#tefltrainer

What has been your experience with TEFL courses Online? Diary submitted by Chloe L. Valencia Has it been easier or more difficult than expected? The TEFL trainer online course was very clear and well-structured and it gave me a good amount of knowledge about various aspects of the English language. I completed the course while I was in Madrid and Valencia. I believe that the topics were well ranged and they included not only grammar rules but phonetics was also explained. I believe that the videos were beneficial because you could hear how words or phonemes were pronounced and then I was able to explain phonology a lot better in the classes. Not only did it help in regards to phonetics but it also helped me explain grammar more precisely to the students. In addition, the course gave lots of detailed information, in regards to the different exams that the students can take and explaining all of the types and the levels they equate to. I found this part extremely useful as beforehand I had never taught students to prepare for those exams and I was not really aware of the variety that exist. Additionally in the classes sometimes students do not only have grammar/ vocabulary related questions but also questions about exams that they can do, often if students plan to do a year abroad with their university they need to obtain an English certificate prior. The course consists of 140 hours, however due to the fact that this is the only TEFL course I have ever done I am not able to compare it to others. I had 9 months to complete this course which proved to be ample time, I had studied the English language in some detail and therefore the grammar aspect of the language did not prove to be that difficult, however there were some aspects which were fresh to me and therefore they were slightly more challenging to begin with – namely the different exams and phonetics. One thing I would have liked the course to had have was when it came to the exams, it did not specifically state how long you had for each one before clicking on to complete it. Nonetheless, overall the course was well presented and I think that it was a good idea to put the grammar into practice with the quizzes at the end of each part. It has been stated that “Online TEFL courses are a good introduction that will help you see if you may actually be interested in teaching English abroad.” It shows the actual concepts that would be taught. Furthermore I really enjoyed the flexibility of this course and would recommend to people in the future. Reference: The Pros & Cons of Online vs On-Site TEFL Courses https://www.goabroad.com/articles/tefl-courses/pros-cons-of-online-vs-on-site-tefl-courses  #erasmusplus #erasmus #outwardmobility #teflprograms #tesol 

Teaching in Western Europe - outside of Spain Diary submitted by Lee R., Valencia “Being taught English grammar from a German point of view.” To many English people, it is often assumed that everyone outside of the U.K. is able to speak English fluently so there is no need to learn a language. Moreover, in the case of Germans speaking English, the English are left dumbfounded by the ease at which Germans can speak. Regardless of this, what are some of the complications that Germans face when learning English grammar? This section will demonstrate some of the major hardships that Germans may encounter. As first glance, a potentially problematic aspect of learning is the part of English that relates more to Latin-based languages: progressive forms. Although German and English are grammatically alike with regards to prepositional verbs, German does not contain a progressive form. Instead, one would only use the simple form of tenses, for example, “I do” and “I am doing” are both “Ich mache”. In addition, the gerund form may seem confusing for Germans, especially in the context of using it in the form of a noun and adjective. This is the same form in English (i.e. The smoking man vs. Smoking). However, in German, it is broken down into its own distinct adjectival form (Infinitive + ‘D’) and an infinitive. Example: “Der laufende Mann“ = “the running man”  “Laufen” = “Running” Secondly, a small yet significant difference to note too is that every German noun will always begin with a capital letter in written form. As a result, one could say that this may become confusing when deciding which nouns to capitalise in English. Furthermore, punctuation such as commas can be challenging as there are far more rules that do not appear in English. For instance; the word ‘that’ in subordinate clauses is always preceded by a comma in German, therefore, many Germans will say “I believe, that” when it is not grammatically correct. On the other hand, according to Ba (2016), what Germans have most difficulty with is the concept of auxiliary verbs in the formation of questions and negation – what she describes as a “’Psychological’ hurdle”. This is because German would still use the main verb. An example to describe this would be with the question “Do you speak German?”. In German, one would say “Speak you German?” (“Sprichst du Deutsch?”). Due to this, it may take a lot more time to catch on to the structure. Fortunately, this has been made easier through services such as Netflix, where English subtitling is available so that people may have more exposure to these structures. What is often underestimated between both English and German is not only the number of cognates that they have in common, but also those that are also ‘false friends’. A prime example of this - what many people struggle with - is the verb ‘to become’. In German, the verb that is similar is ‘bekommen’, which literally translates into ‘to earn’, ‘to get’ or ‘to receive’. Subsequently, many people say, “I’m becoming a hamburger.” rather than “I’m getting a hamburger.”. In relation to pronunciation, ‘ð’ and ‘θ’ sounds are tough for Germans as the sound has not existed for hundreds of years in most northern Germanic countries (Boston Language Institute, 2013). This results in words such as ‘the’ and ‘think’ being pronounced as ‘zəˈ’ and ‘sɪŋk’ – something that is often stereotyped in the media. In conclusion, despite both languages being Germanic, there are multiple obstacles that can affect grammar apprehension, specifically in the context of auxiliary verbs and how these structures do not exist. In my opinion and according to what I have been told by Germans, the main problems lay with pronunciation and auxiliary forms. Bibliography Ba, S. (2016). What difficulties do Germans learning English encounter, any examples? . Retrieved from https://www.duolingo.com/comment/14062527/What-difficulties-do-Germans-learning-English-encounter-any-examples-Are-apostrophes-used Boston Language Institute. (2016). Having problems with pronouncing ‘th’?. Retrieved from https://bostonlanguage.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/having-problems-pronouncing-th/

Diary submitted by Eve P. Ideas for an out-of-class English club Student Motivation/Classroom Management One of the key reasons for students not improving their English with sufficient speed is that apart from in their classes, they do not engage with the language in their own time. When students have no involvement with their target language at home, they lack interest and are slow to progress. By participating in interesting and fun activities through practising English, the learning of the language is more accessible, enjoyable and engaging. Out-of-class English clubs are the opportunity to inspire this engagement in the students’ leisure time. In order to engage the students in their study of English beyond the classroom, I have found that we must incorporate activities that are enjoyable for them. Rather than studying grammar exercises, in their downtime students should affiliate English with the topics and interests that they have in their own language. I have often found through teaching that students become their most animated and enthusiastic when discussing something important and relevant to them, and so for an out-of-class English club to prove popular it should cater to the students’ enjoyment.  The best choice of effective and fun ideas for an English club will likely depend on the age of the club members. Younger members may work better in organised activities while adults may thrive in relaxed activities that encourage discussion. Club debates would be an effective way of getting the members use English in a more natural way than they would in a classroom. Through focusing on current or controversial topics that everyone has an opinion about, the participants would be kept interested and excited and have the opportunity to learn vocabulary related to the topic. The members could also take it in turns to choose a topic for debate, keeping it relevant to them. Another idea for an enjoyable and engaging activity is listening to English music. The most popular music in the world is sung in English and there will never be a lack of worthwhile resources. The lyrics could be provided for the members to read through and interpret, using the songs message as a discussion topic. Some words could be eliminated from the song for the students to fill in as a listening exercise too. Watching films and TV series are another enjoyable leisure activity that can be beneficial for English practise and improvement. Not only is watching them good for listening but they also serve as cultural windows into various aspects of the English-speaking world. Through these fun and beneficial activities, learning English becomes less of a chore and more of a hobby. Through utilising productive pastimes in out-of-class clubs the learning of the language is combined with leisure and proves more engaging for the learners. Reference: Learning English.com – Creating fun English Club activities to Learn English, Available at : https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/creating-fun-club-activities-to-learn-english/3958234.html