Over the past few years through my own travels, I have met many people who are currently working as TEFL teachers all over the world. Hearing stories of their experiences in this role has excited me into this career change. I believe that although I have not had any experience of teaching in a formal manner, through my work history I have a lot of skills that I could bring to this role, which I will detail below. I am also excited for this change in direction as I like to remove myself from my comfort zone, not only in that I have not taught before but also living in a whole new country. I thrive off arriving in a new environment and being fully immersed in the culture, food, colours, language and rituals. 2 years ago, I completed my first solo trip when I backpacked Asia for 4 months. Although filled with trials and tribulations, I came out the other side smiling and craving more. I have, for a long time, wanted to experience living and working in a new country. This would give an amazing once in a lifetime opportunity to experience a new culture in a lot more depth.
Over the past few years I have run a youth club and previously ran a holiday play scheme. Being the lead worker, I have been responsible for creating the plan for each session. When creating these plans, I have had many factors to take into consideration such as: the individual abilities of each young person, the budget available for the session, the timing of the session, how many activities need to be planned to keep the young people from getting bored and any props or resources that need to be prepared beforehand. I would then take note of which activities work well and which do not work for future planning. I also consult the young people on what activities they enjoy / don’t enjoy. I use my planning as an opportunity to create a fun and engaging environment for these young people.
With regard to my youth club, we can get anywhere up to 40 young people each week. This has meant that we have had to develop skills in managing large groups of young people. This group can display challenging behaviour which as a staff team we have had to challenge. As part of my current TEFL course, I will also cover a module on teaching large classes. While working as a support worker in a college, I supported teenagers in classes of up to 30 students.
While working as a crisis / family intervention worker, I worked with families from other continents. This was an interesting contrast to the other families I worked with, as I would have to take on board their own cultures and experiences when developing my session plans. I also had the experience through working with these families, to work with people whose English was very limited. Although this was a challenge, I would adapt my working processes to ensure that they understood what I was discussing. One example of this can be seen with a family from Afghanistan, the mother had very limited English-speaking skills. I would therefore use a lot of demonstrations, visual props and explaining things in simple terms as tools to aid in understanding. I really enjoyed making a range of props and visual cues for all of the families that I worked with at this time, including a 3D bedtime reward chart for a visually impaired family, and a ‘busy bag’ full of spelling activities (made from print outs, clothing pegs, lolly pop sticks etc) for an autistic child who struggled to concentrate when doing extra learning at home.
I have previously worked as a support worker in a college. I supported a first-year childcare and first year plastering class, with class work, understanding the course material, challenging behaviour and preventing bullying. Through this role I supported the teacher is reading out materials, and ensuring the young people understood the task given through concept checking. I would also support the young people in reading the course material, providing examples to help with insight, support with practical tasks and writing skills. Whilst at college I also volunteered to be a reading mentor for year 8 students who were struggling with their reading skills. This involved encouraging the young people to read through materials, working on pronunciation and supporting at points in which they struggle.
Furthermore, I can work as a valued member of a team going beyond the needed expectations in order to complete the task to the best possible standard, I also enjoy contributing ideas. I work efficiently as an individual and can show the initiative to do so. I am very flexible on how I carry out a task at hand, taking a person-centred approach to ensure the client’s needs are met. I enjoy learning new things and would be enthusiastic about further training. In addition, I would take feedback on board to help self-improve, asking for guidance when unsure. I also strongly believe in equality and diversity with a distinct view that everyone should be treated with respect and not judged, giving each individual the same level of care and commitment. Additionally, I am very good at time-to-work planning, meeting all deadlines set in place. I like to keep myself organized and plan ahead.
Leave A Comment