Next Stop, The World!

I'm a qualified teacher, have been for almost 3 years now, and you can imagine my annoyance when I was told that even though I have a Bachelors Degree, a Teaching Certificate and 3 years experience, I still had to do a TEFL Course. I mean, by now you would think that I knew quite a lot about the profession, and handling ESL learners should be a breeze. What else could I possibly learn- surely not much! WRONG! Handling 28 little girls is quite different to handling smaller classes and teaching an ESL is different to teaching Home Language like I do. I learnt that there are somethings that could work in my class of 28 that wouldn't work for a smaller class. I was reminded of the things that we don't normally consciously think about when teaching, but we practice everyday in the classroom, and that is the importance of the teacher-learner relationship and the importance of the affective filter in successful learning. This course opened me up to new aspects of teaching and helped me refresh many things that I had learned in university and in the classroom. This TEFL course has equipped me with the tools that I will require to have a successful teaching career in my new job in China and hopefully, in years to come, many other ESL countries in the world.