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LanguageSponge’s TAC 2011, Team ÇÜ | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5866 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 89 of 128 28 September 2011 at 12:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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Jack, you can go to LingoBongo.com and send your résumé to a lot of companies in one city. They have Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Milan, Lisbon, Porto, Berlin, and Buenos Aires. Also, in the announcements online it seems they all ask for teaching experience (or a college degree), but really if you contact the company directly (or are in that country already) I'm sure you will find someone to hire you. Honestly, everywhere people want to learn English. Well, not necessarily learn, but know English. Here in Spain nobody's ever asked me for teaching experience (or for that matter a university degree). I'm sure you could also go to a Slavic country without too much trouble (except maybe needing a visa?). Your best bet is probably just to get in contact with some English agencies where you'd like to teach. Being a EU citizen is another plus, as no one (well, very few) wants to go through the procedure of sponsoring someone.
But it's true, in my TEFL/CELTA class I didn't learn a thing. It's a joke. It wasn't until I actually started teaching that I got a slight idea how to go about doing things, though I must admit I am an awful teacher. I don't much care for those methods of teaching as I think the teacher's job is to teach the student to be self-sufficient and be able to continue on their own. I don't really have much experience, but if you have any questions on the subject feel free to ask. I'll be around. EDIT: Ah, and here's the site if you care: http://www.lingobongo.com/ you can post job ads there or go to the "send CR/Résumé" thing. Edited by Crush on 28 September 2011 at 12:51pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5767 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 90 of 128 29 September 2011 at 11:37am | IP Logged | ||
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ummagamma - Thanks for your message and for your kind words. I am looking around for
reviews of CELTA and similar programmes before I book it. I am certainly one to bury myself in books once I've enrolled for a course, for fear of flunking the whole thing - not to mention because of the cost of doing it. I will definitely keep you posted here. Crush - thanks for your message. I had a look through LingoBongo and it looks pretty good. I have however already decided that I am going to do some kind of course like CELTA - mainly because I'm not confident enough in my own abilities to be sure that I would make a good teacher as I am right now, and it's really quite important for my own peace of mind that I prove myself wrong. Sure, while at school I tutored plenty of people in my own classes, over the net and further down the school than myself in languages - in French, in German, in Russian and in *very very basic* Spanish (basic in the sense of what school calls basic)- but never in English. So although there are many elements of it that I'll be familiar with due to studying foreign languages for half my life, there are surely lots of elements that I'd not be quite so good at - so I think I'll need the course. Thanks for the link; I will definitely have a look at it a bit later on to see what's on offer. If I have the opportunity to go to Europe instead, I am sure I'll take that, even if I have to half kill myself getting my Spanish up to speed to go! Thanks for your comments :] Please keep them coming if you can think of anything else to say; I'd be really grateful for absolutely anything at the moment! Jack 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5866 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 91 of 128 29 September 2011 at 6:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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No, I definitely agree, though the course in itself probably won't help you at all. What IS important, however, is the certificate they give you afterwards. So it's just like university, what really matters is the certificate you get at the end and not the actual classes ;)
I also think it'd be much easier for me to teach Spanish, at least up to an intermediate level, than English. I studied Spanish and know where I had my difficulties and also have a better idea of how to explain things. In English grammar there are a lot of things that I'm not aware exist (for example, that most words ending in a single "f" or in "fe" in the singular turn into "ves" in the plural). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5767 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 92 of 128 30 September 2011 at 3:02pm | IP Logged | ||
Hi Crush, Thanks again for your reply. I agree with everything you've said; it's not the course itself that I'm after, although I am sure I'll gain some nice ideas and insights from it, what I'm really after is the piece of paper at the end which says I'm qualified and I deserve to do it. I know exactly what you mean about your finding it easier to teach Spanish. At the moment, although I am sure I know a great deal about English grammar, there are a fair few aspects of it about which I know virtually nothing - and that's why I've got my books out and am beginning to read up on it before the course starts. I went to the library yesterday and came home with my arms full of books, one of which I've already read cover to cover :] I really do understand what you mean about your thinking you'd be better off teaching Spanish. I feel the same about German, French, Russian and one day I'm sure I'll think the same about Spanish. We know the grammar better, we know the pitfalls, we've been through it all first hand and screwed it all up so many times that there's no way we'll ever forget it now. Ultimately, unless I get into a teaching post for English and really, really like it, my aim is to eventually teach the foreign languages that I love. Jack Edited by LanguageSponge on 30 September 2011 at 3:06pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5767 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 93 of 128 01 October 2011 at 10:27pm | IP Logged | ||
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So today I've had a good day - I've managed to sort a few things out which will get me
out of the rut I'm stuck in at the moment and that's managed to cheer me up a bit, quite frankly. Firstly, I've applied for the CRB check I need to have in order to do the volunteer work I want to do and also need to do my CELTA course. Also, I've looked up flights to Austria for November, and they're really cheap at the moment. I will book one on Monday - my girlfriend will know her timetable better then so I'll be able to book dates where she's more free. November 10th is our one year anniversary so it's important that I be there for that. Secondly, I've spoken to my former German teacher, whose advice I have not always taken and have often regretted later, about doing the CELTA course and going abroad to teach. He told me to do it years ago and I ignored his advice as politely as possible. I now regret it and once again, it's been proved that he knows what I want to do even better than I do! He also told me "you'll one day regret concentrating on Russian and not German at uni" and I ignored him. Oh what a fool I was! We also spoke about my apparent misconceptions regarding teaching English abroad. Until very recently, I didn't think I'd be able to teach English in Europe without experience. Our own Crush is the one responsible for enlightening me about this, so thank you! I've also been ensured that I'll be able to get a placement in Germany after passing CELTA, so I am really very happy about that! Yes, there are plenty of teaching jobs in Germany which require experience (and a fair bit of it) but it's also possible without! So fantastic! Thanks again, Crush! Regarding my conversations with my former teacher, by the way, they are all entirely in German and he hasn't corrected me for years. I'm not sure whether that's because he doesn't have the heart to correct me, or because I don't need correcting? Anyone have any opinions on this? Thanks for reading, Jack 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 songlines Pro Member Canada flickr.com/photos/cp Joined 5210 days ago 729 posts - 1056 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French Personal Language Map | Message 94 of 128 02 October 2011 at 7:37am | IP Logged | ||
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Jack, Best wishes for your CELTA course. - I took one a few years ago, and, though I didn't ever use it for employment purposes (I took it at a time when I feared that I might need a back-up credential/skill), I really enjoyed it: Hard work, enormously time consuming, and absolutely fascinating.
I'm sure your CELTA school will give you a reading list, but if you need any book suggestions, PM me. Or I'd be happy to list some titles here. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5767 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 95 of 128 02 October 2011 at 11:37pm | IP Logged | ||
Hi songlines, Thanks for your message. I am sure the college will give me a reading list but anything that I can get my hands on before the course starts would be fantastic – I am one of those people who always likes to, and to some extent has to, be ahead of the game a bit. I can be a bit of a slow learner when it comes to grasping new concepts – so the earlier, the better! I’ve had quite a good day study-wise today. I’ve watched two French language films– Jules et Jim and a short film called Les Mistons – both by François Truffaut, one of the directors associated with La Nouvelle Vague. I also read Astérix aux jeux Olympiques and watched the film Astérix et Cléopâtre, which I find hilarious. I also read one of the library books I took out which was loosely around the topic of teaching English. I have pages and pages of notes taken from it. Right, that’s enough for today. Thanks for reading, Jack 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5866 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 96 of 128 04 October 2011 at 10:02am | IP Logged | ||
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Jack, I should also hopefully be going to teach in Germany soon :)
By the way, do you know of any fun and silly German-language films? Things along the lines of a lot of the animated films in English: Ice Age, Madagascar, Kung fu Panda, etc.? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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