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newbie147
Joined: 17 Jun 2011
Posts: 8
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 Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 3:52 pm Post subject: Straight into the deep end! |
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Hello fellow EFLers
As the title suggests I am diving straight into the deep end, and this is how:
My qualifications and experience to date is an unrelated degree and a 2 day TEFL course and 0 experience. My main reason for going into this is so that I can experience Saudi once in my life. Being a practicing Muslim male I know very well what I am going into. I hope I can handle the culture change and the weather.... well lets just say I have had enough of british weather for now 
I understand there is racism in the kingdom and the fact that I am asian sort of nullifies the advantage that I had of being Muslim lol, I get that also (unfortunate but hey ho).
Also after doing a bit of research it seems like the company I am going to be working for is notoriously bad according to the internet but after communicating with a teacher there at the moment it doesn't seem like its all that bad.
They are taking me on a business visa for the intial 3 months and then giving me the full work visa (I know the risks and drawbacks for that also).
My main worry though is that like I said I have no experience of teaching whatsoever, no teaching background and my English grammer isn't up to scratch. I am shocked myself that they offered me the role, the interview itself went pear shaped real quick as she stopped me half way through the interview sensing my lack of knowledge and experience. How long will I be able to pull off using text books and internet tips lol? I mean it seems simple, the give you a text book and you plan your lessons around that. But I know it won't be as simple as it sounds..... I have been told I am teaching beginners in general, are there any good books for teaching beginners? What sort of things am I expected to know up until?
Anyway despite all that I have decided to take the role because like I said I want to go Saudi and I feel if I didn't take this I would never get another opportunity.
Peace. |
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Middle East Beast
Joined: 05 Mar 2008
Posts: 836
Location: Up a tree
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| Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 7:02 pm Post subject: Re: Straight into the deep end! |
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| newbie147 wrote: |
| Also after doing a bit of research it seems like the company I am going to be working for is notoriously bad according to the internet but after communicating with a teacher there at the moment it doesn't seem like its all that bad. |
What would you expect him/her to say?
I tried that approach when researching conditions at an oil company in Khafji. The guy, a current teacher there at the time, told me things were overall pretty cool, not bad at all.
I got there and discovered that things were not cool at all...the company's recruiter had lied to me about every aspect of the job and living conditions. Live and learn.
TEFL's definitely not rocket science, but it would be to your benefit to have a certificate (or better, a related degree) under your belt. If the curriculum is very structured (like DLI, for example) then your lesson plan will consist of turning the page in the text. If it's quite flexible, then you need a bit of prepping, so to speak. But you can pick up a lot of techniques for teaching, classroom management, etc. from colleagues. Regardless of the nature of the employer, I've found that most everywhere you go the teachers are more than willing to provide advice (sometimes unsolicited/unwelcome, but that's been the exception for me rather than the rule).
Best of luck on your KSA trek.
MEB  |
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newbie147
Joined: 17 Jun 2011
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 11:05 am Post subject: Re: Straight into the deep end! |
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| Middle East Beast wrote: |
What would you expect him/her to say?
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Something that mirrored the comments on the net about the company. Maybe like don't make the mistake of coming here, I somehow managed to pull through the year etc etc. Not too far fetched from my end to expect something like that. |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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| Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2011 1:30 pm Post subject: Re: Straight into the deep end! |
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| newbie147 wrote: |
| Middle East Beast wrote: |
What would you expect him/her to say? |
Something that mirrored the comments on the net about the company. Maybe like don't make the mistake of coming here, I somehow managed to pull through the year etc etc. Not too far fetched from my end to expect something like that. |
Ah... unreasonable expectations of honesty.  Employers will normally hook you up with someone who will write something positive. I would always assume that the current employee won't dare tell the worst of it. Often they probably expect you to read between the lines. To me, contact with current teachers is mostly useful for details like what the housing is like and what one needs to bring, etc.
VS |
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