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This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned:
The value of observed teaching practice Although I had had some teaching experience in 1-2-1 lessons while studying journalism many years ago little did I know those first attempts would develop into some great potential of opportunities later on in my life. And, as it happens only so often, it would take me aback and by total chance.
Two years ago I decided to follow my biggest dream and come to italy to study Italian. That decision (`Life offers you a thousand chances, all you have to do is take one`) has transformed my life and yes, it was the one.
Learning Italian from my first days in Tuscany started getting me closer and closer to everything I`d ever dreamt of. Turning to the more relevant point to the topic here, yes, it was there and then when I discovered I wanted to be an English teacher. And funnily enough it wasn`t an idea that comes to mind to so many English-speaking foreigners wanting to settle down in a new country and grab a chance to teach English as the only option available to work there without speaking a native language. No, it was different with me. And came in a name `Stefania`. She was my Italian teacher. I fell in love with her, literally, as she then quickly became my very best friend. She is an amazing teacher. People love her and give her lots of appreciation for her work. She has brought me closer not only to the world of Italian language but also has awaken some eagerness for teaching myself. She has just messed up my `linguistic world`, in such a wonderful way, that is! While studying Italian during my lessons I was observing her how she was acting as a teacher and with some subconscious decision I started feeling that I`d love to follow her steps because it`s such an amazing thing, teaching that is. A few months later I enrolled for my ITTT course and only because of my hectic schedule and unstable life I didn`t crack on with it straight away. But the seeds were sown there. I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the world of teaching. Majority of my answers to the course tasks were based on my experience in Stefania`s classroom, some came out off my own creativity but overall while either completing the answers or reading the course material I was just there, in our small classroom in beautiful sun-blessed Tuscany. She possessed all the skills that were repeatedly mentioned all the way through the units and made an exemplary role model not only to me. There is another person, who I know of, that `got under her spell` and became a successful English teacher in Tuscany with her very own school opened now as we speak, She admitted it was Stefania`s teaching that influenced her decision on taking on a tefl course and then becoming a teacher. She said she would make notes of every lesson conducted by Stefania and go through them again and again like a little bible. And she was supposed to be learning Italian there! Obviously all the girls teaching at the school have high qualifications and years of experience and they follow certain patterns, rules and methodology standing behind the school`s philosophy (please read below), nevertheless their personal approach can be sensed at every single minute spent in the classroom.
The school?s teachers are carefully selected and rigorously trained. All have exemplary qualifications. Professional development is a cornerstone of the teachers work; they plan, they research, and they collaboratively construct a unique curriculum together, under the careful guidance of the director. The result is a staff that uses the same teaching philosophy and the same curriculum, but instead of being passive transmitters of pre-made courses, they adapt activities, tests, and lessons daily to adjust to the personality of each class. This level of professional engagement and commitment drives dynamic, rigorous classes, while at the same time, the teachers take great pains to cultivate a relaxed, supportive atmosphere where students feel comfortable taking risks.
Needless to say, Stefania licks them all but this is a very personal opinion and absolutely cannot be used against the other girls who I`ve had pleasure to meet and be their student too.
All of them adapt the school`s philosophy and course programs to their own personality and expertise and all should be praised for that.
observed teaching practice has given me a priceless insight to a great deal of teaching methods, approaches, lesson plans, teaching tools, arrays of activities/games/warmers/time-fillers etc that can be easily adapted at English lessons. If I add to it my own experiences as an English language student many years ago - then no grammar structures and pronunciation drills could ever stand in my way of an effective, I hope, teaching practice.
