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About Me
Hi, my name is Mark from Arizona. I am an aircraft mechanic going on 23 years. 3 years ago I got sick and after seeing many US doctors with no results I found a treatment in Changsha China. I decided to go and this is when my life changed, not only did I become healthy I fell in love with Changsha. I ended up spending a total of 6 months in Changsha. I loved the chinese culture and learned a lot. Now I want to go back but this time I would like to teach English. I have zero experience teaching but I do have much experience in china now. I met so many friendly people. I have not taken the TEFL course yet but I was hoping to get some feed back on this site about the course and if it gives enough information for an inexperienced person.
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Hi, my name is Mark. I have been an aircraft mechanic for 25 years and I am seriously considering quitting and going to teach English in China. I have never taught before and I was wondering if anyone here has been teaching without having had teaching experience. Can anyone share their experience with me?
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Recent Discussion in Changsha’s Groups
| Group | Topic | Activity | Posts |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | Wanna go to rural China. | May 19 | 1 |
| China | Teach in china in less than two months | May 17 | 2 |
| Ask a TEFL Expert! | Check point 3 questions 6-10 | May 07 | 5 |
| China | China ESL Salary advice needed asap! | May 05 | 7 |
| China | Hangzhou with EF (English First) | April 28 | 4 |
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Log in to leave a comment or Create an accountHi Mark,
I took the 40 hours TEFL course last year and I'm glad I have taken the course. Even though you don't have any experience in teaching, the course has been designed in a way so that you could follow every instruction clearly from planning a lesson to delivering the lesson effectively. :) I am coming back to this site again as I plan to go for the internship program in the future.
Hi Mark,
I didnt have any teaching experience at all before i came to China - the online course was a really good foundation which certainly helped to prepare me for teaching, but i think like many jobs most of the learning has been on the job, as i go along. Which is fine! My school have been really supportive throughout my internship here, and even though i (inevitably) felt a bit out of my depth at first i soon got into the swing of things. And the students are often just really happy to have a foreign teacher, so you wont hear any complaining from them!
The teaching is varied and often actually quite fun - like any jobs there have been ups and downs but i'd say overall there have been many more ups! I don't think teaching is something i'm going to pursue long term but it's been a great experience for these 4.5 months, and definitely something i've gotten a lot out of.
My pay is enough to live on comfortably in my city, but i dont think it'd be enough for a big city like Beijing or Shanghai. I'm only on an interns salary though - many teaching jobs in China pay well enough for you to live very comfortably and even save.
Hope this helps!
Zoe
Hey,
I wouldn't worry too much about experience - most of the i-to-i graduates I speak to who go to teach in China have very little/absolutely no experience so you should be fine!
As for the grammar, there's a specialist grammar module (http://www.onlinetefl.com/tefl-courses/specialist-tefl-modules/grammar-awareness.html ) that you do as part of the course which makes it pretty straightforward - a lot of people get hung up that the grammar's really difficult, but it's actually not that big a deal!
As for me, I've taught in China before (in Beijing) and had an amazing time, but now work for i-to-i in their UK office, managing this site, amongst other things!
So, if you have any questions feel free to get in touch with me, or give Hayley in our Boston office a call on 800 352 1793.
Good luck!
Hi,
Thanks so much for writing me back! Well its not for sure that I will go to Changsha yet but after reading the comments about the course I may take it now. My big concern is not having experience. Also been away from grammer for so long its kind of scary. I will also check out the people you suggested I talk to. So, how about you? What are you planning on doing? Looking forward to getting away from fixing airplanes. I really think I will enjoy teaching chinese kids. So many came up to me when I was there and asked me to teach them..It was so cute!
Hey Mark,
Wow, your story sounds amazing! That's great you're going to be returning to Chagsha to teach. To get you started on the site you might want to chat to these guys who are teaching in China at the minute to get their feedback on how they found the course and how it's helped them with teaching:
http://www.onlinetefl.com/tefl-chalkboard/rozel09
http://www.onlinetefl.com/tefl-chalkboard/zoeholl111/
http://www.onlinetefl.com/tefl-chalkboard/roberts121
Best of luck and make sure you keep us posted with how you get on!
PS. I just read your bio section, and it sounds like TEFL would be a really good fit for you. I feel so much more prepared now that I've done (most of) it. And if I hadn't had prior teaching experience, it would have been a lifesaver! The interactive learning bits and sample lesson videos will likely make you more confident.
Hey! I'm still working through the last bits of the online course, but so far it has been pretty good. Honestly, I have a fair amount of teaching experience already, so it was mostly a review, but I think it's a pretty comprehensive course altogether. As for the grammar part, that seemed to drag on as I'm already pretty strong with grammar. But if grammar is at all tough for you, the course does a really great job with it. It even gives tips on lesson plans, how to run different games, tips for teaching listening or speaking, etc. All in all, it was useful, but I'm still pretty scared to actually do it. I hope that helps!
Good luck to you too Mark:)
I have no teaching experience and when I started the courses I was surprised at how little grammar I actually knew and was really frustrated doing that part. But now that I am done with the class I can definitely say that I feel really prepared to teach. Nervous, of course, due to the language barrier, but the course really does give you a good foundation to work off of. It teaches you how to plan lessons, and gives you tips and examples about many types of different teaching scenarios you may find yourself in. I would definitely recommend getting your certification and teaching, if you could take on China, then this will just be another adventure to embark on!
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