Why take a TESOL course?
Taking a TESOL course is essential for those aspiring to teach English to non-English speakers. The reasons are multifaceted:
- Understanding Teaching Methodology: A TESOL course equips you with effective teaching methodologies, helping you understand how to start a lesson, engage students, and manage a classroom.
- Grasping Language Concepts: It provides a deep understanding of English language concepts you will be teaching, like grammar and vocabulary.
- Lesson Planning Skills: You learn to plan lessons effectively, tailoring content to students' existing knowledge levels.
- Building Confidence: For those new to teaching, a TESOL course builds confidence and prepares you for real-world classroom scenarios.
- Global Recognition: The standard requirement for ESL teaching globally is a 120-hour TESOL certificate, obtainable through various modes like online or in-class study.
In conclusion, a TESOL course is not just about validating your ability to teach English; it is about preparing you thoroughly for the challenges and joys of teaching diverse learners.
Table of Contents
What can you expect from a TESOL course?
What can you expect from a TESOL course?
The two main areas of a standard TESOL course are teaching skills and language knowledge. Below we will look at these in further detail.
Teaching skills
In order to adequately present information to a variety of learners there are some fundamental teaching skills that your course should give you. These include:
- Teaching methods: There are a number of teaching methods used in teaching ESOL students. You will be made aware of these and how they are applied.
- Learner types: There are different teaching situations you may be involved with, such as young learners, business English students, general English to adults, etc.
- Learner levels: Typically there are 5 levels of students taught. What are they and what needs to be taught at each level?
- Lesson planning: How do you construct a coherent teaching plan for a lesson, the purpose of which is some given teaching point?
- Feedback and assessment: How and when should feedback be given?
Language knowledge
In order to adequately present correct English language information to your students there is some fundamental language awareness that your course should give you. These include:
- Parts of speech: What are the individual parts of language and what are their functions? Examples being, verbs, nouns, adverbs, adjectives, etc.
- The English language tense system: There are a number of tense description methods. Many ESL teaching courses advise students of twelve basic tenses.
- Modal and phrasal verbs: What are these and when and how are they used?
- Direct and reported speech: What are these and when and how are they used?
