Our August 2024 TEFL course just graduated, and before they departed for the last time, we asked them what advice they would give to the new course attendees.
Here’s some of what they said:
- Remember: “You are not a bad teacher, you’re a new teacher.” That’s why we are here.”
- Having fun is also a big part of TEFL and so is meeting people from different cultures. Talk to them, get to know them, they will be your closest people for at least a month.
- See teaching as giving the students the medium for their own social interactions.
- Listen and reflect on all the feedback that is offered to you, from both observersand other classmates. Everyone wants to see you succeed.
- Listen to the trainers.
- Keeping a good schedule, print everything the night before the lesson. This dismisses avoidable panic in the morning with emails and printers.
- Do not underestimate the course, you should be at least a bit stressed about passing and handing in your work on time.
- Go to sleep early, it’s not worth staying up till 4 AM to have a perfect lesson plan. You won’t concentrate and will be unusable during the lesson itself.
- Not to worry too much about originality in the creation of exercises.
- Embrace the workload – enjoy life in Prague, but don’t procrastinate and get things done otherwise you’ll drown in the work.
- Triple check your lesson plans – a poorly planned activity will inevitably lead to a confused and thus unenthusiastic response from students.
- Be kind, be patient and be supportive of students – Engage with them, correct their mistakes in a way that paints you as sympathetic to them, ensure your classrooms are a safe space in which students feel comfortable making mistakes in front of their peers.
- Prioritize self-care, including adequate sleep and staying on top of lesson planning.
- Be adaptable; not everything will go as planned. Students might struggle with certain concepts, technology might fail, or the class dynamicmight shift unexpectedly. A good teacher can adapt to these on the fly.
- Teaching is not onlyabout transferring information but also about building a good rapport with your students and taking the time to understand your students’ backgrounds, interests, and motivations, allowing you to makelessons more relevant and engaging.
- Learn from your mistakes and build upon every lesson by identifying what works well and what areas need improvement.
- Rememberthat some progress is immediate, but for the most part, it’s going to take time. You won’t be perfect the next lesson, but you will see a significant improvementby the end of the course.
- Sleep: once you turn your materials in by midnight, go to bed.
- Be patient and flexible, recognizing that not everything will always go as planned. Be prepared to adjust your lessons on the spot and experiment with different approaches if something isn’t working.
- Building a strong rapport with your students is also crucial; when they feel respected and valued, they’re more likely to engage with both the material and you as a teacher.
- Don’t overlook the importance of classroommanagement. Invest time in learning and practicing techniques for maintaining control and focus from the start to create a productive learning environment.
- Really trust the trainers’ assistance and ask for help when it is needed.
- My last piece of advice for the incoming course goes a little something like this… “…Life is unpredictable. And the only thing any of us can do is square up, look our fears in the eyes and tell them… You don’t get to run my life.” (The Boss Baby, Back in Business. Season 3, Episode 11) The more one allows their fears to rule their mind, rule their actions, the less control is left for the soul. You are capable of more than they give you credit for. Your fears protect you, but they don’t command you. ❤”
In just 4 weeks you can be teaching English abroad. TEFL Worldwide was awarded as the Top TEFL Certification Course of 2018 and 2019! Courses offered monthly.
