Job Discussion Forums

[Lotteloes]

Hi all,

I am a Dutch woman of 48,5. I have a Dutch master degree in Business Law. Huge work experience as finance in the engineering world. I currently work in Granada, Spain but not as a teacher.
I have been reading around and after all this reading this is the plan I came up with.

Having quite a demanding job I can not do yet a CELTA-course or a 140 TEFL with practice. So I started a week ago my 120 online TEFL course to get an idea teaching is the right thing for me. According to the website from my course provider, being non native I might need to have a C1-certificate as well. When studying for these exames I will continue with my Spanish classes to get my Spanish to B2-level.
After passing the TEFL-course I want to look for a small internship on one of the English schools available in Granada that I can fit in with my work and Spanish classes to get some experience.

Together with my Spanish teacher I am also looking at possibilities to get qualified as a teacher of Spanish as a foreign language if that would give me the practical experience I need. But I need minimal B2-level for that and my teacher estimates I need 1 year more to get to that level.

After that I want to do a year of volunteering in SA to get a better idea about life as a teacher and decide if I want to do the CELTA after that. For me it is a profession and not a nice way to travel and make some money. Already being in a country working as a volunteer, might help establishing contacts that will get me into a paid job if I want to.

Am I making a mistake in planing like this? I am the most worried about having no experience at all and not being a native speaker.

[nomad soul]

[Lotteloes]

Sorry for the confusion. I want to teach English but I am realistic enough to know that some real classroom experience will be helpfull, even if you want to work as a volunteer.
When the internship is not going to work, an option to get classroom experience might be (but only when part of the course) to do a course to teach Spanish. I am looking into that as a possibility to get classroom experience. not because I want to teach Spanish.
I hope that this explains.

[spiral78]

Greetings! I taught in the Netherlands for some years, and know some successful Dutch English teachers. The C1 certificate will be important. The pretty good English spoken by many Dutch nationals does contain some errors common to the Netherlands - like using when rather than if to describe something that may happen, but isn't certain ('when' is certain). You'll want to get beyond this and similar common problems before applying for jobs to teach English.

Your plans for gaining some experience sound feasible, but you might consider doing a CELTA as soon as possible. Classroom experience without training sometimes just ingrains bad habits; just having done the job doesn't guarantee that you've done it well! The CELTA and equivalent on-site certifications include supervised practice teaching and feedback on how you've done, so they are a good indicator to a possible employer that you are a safe bet.

[AGoodStory]

[esl_prof]

[Lotteloes]

Thanks for the advice.
The reason why I came up with this plan is because I cannot leave Spain yet. I came to Spain when my life was a mess and without speaking a word Spanish. So I ended up signing some contracts who are fine unless you do not stick to the expiration date . Leaving my job now and going for the CELTA will cost me 1 or 2 CELTA-courses because I have to pay fines. The contracts end in March 2016 so I am looking for things I can do to prepare myself while knowing I have to stay in Spain for about 8/9 months.
Because I am not allowed to take any holiday between the 10th and the 23th of each month, I cannot take a month off and do the CELTA, which would otherwise have been an option as well.

If I understood all the comments correctly, all of you say I better do the CELTA before volunteering. Just to be more prepared and to avoid developing bad habits. This makes sense. The reason why I wanted to do the volunteering first is to make sure I do like teaching before paying a lot of money for the CELTA and after that discovering that I don't like teaching at all. Thinking and feeling that I like it and having a lot of people around me who support me in this, does not necessarily mean that I will be a good teacher and that I will be happy doing this for the rest of my life (sort of ).

I am competely aware that an online course is not going to prepare me for the actual teaching. But doing the course right now is at least helping me to get a clearer picture of what my life as a teacher will be. I also notice that the modules make me think about how I would teach that specific topic. It really makes me happy.

So except for getting my C1 in English and the online course (and improving my Spanish), is there anything else I can do in the 8/9 months I will be staying here?

[esl_prof]

[AGoodStory]

Look for opportunities to observe English classes. This is easy to do in the US where many community based programs for new immigrants are often agreeable to future teachers observing ESL classes. It might take some work to find a local class in Spain that will allow you to observe, but it would be worth the effort. Depending on your location, I would start with adult education programs, and try to observe a variety of classes between now and March.

.

[Lotteloes]

I am a bit overwhelmed. From orientating and being convinced that I would leave Spain after passing my B2-exam (which will take me a while) I am now already thinking of leaving within 8/9 months
Today my teamlead came to me with the question if I wanted to train 5 people of my team in a certain tool we use. Of course I said yes. So Monday I will get some experience. And in the upcoming months we will receive some new team members who need training. Perhaps I can be involved in that as well.

ESL-Prof: Thanks for the links, I already found out that I can buy some of the books as well from an internet bookshop in the Netherlands and the fees for transport are lower there. I will also check the bookshops in Granada to find out how much it will cost me if they order the books and I pick them up there. Having almost lost a package with a sewing machine, I don't have that much trust in the Spanish mail delivery.

One of my teammembers has been a TEFL-teacher has recomended Destination C1&C2 Grammar & Vocabulary with Answer Key (Malcolm Mann & Steven Taylore-Knowles) to prepare myself for the C1-exam. He also offered to check my writing exercises.
And my Spanish teacher has given me a Spanish book to learn more about didactics. She also offered her help to find a way to observe classes. She has her contacts and is willing to use them. Although I have the feeling she has a hidden agenda . She wants to start her own academy and needs an English teacher.

So for now I try not to get carried away too much and will focus on my online course. I have reached module 5: Grammar.

[LaLaDivina]

In re: volunteering, Colombia offers a volunteer visa to teachers who want to teach English at their vocational institute, SENA, or at high schools around the country. The volunteer position is actually a paid position at $1,500,000 Colombian pesos a month and you can start off with a six month contract. I would suggest you look into the recruiters for this program like Internships Colombia or Heart for Change and start reading it about to see if it strikes your fancy. You don't need any experience to start and knowing Spanish is super useful. I did the half year contract and while I loved my students, half the time I wanted to strangle them. Do not expect quiet, attentive students like you would in Europe. They talk constantly and make a lot of noise. You need the patience of a saint. Even so, I thought it was a great experience.

[wanderingxelmundo]

Hi,
Glad your life is less of a mess!

Sorry, but to answer your question, I don't really think you're "thinking in the correct way."

You have a demanding full-time job and you are trying to learn Spanish and prepare for teaching English. That seems like quite a bit of a commitment already. Also, you're a Dutch woman living in Spain and you want to learn enough Spanish to practice language teaching by teaching Spanish in Spain as someone who's just learning the language? Or going somewhere they don't speak Spanish and practice so you can then teach English (a stronger second language, and your ultimate goal) as a volunteer to decide if you like it. If you really want some language-teaching practice, why don't you teach Dutch (which you already speak "perfectly") to Spaniards? It would give you a bit of a taste of teaching a language, it will be your native language, and you won't get into bad English-teaching habits.

[And if you are going to read about language pedagogy, why are you reading Spanish pedagogy? Why not English or Dutch?]

And meanwhile take the English exam you need.

Then, go to Latin America, take the CELTA before trying to teach English, and you will be in a good place for a volunteer position or a lower-level paid position (as a non-native speaker without experience). I believe that the professional visa in Ecuador is open to anyone with a BA, from any country?

It seems like you are already making a big commitment to language teaching without knowing if you want to do it for the rest of your life. Taking the CELTA seems like much less of a commitment both in terms of time and money than some of your ideas, so go for it ASAP.

[Lotteloes]

Again: I don't want to become a Spanish teacher and certainly not in South America. I was only thinking of doing a course if it could provide me with real classroom training.

I have passed now 2 of the 6 assessments of my online course and I really like it. I know I have a lot on my plate and that is why I decided to do the online course now. Because of the weather in Granada, the only thing you can do is stay in your house and there are no other activities.
My teacher gave me a general book on didactics and it is really interesting because it is giving information about the role of the school, the role of the teacher and the role of the students. I like this type of background information and, being it in Spanish, it will help to improve my Spanish as well.

Regarding the CELTA, everybody here already convinced me to do it. Leaving me with a question: does it matter where I take the CELTA? I do have some money to do the CELTA and survive a couple of months while I am looking for a (volunteering) job but I want to spend it wisely. The cheapest option for me would be doing the CELTA in Granada. And already knowing my way around here, I can completely focus on studying.

Thanks for pointing out Colombia and Ecuador as possibilities for volunteering or paid work. For now I am fine with all sorts of benefits as long as I don't have to pay € 1000,00/month as some organisations are asking their volunteers to pay.

This weekend my teacher reminded me that my work offers the possibility of a sabatical, meaning that if I resign they have to offer me a job if I come back within a year. So I have decided to go for it.
I will resign end of March 2016, preferably do my CELTA in Granada in April, say hello and goodbye to family and friends in the Netherlands and get on the plane to South America end of May/start of June. The option is a voluntary position for 6 month (in that sense Colombia sounded great). If I like it I'll stay, if not I buy a ticket back to Granada and start working here again. (Yes I know that this is a luxurious position)

It will be hard work to get the most important things finished in time (online course and C1) and take care of some very important practical things but it will be doable.

[nomad soul]

[LaLaDivina]