Job Discussion Forums

[nickpellatt]

Madame J - Addressing your point about making a circle of friends when out TEFL'ing. I wouldnt worry too much. One of the wonderful things I have found when working, is you tend to have a ready made social circle within your classes. This has certainly been true of my, albeit limited, experiences.

I really liked my course group, and I am a little sad to know that I wont be going to my school on monday and meeting up with them all. By the same token though, I am happy we arent all in another country and working together next week.

With most EFL jobs, there will be other foreign teachers there......and Im sure they will be happy to help you settle in, and offer company. I had a housemate in China that was fantastic company for the 18 months we house shared. By the same token though, my experience in China was actually enhanced by the fact there wasnt a huge group of us in the same boat. For the best part...It was just my housemate and I.

The advantage to this?

I had to go out and make friends in this new environment.....and the friends I made werent other teachers, and we didnt all go to Pizza Hut and Starbucks together.

I made lots of friends with local people, and students. Whilst this was hard sometimes, with obvious cultural issues and language barriers....it meant I spent my weekends doing things like visiting and working on a farm in the countryside one weekend.....I spent another day visiting a tiny village school and playing games with kids......another student took me to an audition for the Chinese version of the 'X factor'....which I entered and enjoyed 30 seconds of fame on HNTV2. I also did some modelling on stage in front of 3000 people. These experiences and many others made my China experience so wonderful.

And whilst I was doing these things and other odd things I would never get a chance to do here, some of the other FTs I did meet in China, prefered to head off together to sterile 5* hotel chains and eat Pizza in generic chain restaurants.

It may be harder to arrive on your own, and live with the locals...but I think its a far more rewarding experience long term.

[nickpellatt]

Just adding that my last day passed without event, and also without any grading.

I dont know if this is standard for all courses and course providers, but for anyone enrolling on a course, it may be that you dont receive your grade and certificate on the final day.

Our certificates will apparently be sent out in the next few weeks (everyone passes it seems) and there will also be a report/reference from my course provider which will contain the grade that they have awarded me.

As I have stated before....I really do feel the course isnt as full of trauma and stress as people tend to make out...so please dont be put off doing it.

A great experience for me....and I am going to be lost monday morning.

[nickpellatt]

As mentioned above, I was expecting my report and grade to arrive today and it duly dropped on the mat with a 'B' grade. One of my peers did get an A, but Im equally happy to have passed with a 'B'.

[megloulou]

Congratulations Nick on your result, Its been good reading your recent posts as I am intending to enter the ESL spectrum later this year. Your review on your TESOL course was interesting as I am tossing up whether to do the course at home or in Asia.
Can I ask why you did the course even though you have already been teaching?

[misskaty]

Hi Nick

well done on getting a B.

I'm part way through a CELTA right now and I'm just wondering what you did that got you a B grade? Did you have many lessons graded at above average? I'm curious as to how it is decided.

[wildchild]

[nickpellatt]

megloulou - I knew I would have a year back in England inbetween further travels, so had long decided to make this year count in terms of improving my qualifications. Whilst I have been able to work in both China and England without the Trinity Cert....I want to improve my chances to work more, and be able to pick and choose jobs. Added to that, I was hoping I would learn something too!

misskaty - My grade was determined by a number of things, as I understand, the teaching practice carries the most weight, but the grade given overall, is affected by your performance in other assignments. These assignment were the 'unknown language', 'language awareness', and 'learner profile. I scored B, C, and C for these, which meant my overall grade would have to be lower than my teaching practice grade.

Does that makes sense? To score an A overall....I would also have had to score an A in 2/3 of the other assignments. I didnt, so overall scored a B as my teaching practice was good. Most of my lesson, especially in the last two weeks, were graded at being above satisfactory. I think they tend to grade you according to how you respond and develop your teaching style during the course. If they tell you, that you need to work harder to grade your speech, then in subsequent lessons they will look to see you improve this, and show you have responded to feedback.