The first major fact I found valuable from the course, was from my observation, and it was that plagiarism is a problem among English learners. I think this should be included in the course, and there should be an assignment that asks how as a teacher would you handle that scenario. Or even ask how to handle racism, which I found to be another problem throughout the course I observed. Lesson planning is all well and good, but I feel as though follow up assignments should have a monkey wrench thrown into them because it would cause us to think on our toes about a problem that we wouldn’t normally prepare for. I mean schools have fire drills and shelter in place drills, why shouldn’t we wh... Learn More
Author: Caroline R.
Date: 01-22-2013
One thing I really appreciated about the course is its essence of teaching ENGLISH as a foreign language, and not necessarily just teaching a language. When I originally signed up for the course, I was a bit concerned that the course readings would be an overview of how to teach a language. I was pleasantly surprised to find very specific examples of teaching English. For example, Module 6 was almost completely devoted to grammar rules just in English, and how we as instructors need to be very familiar with these rules in order to teach them to our students. I also appreciated finding most of these grammar rules in one place, such as the list of verb tenses in English. I was previously ... Learn More
Author: Caroline C.
Date: 01-22-2013
I have been teaching people of all ages for 7 years now. Most of the time, I would be outdoors instructing canoeing lessons, rock climbing certifications, guiding trips, swimming lessons, healthy social skills, etc. When I would teach in a classroom, my lessons would be very hands-on, similar to first aid/CPR courses. During my past experiences, there has only been one contract where I was part of what it would be like to teach the same material to people who speak a different language.
I was facilitating an ESL grade 8 class end of the year trip. There were 140 students and I would get to teach all of them how to rock climb up a huge 35ft wall. This is a high risk activity with a lot o... Learn More
Author: Emily C.
Date: 01-22-2013
This class was incredibly amazing. I have to admit that this class was much more structured then I was anticipating. In the past I have failed out of online classed because there is a huge lack of support and the content had little to no structure. I was glad to see that although I still struggled with the online formatting I was still able to make my way through the information and after completing this course I do feel like I have learned a lot about what to expect when I am teaching English. I do wish that I had prepared myself more by reading more of the textbooks. All in all this has been a great experience and I felt that there was a wonderful amount of support from the staff.
I fel... Learn More
Author: Shang Y.
Date: 01-22-2013
I feel very accomplished to have completed this TEFL certification course. It was 2 months of interactive learning about teaching English as a foreign language.
There were many facts I learned from the course that I found really valuable to me. One of them was about students' affective filter. It makes sense that psychological factors can have a big impact on a students' ability to learn. Another concept I learned was how to make lesson plans. Lesson plans are obviously the most important part of each class.
The PPP format is very valuable knowledge involving lesson plans that is probably one of the main themes of the course. It is the general structure that can be used for any lesson... Learn More
