Learning to teach English to speakers of other languages

Finally I did the course. After a delay of nearly two years I've been able to do the CELTA course which has qualified me to teach English as a Foreign/Second language. The original reason for doing the course was to help me find work when we moved to Spain. That may or may not happen but in the meantime, it's another avenue of possible work for me here.

On June 21st I began the 4 week intensive (and oh, yes, it certainly is) CELTA course at Action English Language in Leeds. I really enjoyed the course though there were moments I was so tired I just wanted to curl up somewhere and cry. But I wasn't alone in that! Most of the other students were in their early 20s and following the course, planned on heading to all sorts of exotic destinations to teach - currently there are students from my course in Korea, Brazil, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Russia, China and yes, the most exotic of all - Leeds!

So, how did I find the learning process? What surprised me? What was really tough and what did I feel I coped with well?
The learning process
First, I was glad that I'd started the on-line TEFL course and had a bit of background and had started a bit of grammar revision. Yes, I know what language to use where and when but I'd forgotten so much of the 'labels' for words because it's not something we need to know in everyday life. Who actually cares whether you're using a preposition here and a conjunction there and whether it's an adverb or an adjective? But it matters when you're teaching as it's necessary to explain the why as well as the what.
The actual process on this 4 week course consisted of mornings spent learning the theory - how to teach the different parts of the language. Within each how to teach was revision for ourselves of the grammar and language components. When I say theory, that may imply cold facts, reading books or having 'lectures' but it was all very interactive - helped to keep us awake and on our toes as well as making it all much more interesting. We even had a Greek lesson to demonstrate how it's possible to teach a language to absolute beginners.
The afternoons were spent either teaching or observing the other students teaching. Terrifying at first but good to get straight into it. In the first 2 weeks, our part of the course (the 12 of us were split into 2 groups for the teaching) were with a pre-intermediate mixed nationality group which included a Russian, a Saudi Arabian, a student from Bahrain, one from Libya and French and Spanish students. We spent the second 2 weeks with an Upper Intermediate group - a bigger group, again mixed nationalities: French and German again plus Chinese, Eritrean, Kurdish, Iranian, Vietnamese amonst them. In both groups, the students were in the UK for a variety of reasons. There were a few women here because their husbands were studying at the University, a couple of asylum seekers and within the group were some sad stories - those who couldn't go back to their home country for instance.
We also had four assignments to complete over the four weeks and these proved much more difficult than I expected. Having achieved good results in my degree course and a distinction on the equally tough Counselling Skills Certificate (it didn't feel as tough because it was spread over 20 weeks) I expected to cope well with the assignments. I was shocked to get the first one back and to have to resubmit: I still feel that it was more about being unsure about what was really wanted. Once this was made clear, it all seemed so much easier!
But I got there. Exhaustion nearly took over a couple of times but having others who were so much younger, experiencing similar feelings, was a great help.
What surprised me?
Lots of things - most of which I can't remember now. If I hadn't already started the on-line TEFL course I'd have been very surprised that I suddenly needed to learn the phonetic alphabet and use it with the students (particularly the upper intermediate group). I was surprised at the focus on pronounciation and how it got me thinking about how we do actually say some words and phrases in everyday speech.
What did I find tough?
The assignments, as mentioned. The long hours of working - there from 9 till 5 (with about 2-3 hours travelling a day on top) and then 2 - 3 hours working at home in the evening and most of the weekends. A couple of weeks, I found myself working till about 10pm on the Sunday. Unheard of for me! Using the cd players and technology caused me some fears - irrational fears of course - it was just the thought of having to use this technology and whether I'd cope. I did use it and I did cope. Getting the lesson plans the way they were expected to be took a while to grasp and just when I thought I'd got it.......
And where did I feel I coped well?
Getting through it, being able to stand up in front of the groups of students and actually do what was needed. Maintaining professionalism throughout including the simple things of being on time, being involved with the learning, joining in with the other students. After what I'd gone through in the previous 18 months, to be able to do all that was an achievement and it made me feel good to do it. I felt I built up a rapport with the students we were teaching - got to know them a bit as well as trying to teach them. Once I'd realised my major problem stemmed from focusing on how I was feeling rather than focusing on making sure I did the best for the students, it all became easier and smoother. My fears ceased to matter so much.
I'm just happy to have done it and to have passed the course.

If I thought the 4 weeks was tough, then finding work at the moment is tougher. But I expected that and have been aware all along that finding teaching work in this country isn't easy. For the young, free and single, there is so much work available all over the world.

But, only 2 days after the course I got a call from a local "Homestay" organisation asking if I was free to do 5 days teaching to some French teenagers, starting the next morning.

Of course I did it: no syllabus; no idea of the level of the students; no idea what they had done or if there was anything specific they wanted help with; no books or other materials. Luckily I had lots of material from the course and other things I'd already started putting together and managed to adapt it to each group. It was very good experience and so different from the teaching on the course.

On the course we were teaching mixed nationality groups of adults, living in the UK who were all very motivated to learn. So to suddenly go to a group of French teenagers who were more interested in having a holiday in York than learning any more English was great experience. With a mixed nationality group, their only common language was English. Not so of course with the French group. Then about 4 weeks later, I got another small job teaching a group of Czech teenagers - quite different again, very polite and much keener to learn (still teenagers of course!). But more useful experience.