TEFL Sapporo

Personally, I have gained a lot of confidence in my teaching abilities, both in my knowledge of english grammar and in my understanding of teaching principles. When I began the course, I already had a good background in leadership, but I wasn't exactly sure how to channel that into a classroom setting. Now, with my knowledge of the ESA lesson plan and different aspects of classroom management, I feel better qualified as an educator, not just a leader. I know what types of activities will benefit students and in what way, i.e. a study activity versus an activate activity. I have a wealth of resources not only from the units themselves, but the dozens of outside resources listed. Also, through the feedback I received, I feel comfortable knowing my lessons are workable in a classroom setting. As far as the grammar units go, they were extremely helpful. Being a natural english speaker, I was aware of all the structures taught in the units, but did not have a wealth of ideas on how to concisely teach these concepts. After this course, and especially all the lesson plans, I feel that I could come up with suitable teaching ideas that non-native speakers might understand. I particularly enjoyed the video unit as it brought together a number of aspects from different units and it really illustrated how a teacher can set the tone of the classroom. I also particularly enjoyed the lessons on teaching receptive and productive skills as I feel like these types of lessons are easily overlooked in the midst of vocabulary and grammar, which is unfortunate as these lessons can be tailored around the students' interests and are equally important for fluency. All in all, each unit helped me become more prepared to teach esl and I know that I will refer back to them for resources and inspiration.