Teach English in Ashby de la Zouch - TEFL Courses

This course has taught me a great deal about how to structure and plan a class. The curtains have been lifted as far as the methodology and strategy behind lesson planning, as I didn't even know what a lesson plan looked like before enrolling at ITTT. I also learned the ESA format, and the rationale behind each one of its stages. Along the way, I also found a lot of ideas and resources for planning Engage, Study, and Activate activities. Taking this course has also reinforced and lent legitimacy to some of the things I've noticed as a student, such as how crucial it is that students be motivated to learn. Many units in the course provided insight on how a wide range of esl students think, as well as how to engage them and teach them effectively. I now feel better prepared to teach classes for multiple language levels and age groups. My understanding of grammar has also improved significantly since I started this course. I no longer feel threatened and defensive when I encounter linguistic jargon such as “present perfect”, or “modal auxiliary verb”. The unit on phonology was another instance in which I was able to make more sense out of a subject related to english that used to completely mystify me. I consider the ESA format to be one of the most important things I've learned in the past month, and I intend to base most of my lessons on it. I also intend to follow a format similar to the one from the course when lesson planning, making sure to focus not only on where students need to improve, but on where I need to improve as well. I will use what I've learned from the grammar units to identify student errors and explain grammar concepts. They will also prove invaluable in the future if I should decide to teach high school english in the usa, which is highly likely. And I will refer back to the units often whenever I have to teach a new demographic that has been covered in them so that I can tailor my lesson to their needs, such as planning faster-paced lessons in order to retain the attention of young learners. The units that cover how to prepare for things that might go wrong will also give me something to refer back to, so that I'll know better than to make mistakes like letting group activities run long so that students get restless and start gossiping with each other in their native tongue. I will be starting my next job as a first-time teacher, and will need more experience. With that said, I will show up to my first class already knowing a great deal about how do my job thanks to this course.