Coming to teach in South Korea straight after graduating from college, and with no formal education or training in
tefl had its pros and cons. I was under the care of a co-
teacher, who also had no previous experience teaching
english, so together, we did the best we could and used the textbook A LOT. However, after a few years in the schools, and learning from different
teachers, and experiencing a few training sessions here and there, I realized that coming into the
english as a second language system without any prior knowledge wasn't exactly a bad thing. I've absorbed so much information, learned a lot from other
teachers and also from the students, and have managed to create a sense of my own teaching style and ability. Coming into the industry as a blank canvas was OK but I very quickly saw that I needed to know more.
Taking this course was the right decision as I needed more specific information about what to teach and how to teach it. I agreed with a lot of the course objectives, and the course brought a lot of answers to some of my concerns. The course pointed out a lot of things about adult learners, which I am grateful for because I currently work exclusively with elementary school students. I think the greatest thing I realized from this course was how disadvantaged and weak I was without proper knowledge of grammar. I had been relying completely on my basic native language skills, that I couldn't give my students more in depth descriptions or explanations about specific grammar functions. As a native speaker, I definitely have been taking my language skills for granted, and would definitely benefit from learning the grammar functions in more depth and detail.
I hope that this course will be the beginning of my proactive endeavor to hone my
english skills. I have been too dependent on just my conversation skills, and I hope to enhance my repertoire, with more grammar and more dynamic teaching ideas. With this course, I realized how limited I was being, and occasionally with writing each unit worksheet, I was reminded that I still have some creative ideas churning in my mind.