TEFL Waimea Hawaii

What I have personally gained, well where to begin. Firstly I would like to say that the course was well put together and sometimes very demanding to find the inspiration to answer the questions, which I feel is excellent because it pushes you into areas you wouldn't usually go, brings out other skills you never though you had. At one point the course said that the information was just to get you started but after harnessing these new skills, new ideas and being able to deal with all these new aspects of teaching has really opened my eyes to teaching on a whole. I never doubted the course, but was a little worried in my own abilities and ideas at times, but just buy going through the course and sticking to the guide lines and producing the material , which is then viewed and judged by the teacher overseeing your work and to then get some great comments is a great feeling. This gives you a motivation and a confidence to succeed and its all down to the course and the tutor itself. My tutor was very good at offering advise and his experiences on the way he does things and what works well for him, which was really invaluable to know. So I can certainly say I have a new confidence when it comes to teaching. For the course itself and the things I have studied it has show me how to deal with various situations and the correct way to implement them to gain the best results when using them in the classroom. I am a native Englishman and to go back through the grammar exercises was refreshing to get my skills and knowledge back up to speed. I liked the unit on authentic texts and how to introduce students into the real world and what really happens to help show them, that all the drills and repetitions and difficult grammar exercises have all been worth while. Thus confirming there suspicions of the information they are learning will actually be used in real life situations. Just to show them the proof can be invaluable. The course has taut me what students need in order to learn the new language and how to achieve there goals, for example : - How to prepare the classroom to make the students feel more comfortable and give feelings to the room instead of cold grey walls. Also to change the seating arrangements to help benefit certain exercises to improve student involvement. - To teach grammar with enthusiasm and confidence in order for it to feed to my students and encourage them to do the same. Plus to study all the aspects of my exercises and plans to be prepared for what the students might find difficult and challenging. Plus to show a caring attitude when it comes to your students, which speaks for itself really. - To give enjoyable lessons and trying to encourage more student talk time by using interesting topics with less verbal explanation and more pictures and prompts to help the explanation. Another way is to use great active stage ideas by introducing the students to situations in order for them to experience,express and use what they are learning. The use of role plays, pair work and group work will help increase student talk time and student involvement. - Always the enjoyable activities in the active stage but we can't forget to use repetitions and drills which will help the students pronounce the words or sentences correctly. The study period is very important as we are focusing on the language itself. This will be a vital part of the lesson for correcting students and helping them perform the language correctly. Strategic exercises help them practice the language and then with the feedback afterwards the students are practicing the language in a controlled environment. - Encouragement is one of the most important things for the students, it helps keep them motivated and gives then confidence. Especially just to be noticed can give an air of satisfaction for the student. - But I think this course has given me a basis to build on my knowledge and a hunger to learn more. As especially has opened my eyes that course books are the way to go as a basis for the students path of learning. But must be careful not the let the lessons get too rigid. They are a guide on how to use the language correctly and it is how we as teachers use other teaching ways to introduce the students into the situations they will finally be able to use what they are correctly using from the course book. But you as a teacher can offer the students more by adding better material or substituting better material to help benefit the students. To always keep on top of the students learning ,looking for new and better ways to help the students. And especially to be aware of your own abilities in the classroom. Sometimes we can get carried away with teaching from the course book and the lesson can become too predictable and boring, so we you have to keep our wits about us and play to the students strengths. If the students are on a good thing why stop it. By adding variety and getting rid of predictability can we keep the students interested and focused. All this and more I have learned I hope to be able to use in order to teach with confidence, to be able to motivate my students, providing a relaxed and controlled environment, produce the correct material suitable for the students levels and by making my lessons as interesting and fun as possible, yet offering them the correct learning of the language.