Job Discussion Forums

[paulmanser]

Hi guys

BA degree, TEFL cert, EU passport native speaker , yeh yeh, for Poland only.

How hard is it to stand up in front of students ( say 15) and tackle the lesson effiently.

I heard there are 40- students in a Chinese lang school class?

[expatben]

Hi!
It kinda depends on the newbie. I think everyone gets nervous the first time they get up in front of the entire class but eventually it usually goes away.
I taught a bit in China, I think the largest class I has was about 50 students but usually its around the 30-40 mark. In Europe class sizes are low. My last class was about 15.
Where in Poland are you thinking about going to? If you are going to Poland research the Callan methode. I say this not to start another fight over the methode, but because teachers tend to have strong opinions on it 1 way or another and its big in Poland so look out for Callan one way or another.

[paulmanser]

Torun in Poland.

Thanks expat

[expatben]

No worries man, we've all been there.

[Will.]

Torun is ok you will have a good time.
Try Pod Aniolem it is/was a pretty good place when i was there last
(in 97)

[mlomker]

[Glenski]

To teach conversational English, not much is needed. Of course, whether you have 2 students or 80 in a classroom, you need to have SOME measure of confidence in yourself as a speaker if nothing else.

What concerns many of us established teachers is that so many people leap into TEFL without considering what they really have to do in the classroom. Not saying the OP hasn't considered, but it just rings a bell.

Conversational English is the easiest form of teaching TEFL, I feel. However, many people realize shortly after they start whether it is easy or not, and even more so, they realize sometimes that they may want to move "up" to something more, like in a high school or university. THAT takes a bit more, in my opinion, than doing conversation English. I've done both.

[mlomker]

[Chris_Crossley]

Having had the benefit of initial teacher training (ITT, as it is called in the UK), which included a total of 18 weeks teaching teenagers, and of a Trinity College (London) Certificate in TESOL course before I faced my first TEFL class meant that I was more than mentally prepared to face the Italian teenagers (who came to England for a summer school) and behave like I had done it all before.

After two summer schools teaching those Italian teenagers (and boisterous they were sometimes, too!), it was off to China (albeit not immediately!) to teach adults and children general English at EF English First.

Even if it was never a trial cutting my proverbial teeth as regards actually teaching English, it was just the incompetent Chinese management at that EF school (during my first year of two) that really got to me and my colleagues, but, like practically every expat who has ever come to China to teach English, it was a question of having to bite the proverbial bullet.

I had to learn that this was the way of things as regards Chinese management - my "centre manager" exhibited nothing but pure slavish subservience in his capacity as a fawning sycophant to his dictating superior, whose only interest was money, even if it meant overworking the staff and ignoring their complaints, leading to disgruntlement and disillusionment amongst those who had the misfortune to obey his occasionally crass and stupid orders (including, on one occasion, some given from when he was still in bed on a Saturday morning when he was supposed to be in the office).

However, amazingly, I managed to get through it all with my sanity remaining more or less intact - thanks to the woman who became my wife. If it had not been for her, I would have left China after my first year. (I'm serious.)

[Girl Scout]

Just don't let them know your nervous. This is especially true for kid and high school classes. The minute those kids figure out they can make you stutter, angry or confused they will continue to behave in ways that elicit those responses. I always believed this was their way of having some measure of control.

In college, I always pretended I knew exactly what I was doing. I was acting the part of an ESL teacher. I find that my confidence transfers to the students and now it is very a natural attitude.

My class sizes in China range from 25 for the oral and 57 for the writing.

[Chris_Crossley]

I guess that I have been quite fortunate, indeed, to have mentally prepared myself for whenever I have taught a class for the very first time, whether teenagers or Grade 3 primary or graduates, all of whom I have taught in China. (I have also "assisted" in kindergarten classes, though I always did the lion's share of the work!)

My biggest "class" size was about 100, but this was a special demonstration class for a company whose management decided it would be a great idea for their employees to do English classes - even if I knew that English would be of absolutely no use to them, because the vast majority were telecommunications engineers! Perhaps not surprisingly, none of the senior management showed their faces, and the majority of employees were probably bored out their skulls for two whole hours.

As regards regular classes, my biggest class size was "only" 45, and that was one of the three classes I taught during my year at a government-run primary school in Wuhan. Right from the start, with the aid of my teaching assistant, I established the fact that I was not going to tolerate any nonsense or weaknesses in front of them, and there was hardly any time when any pupil tried to see if there was anything they could exploit.

[jammish]

I quite agree with Mr Crossley. The main frustration that I found in China was to do with organisation, and various things (e.g. internet) continually going wrong in the school's provided accommodation, etc.

I found teaching in China quite easy to get into, despite the class numbers.

[orangiey]

I did it (well, still am). This is my first year and have just signed on again at the same school for another. I must be doing something right.

I did a CELTA before coming here and it was the best thing I did.
It gave me confidence, structure and experience, so my first day REAL teaching was not so nerve racking and I learnt some valuable tips on good teacher/bad teacher methods.

Can you speak English? Then you'll get a job in China, degree ot not, TEFL or not. Maybe not everywhere BUT somewhere.

[saint57]

How hard is it for a newbie to become a TEFL teacher?

I sometimes visit a site similar to this for TEFL teachers in Cambodia. This is one of my all-time favorite articles. It should answer your question and help you overcome your fears.

http://www.khmer440.com/?p=271

Max is my hero. Whenever I take myself to seriously I think of good ole' Max.

[orangiey]

Case closed with a satisfactory result?