Becoming a Professional Teacher

I was looking to teach English in Bangkok to Thai students as I believed I could made a difference to these individual learners. I wanted to motivate them to become something more than they were by helping them learn English. And being a young teacher, I thought it would help me connect with the students better too.

So my aspirations were good. The problem was I didn’t really know to teach—outside the years I spent observing as a student on the other side of the desk.

Vantage took care of all that—and more. I was taught to create lessons through the communicative approach. The program breaks down into six key areas of study from language awareness, to teaching materials, one-to-one tutoring to teaching techniques. I was also surprised to learn that the skills I learned go further beyond just teaching. I also came away from the course as a better presenter and public speaker.

The heart of turning teacher candidates like me into full-blown professionals is, however, the observed teaching practices. Here theory meets practice. And I got detailed feedback after each session from the Vantage trainers. They highlighted what I was doing well and gave me a challenge for my next session on areas that still need to be worked on. After six observed teaching practices, I was ready to begin fulfilling my aspirations.

The trainers at Vantage have decades of experience. They’re world class. They also experts in testing and know how to use language proficiency systems to test students and to source teaching material appropriate to the level of the students were teaching. No other TEFL program I looked at covers this key area.