A non-native speaker from a non-teaching background

I attended Vantage’s TEFL Certification course and I found the program a key ingredient in terms of my overall teaching development.

I came from a ‘non-teaching’ background as I had a degree in engineering and worked in that field upon graduation.

I was a champion debater and did a fair bit of training both in school and in my first few jobs. I really loved it the communication skills I had to use so I decided to become a full-time professional teacher was the career path for me.

I actually found my first English teaching job my last week of the course so I was still doing my observed teaching practices while I was getting paid to teach kids on the weekend.

The training – particularly what I got through Vantage’s observed teaching practices (what they call the ‘practicum’) was invaluable and I don’t think I could have “faced the kids” if I hadn’t already got the foundation skill set at Vantage. The practicum classes weren’t small – typically around 15 students or so. Some of my teacher friends told me their practicum classes were only 3 or 4 pupils. I think the bigger size help me in that’s what I faced in my first teaching jobs.

While the teaching of real students under observation was for me the most valuable part of course, the theory and grammar explanations were also highly valuable.

I also learned how to develop a killer resume that really sold my skills. Their interview coaching session was also highly valuable and I learned how to handle objections such as “we only hire native speakers.” Something must have worked as I got two good job offers with a couple of weeks of graduation – both which came with business visas and work permits.

Vantage’s course wasn’t easy. It’s intensive and I had a lot of materials to go through. On the other hand, it was all very useful and I was taught how to blend what I learned in my TEFL classes into a real live classroom.