Friday, May 30, 2014
Sunday, May 25, 2014
TEFL experiences has relocated and changed the experience !
A few life changes have meant that I haven't written on my blog for a long time. This was wrong because I should have been sharing with my friends and colleagues these changes as life passed by....because they were all part of an experience - a TEFL experience. However, it was a very personal experience and one where I had to consider my family before my professional life.
So, to cut a long story short.I relocated to Leicester from my beloved Greece last July. My children arrived in August and started a new life in England. We had a few teething problems with schools, further education and lack of friends but we are now enjoying our new life and the experience of living in a country which promotes opportunities, multiculturalism, diversity and culture as an every day occurrence.
As for my classroom, it has changed!
I miss my Young Learners and teens and now appreciate the feedback from my students on Intensive General English Courses, moving onto Academic courses and English for Aviation....military personnel from Algeria with different aims and needs to those students who I taught in Greece!
I realise now, as a dedicated teacher, you can always adapt to your students' needs. It doesn't matter what classroom you walk into, as long as you are prepared and think about those students' needs, you can adapt and deliver.
Your reality becomes who you are teaching the next day and as time passes you adapt to that environment.
The TEFLexperience has really 'hit home' as I realise I can research, adapt and accommodate to my students' needs to what ever is expected of me. The fact I have an incredible PLN to support me, plus the opportunity to attend conferences, like IATEFL for the first time has been an incredible learning experience and one that I can share with my students and hopefully enhance their classroom experiences.
I remember YLs in Greece and how they would bring me coloured pictures with stickers addressed to 'Miss Sharon..I love you...' Now I have tutorials with students from Iraq who tell me about their difficulties trying to bring their loved ones to another country or Chinese students who are struggling with the fact they didn't 'fit in' with their local system so their parents sent them abroad, pilots that are the crème de la crème in their own country but are aliens to a new environment.
TEFLexperiences...is what it is all about! I wrote in my last blog about collaborating with a teacher I 'd never met- Sophia Mavradaki - we have now met at Greece TESOL and actually shared a few evenings reflecting over a few wines at IATEFL and became firm friends!
These few ramblings are what it is to be a TEFL teacher these days...
We move on, we experience, we learn and we share....
So, to cut a long story short.I relocated to Leicester from my beloved Greece last July. My children arrived in August and started a new life in England. We had a few teething problems with schools, further education and lack of friends but we are now enjoying our new life and the experience of living in a country which promotes opportunities, multiculturalism, diversity and culture as an every day occurrence.
As for my classroom, it has changed!
I miss my Young Learners and teens and now appreciate the feedback from my students on Intensive General English Courses, moving onto Academic courses and English for Aviation....military personnel from Algeria with different aims and needs to those students who I taught in Greece!
I realise now, as a dedicated teacher, you can always adapt to your students' needs. It doesn't matter what classroom you walk into, as long as you are prepared and think about those students' needs, you can adapt and deliver.
Your reality becomes who you are teaching the next day and as time passes you adapt to that environment.
The TEFLexperience has really 'hit home' as I realise I can research, adapt and accommodate to my students' needs to what ever is expected of me. The fact I have an incredible PLN to support me, plus the opportunity to attend conferences, like IATEFL for the first time has been an incredible learning experience and one that I can share with my students and hopefully enhance their classroom experiences.
I remember YLs in Greece and how they would bring me coloured pictures with stickers addressed to 'Miss Sharon..I love you...' Now I have tutorials with students from Iraq who tell me about their difficulties trying to bring their loved ones to another country or Chinese students who are struggling with the fact they didn't 'fit in' with their local system so their parents sent them abroad, pilots that are the crème de la crème in their own country but are aliens to a new environment.
TEFLexperiences...is what it is all about! I wrote in my last blog about collaborating with a teacher I 'd never met- Sophia Mavradaki - we have now met at Greece TESOL and actually shared a few evenings reflecting over a few wines at IATEFL and became firm friends!
These few ramblings are what it is to be a TEFL teacher these days...
We move on, we experience, we learn and we share....
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