“I have been teaching for 22 years and hadn’t realised how different teaching English as a foreign language would be!”
Victoria Marlin
Location : Bedford
Course : Cambridge 3 day 5-7th April 2010
Trainer : Ruthie Collins
What is your background? “I’ve been teaching for 22 years.”
Why did you choose UK-TEFL? “My work offered for me to go on the course and pay for it.”
How have you found the course? “As I have a background in teaching, my workplace thought it would be good as a top up, so i went along. For the first hour or two I thought, ‘this is not how you teach’, but then realised that teaching a first and teaching a 2nd language is very different! I am originally from South Africa and my 2nd language is African, so it made me look at teaching as a foreign language from both angles.”
What was the best part of the course? “There were lots of activities which were great. Also, on the first day you tend to stick to the people you know, I went on the course with my son, but the best part was mixing it up and doing the activities you don’t normally participate in, such as acting and role playing. My son is 22 and loved the aspect of meeting new people his age who he wants to link up with in the future.”
Would you suggest any improvements? “The course is so intensive with all the things that have to be crammed in but my trainer, Ruthie, did really well. She was so professional and covered everything so I don’t think anything could have been improved.”
Did you buy ABTEFL? Was your ABTEFL helpful? Would you recommend it to others? “Yes I bought a hard copy of Absolute TEFL for me and my son to share – I’ve found it really good for copying notes and reminded me exactly what I need to do. “
Why did you want a TEFL qualification? “I want it more for the future when I retire. My dream would be to work and live abroad.”
Where do you plan to teach English? “I’ve been studying French so that once I’ve retired, I can go and live there and have a little source of income from EFL teaching.”
Why have you chosen this destination? “I want to follow my life-long dream to live there.”
Are you going to keep in touch with other students and trainer? “Our trainer, Ruthie, has set up a facebook group and took down all our emails so we could keep in contact and share photographs. She also offered a professional reference which I thought was great.”
Any advice for potential students? “My message would go out to teachers who are thinking about doing a TEFL course, which is to invest time and money into doing this course. I have been teaching for 22 years and hadn’t realised how different teaching as foreign language would be.”
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“You will get something out of it and gain some extra skills!
Brandon Marlin
Location : Bedford
Course : Cambridge 3 day 5-7th April 2010
Trainer : Ruthie Collins
Why did you choose to do a UK-TEFL course? “As my mum was doing the course through work for job development, she encouraged me to go with her. She told me about the different opportunities available to me by doing the course. I want to do more travelling so doing a TEFL qualification will open opportunities in the future.”
How did you find the course? “It was very different to what I was expecting. I thought it would be lots of desks in rows and making notes as you would at school but it was interactive and fun!”
Would you recommend to others? “Definitely.”
What was the best part of the course? “The exercises that we had to perform. These performances made me relate to others and see things in a different way.”
Did you buy ABTEFL? Was your ABTEFL helpful? “I looked at it before and during the course and made extra notes in the relevant sections. When I am away it will be good to look back on.”
Where do you plan to teach English? “I have a lot of places that I want to go and teach English in – Vietnam, Brazil and China are at the top of the list.”
Why have you chosen this destination? When are you planning on doing this? “China because it is growing fast and there is so much activity, but Brazil and Vietnam because I have always been interested in travelling in these countries, not just taking holidays.
What is the most interesting/helpful thing you learnt on the course? “The diversity of people on the course. Throughout the presentations I found it interesting to hear what people from different backgrounds had to say. Also advice from teachers there gave good advice for the future and TEFL but also showed us good teaching practice.”
Are you going to keep in touch with other students and trainer? “I have added a lot of people from my course on facebook and plan to keep in contact.” Is there anything you think we, at UK-TEFL, could do to improve the course? “One or two more presentations could be helpful practice.”
What are your long term goals or ambitions? “After my girlfriend finishes her course she is going on to do a TEFL qualification. After that we will go travelling.”
Any advice for those thinking about doing a course? “You will get something out and gain some extra skills.”
Have you done any travelling? Any travelling tips? “I’ve travelled Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North Africa (originally from South Africa). My tip would be to PLAN! Everything may not go to plan, but will fall into place.”
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