Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Jinhu Jingji KAifAqu? Are you interested in teaching English in Huai'an Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.
Studying for the ITTT online TEFL course has been a great experience both from a purely informative standpoint as well as from a personal development perspective. The entire course content has provided me with a huge amount of information on a number of different fronts. I also feel reassured that ITTT will continue to be an on-going key resource throughout my career in TEFL so I am looking forward to continuing to utilise the various resources put at my disposable upon completion of this course. As mentioned above, obviously, the course has provided me with overall technical knowledge and techniques required to teach English as a foreign language. Equally, it has provided great insights on the process of learning English, as well as teaching it, by showing the different perspectives / roles between students and teachers and the relationship between them. To this point, the best thing I've learned from my TEFL course, aside from the various technical notions, is the crucial importance of a teacher’s attitude and conduct to the success and the effectiveness of an English lessons and/or courses. This was extremely clear in Unit 6 where the two videos shown clearly demonstrate how a teacher’s attitude, behaviour and work ethic can dramatically affect the overall outcome of a lesson. In the videos it was abundantly clear how the teacher’s attitude towards students greatly influenced students’ participation in the lesson and their overall learning experience. In the first video, in addition to other types of mistakes, the teacher completely lacks empathy and cultural awareness. He does not introduce himself, and does not let the students introduce themselves either. He does not make an effort to learn and remember the students’ names. He does not provide enough positive feedback. On the contrary, he continually corrects students, undermining their overall confidence in the process. Overall, he comes across quite intimidating and dominating towards students throughout the class. He was neither encouraging nor engaging. As a result, students feel completely unengaged, confused, nervous and unmotivated. It can be said that, overall, the teacher’s behaviour significantly contributed to influence the outcome of the students’ learning experience as well as their belief that they can succeed at learning the language. I am happy to say that the TEFL course really drove the above point home for me. The course made me appreciate what truly means “being a good teacher” and its impact to students. The course showed that desirable teacher’s personality traits, such as kindness, patience, etc. are equally important as the teacher’s interest in the learning of his/her students. The course also elaborates on the vital importance of establishing an encouraging and positive rapport between teacher and students. Obviously, there are a number of factors that can influence the success of learners; however, it can be said that the teacher has strategic responsibility in getting the best out of their students by encouraging and fostering all positive attributes that characterise successful learning experiences. To this point, I will treasure this key lesson provided by the TEFL course throughout my career as an English teacher and I will strive to embed the characteristic of a “good, caring, enthusiastic, patient teacher” in my daily practice of the art of teaching English as a foreign language.
