It's Tom here and I've got a confession. Many of you know me as the online coordinator for A+English, but what you may not realise is that one night a week I turn from mild-mannered A+ employee into my alter-ego. Yes, I'm revealing to the world that I'm a secret part-time TESOL trainee!
It all started a few years ago when I was living in Peru. I knew of a local English language school that desperately needed a substitute teacher to fill a gap before a new teacher arrived and I volunteered.
This turned out to be a bit of a baptism of fire as I got a phone call at 6am one morning asking me if I could start a class at 7:30 and the school was at least an hour away- not much time for preparation and considering I'd never taught before I think my adrenaline probably reached dangerous levels! I'm not going to say that the lesson I gave was good, because by all accounts it was a disaster; I was incredibly nervous, the class was made up almost entirely of teenage boys and they showed no mercy. By the end of the lesson, I was a wreck, not helped by the fact that they kept asking me what was wrong with me. I kept answering, "Nothing, I'm just nervous," but later found out that school director had taken it upon herself to tell the class that I had a personal problem and that's why the class hadn't taken place over the last few days! Bearing in mind that I had only got the job at 6am that morning, I still can't quite believe that turn of events. The next day, however, I came back for more, better prepared and ready to take them all on! By the end of my time at that school, I was exhausted, but I had taught English!
You might have thought that that experience would have put me off English language teaching - and you'd be partly right. I've often thought that it's something I'd like to do, but the memory of that first lesson would come back and undermine my confidence. It's taken me several years to finally realise that this is something I need. When I joined A+ I was envious of all the TESOL trainees and saw several groups through their intensive four week course. I witnessed the initial panic as they realised that they had to teach their first lessons and identified with that feeling! I watched them grow from trainees into confident teachers in the space of a few weeks and began to think that it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that one day, it could be me. When our director announced that we would be introducing a part-time TESOL course, my interest was really piqued but I kept it quiet until almost the last moment as I wasn't sure whether I would be able to take a Cert TESOL at the same place I worked. I spoke to Zoe and, to my relief, she said it would be OK and welcomed me on to the course!
So, there I sat on a Tuesday 16th October (having raided Paperchase for a rather fetching floral folder, paper pad and pen) feeling like I was back at school, waiting for my fellow students and for the first class to begin...
To be continued...
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