Growing up in a diverse country such as South Africa, exposed me to many different languages, cultures, socio-economic backgrounds and history. As a result I developed a passion to further educate myself about these unique differences of our “rainbow nation”. Though each category of difference was imperative to explore, the eleven national languages of South Africa stood out for me. It made me question English as a medium of instruction in the country and as a universal language.
When I started asking myself these questions, I was taken aback by how many people are required to learn English to embark on their educational and professional endeavours to become successful. This made me curious about the history of English and the influence of the language on other countries. As interesting as my findings were, it still left me with more questions: how non native learners are able to become fluent in the language, how they are able to overcome the various challenges and barriers while learning a new language, and more importantly, how it later impacts their life. Thus, I discovered that the only way to provide myself with these answers is to experience what it would be like to teach a foreigner English.
As a result, I started my TEFL journey with the TEFL Academy. Even though I completed my course online, it equipped me with the necessary knowledge and skills to teach English as a foreign language. More importantly it taught me that language and culture are two important aspects of the students’ learning process as most of them travel abroad to learn English.
As soon as I finished the course, I applied for jobs in my country and was successful in finding one. When I started teaching, I felt so prepared, excited and driven with passion. Thanks to the unwavering support, guidance and profound yet intensive educational experience from the TEFL Academy, I was able to navigate through my job with ease and in turn answer some of my questions. Additionally, it also sparked an interest in me to travel and teach abroad.
Who knows, maybe in the future, teaching English as a foreign language will be a topic of interest to pursue when I study for my masters degree.