Learning to teach English in an all English Environment

One of the things that I learned as an Assistant Language Teacher on JET in Japan was that teaching English as an L2 or L3 (L1 being the native language) does not seem to work if it is done in L1. When English is taught to a student from L1 there is often little compulsion to use what has been taught and/or there is much compulsion to use L1 as a crutch. So coming back to New Zealand and trying out the English teacher at a language school gig was actually quite an eye opener for me. Some students could go from very little workable English to an awful lot of workable English really quite quickly but I didn't know how the teachers managed to achieve this in a classroom where they only spoke one, or in most cases none, of the languages spoken by the students they were teaching.

Before I went to Sri Lanka for Ladylovescake's wedding, I did a 5 week stint teaching Upper Intermediate level teenagers at a local language school. Dear goodness did I feel incompetent when I started out. I expected everyone to suck at English and having to sink or swim scared to bjaezus out of me. However, I persevered and with the help of my awesome class and my plushie Angry Bird, I found much joy in working with language school students. I found this joy because most of them are learning English because they want to, not because they have to. Most have a reason to be learning the language and want to make certain that money is not being wasted.

It was that joy that led me to investigate doing the CELTA, Certificate of English Language Teaching for Adults, so that I could continue to work in this area that I do so enjoy. Even if it is ultimately "my back up plan" and my "ticket to travel" it is still a valid and important qualification for any language teacher to have. In consultation with my boss and with the language school owner's ex-wife, who my mother happens to know, I settled on doing the course at Languages International in Auckland City and found it to be absolutely awesome. I cannot speak more highly of the staff there, the director of teacher training and his team of tutors are absolutely awesome and I highly recommend their CELTA course. It was high pressure, especially financially, but it was well worth it and has opened a few doors even though I've only had it for a few months.

The 5 weeks for work that I did at the local language school prior to my travels to my sister's wedding, may well have set me up for some time to come. Having done the CELTA now and being uncertain where my future takes me I know that at least no matter where I go I can teach English in English. I have the set of skills now and the ability to, hopefully, help any learner through, so long as they are willing to learn.