Why Complete a TEFL Course 'Why should I take a TEFL course' I

'Why should I take a TEFL course' I love children and I love teaching. isn't that enough' It's quite possible that I'm not the only person that ever entertained such thoughts, and even now I look back and shake my head. Yes indeed, a love for the people and teaching are absolutely necessary in order to be a truly successful teacher, but as I have realized, there is so much I would have been sadly unprepared for if I had gone into it without the TEFL training! Being a good teacher involves really knowing your material, and the students will be able to sense if teachers aren't really secure in their knowledge. It will also convey the thought that maybe the teacher doesn't care enough about what they''re doing to put serious effort into learning it first themselves. I'll just highlight a few of the major reasons why I would definitely recommend a TEFL course to anyone who has a desire to pursue this career anytime in the future. For one thing, a TEFL course will give you amazing insights on how to plan a well balanced, successful lesson that includes all of the necessary elements of learning. For instance, I learned about the very valuable ESA structure: Engage, Study, Activate. Not only will the course give you an outline to work from, it also gives many helpful ways of putting it into practice! A TEFL course will also give you different sources to look into to find materials that will be best suited to your needs. Another very helpful aspect was that the TEFL course takes you step- by-step through potential problems specific to an EFL class, and then gives you advice on how to deal with those issues. For instance, I would have been clueless on how to respond to a class that continually lapses into their native language, and I probably would have just ended up trying to learn their language in order to be able to communicate! Thanks to the course, I now an idea of how to manage things like that effectively when they come up. Reviewing verb tenses and other grammar was also highly beneficial for me. It's rather ironic, but even though I've spoken English all my life, it would have been difficult knowing exactly how to teach all the technicalities if I hadn't taken this course. I'm not saying that if you don't take a TEFL course that you wouldn't be able to teach the language, but for anyone who has ever struggled with English before, it's amazing how much this course can help solidify things in your mind. Lastly, taking a TEFL course will usually provide you contact with professional EFL teachers, which is a huge asset to beginning teachers. Being able to email with questions and get feedback is truly amazing, and the opportunity wouldn't be available to me if I hadn''t decided to take the plunge and do the course. I don't believe anyone would regret taking a TEFL course! I now feel more secure in my knowledge than I ever did, and won't be quite so nervous about entering a classroom for the first time-because now'K I'm prepared!

Sources: My TEFL Units and personal experience.