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Cost Legit TESOL

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This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned:

J.S. - England said:
Child DevelopmentI chose this topic because i have some experience of child development when i taught in a kindergarton and also adults in Wuhan, China for one year. First all of the job satisfaction when teaching english to children was great, and those children having the exposure of an native english speaking teacher helped the child's development further. In addition because i could not speak chinese to children, they had no choice other than to try to communicate to me in english I also found they would go out of their way to try and show me all the words they knew in english to impress me, which again was great, but in turn simply allowed development in their english. In comparision i noticed that other classes in my kindergarton where the student's parents could not afford to have a 'foreign' teacher, but had a teacher from China teaching english could of maybe hindered the child's development. This was because the chinese teacher would talk in their native tongue then switch back and say the word in question in english, which if the child then had a question he/she would ask in chinese, which defeats the whole object. This identifies that the child in this type of class is not getting the correct exposure when compared with the children i was teaching, who had to constantly talk english. Another issue i noticed about children's development in this kindergarton was the child would learn how to pronounce and speak the word/sentences in english but they would not fully understand the meaning. For example, in a school play three of the brightest students (6 year olds) were chosen to speak aloud in front of the whole kindergarton, talking a little about themselves, hobbies, where they lived, their age etc. However the children from the other classes just learnt each sentence after another 'of by heart' and would constantly practice this for hours on end. The purpose of this was a little confusing because when i would ask one of the students from another class how old they were? or where they lived they would not be able to answer me, but could state all answers in order of how they remembered 'of by heart'. So is this really developing the child's english abilities, or is it just a tool being used by the kindergarton to make the student's abilities seem outstanding in front of parents and other members of the school play. Another benefit of a native english speaking teacher teaching children, is the fact they get the exposure needed when communicating interacting with a 'foreigner'. Lots of different cultures are not used to speaking and interacting with an native english speaking person, and maybe have never seen or spoke with this type of person before. So the children in my class the novelty wore of and they just seen me as a person they were comfortable around and trusted which created a good atmosphere in my classroom aswell as a teacher/student relationship. However I believe that by children not having this type of exposure to a native english speaking person, it can limit their development. For example when i would see other children from other classes they were nervous/shy and were more interested in talking in their own language about how i looked etc. Which when compared with my own students, who were more interested/inclined in actually learning english and would ask me questions and wanted to impress and be rewarded/praised by their teacher etc. In conclusion i believe that China was a great place to teach, and the teaching and cultural experience i gained there was priceless. Eventough there are problems with children's english development there are also lots of positives, and the growth of people wanting to learn english in China is massive.


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