TEFL Schroon New York

For me the single biggest personal gain from this course is that I have a desire to want to teach. I have also re-learnt the parts of speech which I have taken for granted since school days. However, tefl is different to schools in so much that, in general, the students want to be in classes for a variety of personal reasons. They are, in the main, a captivated audience and it is up to me to make my lessons, above all, entertaining, varied and suitable to their circumstances, wherever the classes may be held. The requirement to deliver lessons which are varied and entertaining is underpinned in the tefl course. It encourages plenty of student involvement. Furthermore, the tefl course invites students to work under their own initiatives. The english language can be promoted with lots of visuals, e.g. drawings, photos, videos and the like. The teaching plan is not just about course books and syllabuses, like school, it's more about teachers thinking outside the box and making the best use of the circumstances. What I have learnt and plan to put into good use is that I need to be thoughtful and how I am going to set up my classroom. I will be required to use simple language, which is note easy for me and that my voice needs to have the right timbre and variety for all occasions. The correct pronunciation and intonation are all important. I will use gestures and mime to convey meaning and my physical presence and eye contact to maintain discipline. I have leant, after much prompting, how to use the engage phase. I shall use this phase to get my students in the mood for thinking and speaking in english. The importance of a well thought out lesson plan is that it is a good tool for time management, acts as a reference for other teachers, maintains objectives, allows physical aids to be used and pre-empts potential problems with possible solutions. I will not, however, allow lesson plans to take over and plan to be flexible with my approach should more time be needed to achieve their objectives. Other factors which will influence my planned course of action, based on the tefl teaching methods, are that it is important to continually assess students and to know their capabilities. There will always be those students who stronger and those which are weaker. The key is to know those strengths and weaknesses and, as and when necessary, pairing the diverse groups and respecting peer pressure and natural shyness. Respect is necessary and that includes for me as a teacher. A further factor, in my plans, is taking my source of inspiration from the vast amount of material from everyday life and from the tefl course itself, to promote my teachings of the english language. My goal has always got to be the constant improvement of my students by the end of each lesson and the course as a whole. The learning opportunities, which I have gained from the tefl course, have inspired me to select ‘Teaching skills in the classroom (33)' as my Research Article in Task 3.