rules of english were too difficult to understand. I did not sympathize with them because I felt they were focusing on the wrong concepts and not trying hard to follow the simple patterns I mastered at an early age. I understand that the chinese language has very few grammar changes but I thought surely english could not pose as much of a problem as a language that has 4 different tones in Mandarin and 9 different tones when speaking Cantonese. However, tones are less of a problem when you are speaking about a language that has 3 different tenses combined with 4 different ways to use each tense. While I remember learning this information in grade school, re-visiting the rules of grammar and tenses were so eye opening to me when taking this tefl course. I forgot how simple things such as “had gone and had been gone” can completely change the idea of the thought you are trying to express. Because of slang in spoken english, basic tense and grammatical rules are often omitted leaving the speaker to believe that the way we speak is the true way the idea is to be expressed in any form. After taking this course, I am extremely focused now on how I “say” things versus how I would “write” them. I am confident that even the essay I am writing now could be covered in red-ink of tense errors or grammar mistakes. As a teacher we often forget how important lesson planning is for a classroom of different levels. Using the tefl course, I learned the value of ESA. While ESA seems simple, the impact it can have on a good lesson plan versus a bad lesson plan is huge. The different structures such as the patchwork or boomerang method can help add more excitement and enjoyment to a class that often follows the straight arrow ESA method. The course also provided many useful ideas of how to proceed in each of the stages, which I must say I have struggled with in some of my classes. I wanted to find ways to change up activities or find new ways to approach a topic. Using this course, I learned a variety of different tools and methods that will make my classes more interesting and also will ensure that the students are actually gaining something from the material. Prior to the tefl course, I was very apprehensive about teaching young learners or even beginning students. Now, I feel that I am confident to tackle any level of student. The tools and tip giving in this course allows me to use a variety of methods that will be successful with any level. Also, doing the different lesson plans in some of the units allowed me to practice ideas using different levels. I was only using the “intermediate level” when I was given a choice, because I felt the most comfortable with this age group. However some units specified which age group I must plan for, this forced me to think outside of my comfort zone and by doing so I realized that I am just as effective with young and beginner learners as I am with adult or advanced. The final piece that cannot fail to be mentioned is having the online tutor. This is a very important piece to the tefl course experience. There were many times when I was completely wrong about an idea or sentence structure. Having the tutor helped me get back on track. The tutor was also available to answer any other questions I had about certain topics or ideas presented within the course. The tutor was not only knowledgeable but also supporting and encouraged me the entire time. I felt like I had a real friend helping me through the process not just a computer generated auto message saying I passed each unit correctly. I was very appreciative of the advice, suggestions, and support I received from my tutor. Overall, I can say nothing negative about the ITT tefl experience. I feel any and all teachers who choose to teach esl courses whether at home or overseas should be required to complete this course. It gives a great overview of the challenges and rewards the teacher will face in their new career. I also feel the course is useful for teachers such as myself who have been teaching esl for a while. I can reflect back on my previous experiences as I answer questions or look at possible situations the units ask me to solve. In this way, I see that the course is tailored very closely to my experiences and I can see the immediate benefit of the course for my future work as an esl teacher.


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