United States
US
John Hussey
Teach Enrich Empower
Scoring a Happy Goal in China
Just over a year ago I made the decision to try a new career and experience living in a different country. I therefore decided to enrol on a TEFL course. Looking at the options available I decided to choose a course with The TEFL Academy. Not having any experience as a teacher, I wanted a course with some classroom-based content rather than a course that was 100% online.
I therefore chose the course offered by The TEFL Academy. It was available in my local area, and the classroom part of the course took place at the weekend which fitted in with my work schedule. I gained a lot of knowledge during this course about teaching techniques, with the classroom content being especially useful. I will always remember my TEFL trainer teaching me some sentences in Hungarian without using English to explain or translate it; this really showed me how I could teach English to someone who had never used the language before.
The online part of the course was easy to follow and assignments were marked very quickly within 2 or 3 days, so I could then begin working on my next assignment. The assignments guided me to read and learn more about the teaching techniques demonstrated and practiced during the classroom part of the course.
Following my successful completion of the 120-hour TEFL course I promptly received my certificate and started to apply for TEFL jobs, with Shanghai, China being my place of choice. I had some interviews and found varying quality in employers. I decided to choose the school that appeared most professional during the interview process, which was the children’s training center Happy Goal Kids English.
“I gained a lot of knowledge during this course about teaching techniques.”
I prepared my visa and came out to Shanghai, working in Happy Goal’s newest school. In my first week the teacher trainer also from the UK took me through 40 hours of further training and I began taking classes, inspired to teach very well by some very bright and eager to learn students. Class sizes were a maximum of 12 and I was given a Chinese teacher to assist me during every lesson. The techniques and experiences I had had in The TEFL Academy course really supported my teaching in the classroom and all my students were successfully progressing and learning English. I also enjoyed some great school team events with the most memorable one being the building of a racing car using sticky tape and card board in a Shanghai park.
After 6 months working as a teacher my achievements in the school were recognized and I was promoted to the role of recruitment and communications officer. I am really enjoying my new role as I can now offer the very enjoyable opportunity I have had to more TEFL Academy graduates.
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