Written by our March 2026 Alumni: Jan Duda
I graduated from the TEFL course in March 2026. I can still see myself proudly holding my certificate, standing between Nick and Tasci, and looking at my fellow trainees. Everyone was so eager, passionate, and a little bit tired, but we did it. It had not always been easy, but there we stood — a fresh company of teachers ready to teach our way through.
On 7th April 2026, I walked into the Spěváček language school office to talk to the coordinators and get my first classes to teach. I got a couple of suggestions. It was up to the students to choose me as their teacher. Little did I know that my first assignment was closer than expected. On my way back home, I received a phone call from Spěváček school. They asked me to teach a Post Secondary course the very next morning. Three hours of teaching with one 15-minute break. I accepted, and when I hung up, I realized what I had agreed to.
I needed to wait for more information: what page in the student’s book to cover, what skill to train, and what grammar to explain. When I received the information, my training kicked in, and it all started coming back to me. I knew what my duty was — prepare the LESSON PLAN. I put on some music — Sabaton, particularly — it always makes me feel like a superhero. And I started.
Thanks to TEFL, I very soon realized that it was not going to be that hard. I could hear my trainers and the advice they had given us. Nick talked to us about his Post Secondary classes — a lot of speaking, and the biggest challenge: preventing your students from speaking Czech. April told us to use fictional characters when talking about things that could be too personal, like bad habits. I still had the tenses chart Tasci introduced to us. And thanks to Jordan, I learned about the magic of Kahoot! and the benefit of not being too serious about my role as a teacher. I also checked my previous lesson plans and the notes my observers had left for me.
My first class after the TEFL course was great. I am sure I made one or two mistakes, like handing the papers out before giving instructions to my students. I was also totally confused about the word “hiatus” that one of my students used. (But the good news is that I remember the word now.) I also forgot to take markers from the Spěváček reception. I accidentally showed my students a slide with the answers for the exercise they were working on… HOWEVER, it was great. I prepared an engaging lesson, the students were learning, the students were speaking, and when they were leaving the classroom, they were neither crushed nor totally annoyed — and neither was I. I felt tired but super happy 🙂
At the very beginning of the lesson, I told my students that it was my first time teaching for Spěváček. I wanted them to know that I did not want to pretend I knew everything. I asked them about the way they usually learn. I asked them about themselves, and I truly meant it. Some of them also teach English in kindergarten, one teaches Czech, there was a sports reporter, some of them have dogs, and some of them prefer cats. One of them works at a supermarket, and since I worked at a supermarket myself, we understood each other without saying anything — it is hell.
And from my very first class came something I will remember forever… We did a writing exercise, and one of the students called Spěváček language school “Spěváček University.” Everyone was laughing. It was amazing. From that moment on, I was the professor, and they were university students. Together, we really took the class to another level 🙂
During the TEFL course, they tell you that teaching is 90% personality and 10% skills. But they do not train you only for the 10%. No, during the TEFL course, you have numerous opportunities to learn about yourself as well. In every class I have taught so far, I have been able to use what I learned during the course. Way to go, guys, way to go 🙂
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