Luke: United Kingdom: Aug 26, 2024

I have recently completed my studies in Politics and International Relations at Loughborough University and am graduating on 18/7/24, with an expected result of 2.1. During my studies, I have been exposed to a variety of different teaching strategies and an understanding of the approaches that serve to effectively engage students to learn. My own learning experience during my time at university encouraged me to undertake a placement year in Sri Lanka in 2023 where I had the opportunity to teach English to students aged between 3 to 17. During this time, I gained experience in delivering English language classes both individually and as well as working as part of a group. This experience further developed my communication and public speaking skills to allow me to convey information to classes of up to 60 students, while also being able to work with smaller groups and one-to-one. I found this experience incredibly fulfilling, particularly the positive feedback from the children thanking me and my colleagues for helping them to develop their language skills.

Based on the experience I gained during my time in Sri Lanka, I feel that my ability to be flexible around class sizes and ability levels will stand me in good stead for this role. For example, when preparing for classes, it was very common that there would be a wide range of skill levels across the group being taught which would not necessarily correlate with age groups. On this basis, I needed to be well-prepared with teaching resources and materials that could suit all skill levels and to be ready to adapt as required. This process allowed me to gain valuable experience in preparing and creating teaching materials with limited resources. For example, I created worksheets covering a range of topics carefully taking into consideration whether the difficulty level was appropriate for the intended class. I also found that sub-dividing classes into groups based on current abilities was very useful for some sections of the lesson, to ensure that every student was able to develop their language skills regardless of previous ability.

About my personality, I am an enthusiastic individual who is always open to learning and developing my skills. I am passionate about pursuing a career within education, whilst also exploring different different cultures. Therefore, the flexibility this opportunity provides regarding different ages and locations is therefore incredibly enticing.