Callum: United Kingdom: Mar 01, 2019

Although admittedly I haven’t had any first-hand experience of teaching students English, I still feel I have gained enough knowledge on the topic through the recent TEFL course I completed. I possess the right attitude and am hugely determined to do very well within a rewarding teaching role in South Korea.
Throughout the course of completing the TEFL program I learned and developed a teaching philosophy that I feel will make learning English for foreign students both fun and engaging, while still challenging in an open, relaxed and safe environment.
The use of the teaching method and lesson plan structure: Presentation – Practice – Production (PPP) that I learned during the TEFL program, I believe is ideal for guiding all students towards using the language they are learning themselves, and is the best way in getting the best out of each student as it maximizes student talking time. Increasing STT through this lesson structure gives students time to communicate with each other when learning new English concepts, rather than listening to the teacher for longer periods of time. As this would work well with all age ranges of students, I also believe keeping the classroom environment fun and relaxed for younger students through games and songs, is a good teaching philosophy to have.
In addition to the TEFL course, I have spent a number of hours shadowing a close friend of mine who is currently a Year 1 primary school teacher at a local school where I live. This has given me a direct insight into what teaching a large class of younger students is like. I have gained experience of what teaching methods, reward schemes and methods in dealing with disruptions work well within the class room, specifically tailored for the students around the ages of 5 and 6 years old.