TEFL people part 2
Teaching English as a foreign language can be a very rewarding profession. Knowledge of English is now such a necessary business skill that a good teacher can really make a difference to a person's life. The problem is that the poor work conditions in large areas of the TEFL industry drive a lot of teachers away.
I was a typical example of where TEFL has a problem. I'd just left university and I wanted to live abroad. Teaching English was the only way I could do it. So like hundreds of other young people I went onto the TEFL employment market. When your employees are mostly youngsters looking for a gap year experience you have no reason to pay well. I was paid the equivalent of a shop assistant's wage and there were no pay rises so my far more experienced colleagues got the same. I had a month's training from a very good school but I was still very inexperienced and unable to teach properly. If I'd been older I would have been able to make up for my knowledge gaps but I was 21 and all at sea. I worked for a private school and the problem with private schools is that they're there to make money. My boss decided that there was profit to be had in teaching English to kindergarteners. She told the parents that I had had a lot of experience teaching children whereas I really had none. Four or five is far too young to be learning a foreign language in the classroom. The kids didn't know how to behave and they had no concept of what a foreign language was. I had no idea how to control and get through to children that young. Children think differently so you need a whole set of different skills. I had one student who was very good at English because she'd had a British au pair. That's the definitely the way to do it. The class lasted all year and was an absolute disaster. I had no idea what to do with them so by the end we were just watching the smurfs.
I'm sure teachers working for large organisations like the British Council have a much better time of it than I had. I was a bad teacher because I went into it for the wrong reasons, I had no experience and no back up.
I was a typical example of where TEFL has a problem. I'd just left university and I wanted to live abroad. Teaching English was the only way I could do it. So like hundreds of other young people I went onto the TEFL employment market. When your employees are mostly youngsters looking for a gap year experience you have no reason to pay well. I was paid the equivalent of a shop assistant's wage and there were no pay rises so my far more experienced colleagues got the same. I had a month's training from a very good school but I was still very inexperienced and unable to teach properly. If I'd been older I would have been able to make up for my knowledge gaps but I was 21 and all at sea. I worked for a private school and the problem with private schools is that they're there to make money. My boss decided that there was profit to be had in teaching English to kindergarteners. She told the parents that I had had a lot of experience teaching children whereas I really had none. Four or five is far too young to be learning a foreign language in the classroom. The kids didn't know how to behave and they had no concept of what a foreign language was. I had no idea how to control and get through to children that young. Children think differently so you need a whole set of different skills. I had one student who was very good at English because she'd had a British au pair. That's the definitely the way to do it. The class lasted all year and was an absolute disaster. I had no idea what to do with them so by the end we were just watching the smurfs.
I'm sure teachers working for large organisations like the British Council have a much better time of it than I had. I was a bad teacher because I went into it for the wrong reasons, I had no experience and no back up.
posted by Piccola Inglese at 1:49 PM
1 Comments:
Well, this is interesting. I did a blog search for barista training and found your site. When I get some time I'll come back and find out where barista training appears and how it relates - if it even does. Take care - nice work.
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