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The young learners TEFL course was different from the original 120 hour course but nevertheless, insightful. I learned a lot but several themes stuck out to me. I learned that young people pick up languages much easier than older people but their motivation for doing so is often not the same. They are usually in school because they have to be due to requirements from the school or external factors. From this course, I gathered that lessons should be enjoyable, engaging and students should want to be apart of the class and not feel obligated to. Another lesson I learned is that there can be a big difference from one year to the next with young learners. Younger people tend to have a “follow the leader” mentality and will often join in on whatever the majority is doing. With things like social media and phones more present with the younger generation, students are more aware of what is “cool” and what is not. As a teacher of young learners it is important to be mindful of this and realize that what was once enjoyable to an 11 year old is now boring and not well liked. Young people can have terribly short attention spans when compared to adults and can become very ancy when an activity drags on too long. I think the key that I took away was finding the balance between those activities that were fun but also allowed students to learn and retain the most information. With some of the cases in the units but also through my own research I have found that sometimes students are participating in activities for too short a time so they are getting the fun aspect out of it but are not learning anything. I think this scenario can actually cause more anxiety in the end because students may feel like they did not learn anything meaningful. With young learners I believe they need to be challenged in the right way also. A class without any real objective might as well be recess. Even if it is just a minor obstacle to overcome I think students will feel a sense of accomplishment, knowing that they worked towards something and achieved it. I think this can lead to increased motivation with young students also because they will have learned something and can see the benefit in being in a TEFL class. The area where I feel I have come the furthest is in my lesson planning. Before I began taking this TEFL course I had no idea lesson planning was as methodical as it was. The sample that this course provided was a great help too. It made everything easier because I was able to layer what it is I wanted to teach and what my objectives were. Overall, getting my TEFL certification was one of my most rewarding experiences to date. I learned a great amount in a short time and it helped me find a sense of accomplishment. I definitely feel prepared and ready to go make my mark in another country and give back after all the years of learning English myself.
