Teach English in Baoheshao Zhen - Huhehaote Shi — Hohhot

While going through the lessons of the TEFL course, I was always thinking about how my personal teaching experience could aid me on my journey to become an English teacher as I embark on this exciting second career path. Teaching has been a passion of mine for many years now. I didn’t know that it was at the beginning of my career as a search and rescue helicopter pilot in the Canadian Armed Forces. I only discovered this new interest in teaching, passing on knowledge and helping others learn, later in my career when I became an instructor pilot. Perhaps my love of teaching started even before that. When my daughter was younger, she played soccer each summer as many children do. She loved the sport and advanced quickly. When she was selected to be on the highest-level team for her age group, the soccer coach approached me and asked if I would assist him with the team. I jumped at the chance, as I love the sport and I love kids! I took the necessary coaching courses, learned from the club head coach and after a year, I took over as head coach of the team. I was responsible for studying the skills required, designing on-field lessons, keeping the attention of the kids and creating a fun learning environment so that the children were learning, practicing new skills and advancing their abilities - sometimes without even realizing the amount of actual work that they were putting into it! In the beginning, there were ups and downs of course, as coaching was a very new skill for me. There were lessons that I planned that didn’t work so well, but also lessons and games that were immediately popular and successful! I am always striving to improve personally and through research, perseverance and by seeking out the advice of more skilled coaches, I was able to continually improve as a “soccer teacher”. I realized when doing the TEFL course that many of the skills I learned and experiences I had as a soccer coach were the same skills that I will require to be an effective English teacher, especially for children! Of course I still have so much to learn to be a good teacher, but having these experiences has given me more confidence that I can actually do it. Fast forward a few years and as I gained personal experience in my job as a search and rescue helicopter pilot the natural progression was to select a few pilots that were interested in becoming instructors in order to train the new pilots and pass on experience. When I was offered this opportunity I immediately accepted it. Teaching adult learners such as pilots requires a different approach. These adult learners are quickly becoming experts in their profession, have a strong desire to learn and improve and demand teacher instructors that not only know the material but can teach it in a way that makes it easy to understand. As an instructor pilot, I was required to know as much as possible about the regulations and orders, the technical aspects of the helicopter and also be extremely proficient in the skills required to fly. I designed lessons, I planned board work for the classroom, provided continuous feedback and designed and conducted evaluations to test progress. When extra training was required in certain areas, I had to be able to recognize what was required for academic or skills improvement and work these extra lessons into the allotted training time during the course. I always had the student’s best interests in mind and it was rewarding being able to pass on my knowledge and experience and watch others learn and grow. In summary, while the English language is daunting and being an English teacher seems challenging to say the least, I feel that the skills and experience I have acquired as a children’s soccer coach and as an instructor pilot teaching adult learners will certainly be transferrable as I begin my second career as a TEFL teacher.