Children are the future... teach them well.

Its been a few weeks since I last posted, but it hasn't been for nothing.

I've been working hard on my TEFL course and now have 2 certificates under my belt. I have officially passed the 20 hr Grammar and 10 hr Teaching Young Learners modules.

I suppose technically I have finished the 60hr TEFL module, as I only have the final quiz on finding work to complete, but I have real (ok, pdf) certificates of the other modules now. Proof that the hard work is paying off and we are getting somewhere.

Now, all I have left is Business English, Large Classes and One to One, and only 17 days to do it. Oh and the weekend course on 2nd and 3rd November (my birthday weekend!).

Guess I'll have to bring doughnuts. Speak to you in 17 days!

God save the Queen

I'm very nervous as I sit sipping (OK, gulping) a Smokin Aces Lynchburg Lemonade, and hit refresh on my email.

I always knew this part of the course would be a challenge, but the extra hour I have to wait to get my result is killing me.

How does Mark do it? He had his result in less than 20 minutes and we pressed submit at the same time!

This part is so important; it's the last major test in the core material of our TEFL course. We need to prepare a full lesson plan and describe a cultural awareness activity.

The reality of the exercise is a quiet and studious night in on Friday to draft our lesson on hobbies, followed by refinements and YouTube scouring on Saturday.

We look at everything from Love Actually to Monty Python to find the perfect clip to represent English culture, but it's a search for James Bond that brings up a truly brilliant clip from the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics.

It had it all; traditions, Union Jack's, pets, sharp suits, formality and even a dash of English eccentricity in the form of the Queen parachuting into the games.

Rule Britannia!

I passed.

Y-O-U-R means 'your'!

We are one week into our TEFL course and have been working hard to re-learn the grammatical structures which govern the English language. These are rules we apply everyday without realising, but are very difficult to articulate, and differentiate. 

Someone commented that it must be simple to teach a language you already speak. Well, I can assure you that it is not as simple as it sounds. Can you remember the difference between the present simple and the present perfect tense?  Were we even taught that at school? I'm not so sure. I can only compare revising grammar to learning your own language again from scratch, just with a wider range of vocabulary!

This really hit me when it took me 3 attempts to pass an assignment on how to teach a class the use of 'going to' to show future plans. I passed eventually, but this showed me how difficult it is to learn the grammatical structures of a new language, let alone teach it. This will be a challenge, but I'm glad that my frustration with the task was based on not understanding the concept, and not over failing the task. If anything that proves the course and career change means more than a way out, I want to do it well!

I can't wait to get on with the rest of the course, and get some much needed revision done! 

Where's my highlighter!