United States
US
Stephanie Cook
Teach Enrich Empower
The Italian Job
Once I had graduated with my Level 5 certificate through the TEFL Academy I was so eager to explore the world and all the new opportunities that were suddenly open to me.
I ended up accepting a job with an Italian-based company called EDUCO who organised tutors to travel throughout the country teaching summer camps through drama, songs, and games.
Before I began the TEFL course I was stuck at home, having just recently graduated from university with a degree in English Literature, desperately trying to earn enough money on minimum wage to satisfy my unwavering desire to explore the world. It was a travel itch that I managed to scratch with some help from The TEFL Academy.
“Teaching in Italy was of course incredibly rewarding and with the ability to travel everywhere in the country from Milan to Sicily.”
Even more so as I was hopping from town to city staying with host families of the children I was teaching. More often than not the host families wouldn’t speak much English, and coupled with the fully immersive English course that the summer camps took part in, the experience was probably as authentic as it gets!
During the months I was teaching in Italy, I encountered a range of abilities and personalities in each class that always differed from the last school I had been teaching at. This constantly had me on my toes, keeping me engaged and challenged in a way that I thoroughly enjoyed. One of the highlights of my time teaching was the play that each class would write, direct, and perform at the end of each camp. One of my favourite performances was by my class in Melegnano who created a story about animals escaping a zoo and robbing a bank whilst singing ‘We Will Rob You!’, a hilarious parody of the Queen classic.
Teaching the children in my classes was not the easiest job, especially as I hadn’t had any previous teaching experience. However, the TEFL course helped a great deal as it gives you the tools needed to be an effective teacher, such as grammar and language rules that I took for granted or ideas for songs and games to enhance the learners’ experience. It is an investment that I believe greatly improved my skills as a foreign language teacher.
Despite falling in love with Italy and the life I created there through my TEFL teaching, I’m not happy unless I’m on the move and exploring new countries and cultures, which is another reason why teaching a language abroad is so rewarding and exciting. My plan (once the world is pandemic-free again) is to teach over in Japan as I visited a few years ago and fell in love with the culture, food, people, scenery, and everything about it.
Finally, if I was to share any advice about starting a TEFL course with The TEFL Academy it would be to just enjoy the process of it, including any challenges that you face along the way as the end product opens so many doors to potential adventures!
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