The TESOL Experience

Acronyms: TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages TESL Teaching English as a Second Language ESL English as a Second Language...and there are plenty more.

Before we embarked on our resent overseas journey, we thought of doing a TESOL course before leaving. We had intended to do the course part time through SEA English Academy in Maroochydore from January to June 2008 and then leave in July to travel and possibly do some teaching. As with most plans, things change. My wife Louise and I decided to bring our travel plans forward and leave in April instead. We decided to do the course in Penang Sea English Academy instead. Tana Litowski, the director in Penang, was very helpful in accommodating us with dates to attend the course full time in May 2008. Penang is a fabulous place to visit and we had been there about 5 years previously and thought we would like to stay there a month.

Our trip started in April 2008 when we flew from the Gold Coast Australia to Kuala Lumpur very cheaply with Air Asia. We spent some time in KL with friends and headed to Siam Reap, Cambodia to see the amazing temples of Angkor Watt before our TESOL course started.

We made enquiries in Australia before we left about accommodation in Penang and organised a condo unit in a nice block at the northern end of the Island. The same guy who booked the Unit for us also arranged for a driver to pick us up at the airport and take us to the Unit where he would be waiting. A perfect arrangement. Tana also picked us up the first day to take us to class and show us around to get our bearings.

It was a bit of a shock to be sitting back in a class room for the first time in 15 years or so. The course was fairly heavy for the first week, covering bits of English that most of us forget as soon as we walk out of school for the last time. Homework and assignments came pretty thick and fast. Louise and I wondered if we would be able to manage.

I think the intensity of the course helped to make me focus. If we had been doing this part time, we might not have got through it because of the day to day distractions of one’s regular life. Being in Penang and doing the course fulltime meant we were able to concentrate on one thing only, the course. There were only 3 of us in our class, Louise, myself and a Malaysian man, How Seng Lee. We had two teachers, Tana who is the business owner and Ruth a TESOL trainer and Teacher from England. Their varied styles helped to keep our interest. Their teaching style was also our model to follow.

As the first week drew to a close and we received our first assignments back and passed our first exams, things seemed a bit brighter. However over the weekend we had to prepare our first real lesson plan with the view of delivering the lesson to the rest of the class and our teachers on Monday. This of course made for a nervous weekend. We realised that teaching included a high degree of public speaking.

I have been use to a fair amount of public speaking as a race officer, addressing large numbers of sailors at race briefings and presentations, but Louise was a bit nervous about this and I think it was something she hadn’t thought about. We used the weekend constructively by doing our homework and lesson plans for most of it. Monday came around with a certain amount of dread as this was the big test. We all survived and received a pass mark but with lots of tips on how to improve things.

This was the first of our trials over, we were told that the next day we would be teaching live in the classroom in front of a real class. For our prac work, Tana had arranged for us to teach at Sri Palita International English School, one of many International English Schools in Panang. There would be two classes of 20 students in each class, being; Elementary and Pre Intermediate levels. They were also aged 10 to 15 years, yep teenagers. So as you can imagine the stress levels went up again. Wow... this is when I really thought that this was the deep end and I’ve forgotten how to swim.

Before class each day, we went to the copy shop to make our handouts, laminate our realia and prepare for the lesson. Once again it seemed like walking into a firing squad. We did our lessons as best as we were able, and the kids can be a bit merciless when it comes to green teachers, I think they can sense it. Still with the first one under the belt, so to speak, we now knew what to expect. The next ones weren’t as bad. One thing did become obvious, class management is vital and working out which kids should not sit next to others is the key.

We continued through the next three weeks, having two full days learning in the classroom and three days teaching, although only one class a day. We used the rest of our time preparing our lesson plans, doing homework and assignments, because that didn’t stop, but it wasn’t as hectic as the first week. It really did take three or four classes to get a bit of confidence. By the end of our prac work, I felt I had made progress and finally thought I may be able to do this after all.

We all graduated and got our certificates and celebrated at a fabulous Thai restaurant, no shortage of good restaurants in Penang. We left with a great feeling of accomplishment and happy about our experiences both behind the desk and in front of it.

We travelled for the next 5 months and I searched web sites whenever we had a good internet connection and filled in some online CV makers through TESOL websites sites. I sent off some applications but never heard back from anybody. Small wonder really as I look back on my online CV. It was very blank in the experience department and my work history is in no way related to the Education sector.

We eventually had to head back to towards Australia. Louise had some business she had to attend to back home, but I was keen to try to find work back in Asia somewhere, so we decided that I would wait for her in Bangkok for two weeks and try to find work. We had some contacts that were teaching in Bangkok and they put me in touch with some recruiters and gave me some tips along the way.

I got out the CV again, but the experience section was still looking very bare. I went out shopping in Bangkok to buy some teaching clothes. I got a number of interviews with recruiters who all promised jobs. From the recruiters I ended up with two actual interviews for jobs. My first interview was with a government agency placing foreign native English speakers into schools around Thailand. However one of the prerequisites was a University degree of any type. I informed the recruiter that I didn’t have one, but he insisted I go anyway. Being a government agency they would not budge on the Degree issue, as you need one to be able to get a work visa in Thailand.

My second interview was for a Tobacco company teaching the children of the staff during school holidays on a short 2 week contract. I was very keen on this one, as a short contract would have given me a bit of confidence and a bit of experience to put in the otherwise blank section of my CV. However a quick check of my passport showed that my 30 day tourist was more than half way expired and did not have the 2 weeks left to fulfil even this short contract. By this time Louise was due to arrive and over the phone we decided that we would continue travelling, this time on to India.

After our decision was made and the announcement made to friends and relatives on our Blog, “Postcards to Ethel”, I got an email from Kim Edwards from Sea English Academy, telling my about a volunteer opportunity in Pune India. We followed up the lead and made contact with Melinda Parker from Gyanakur English School and made plans
We were due to be in India for 3 or 4 months. We decided to travel around first, arriving in Bangalore then on to Kerala, Goa, Delhi, Jaipur, Agra and Varanasi, before eventually making our way to Mumbai then Pune.

Melinda had a number of options available for us and we decided to head to a town called Aurangabad for a week as our first teaching stop. In Aurangabad we were working with a Christian Group called Youth with a Mission, YWAM. We held classes for beginners and elementary learners, most were local folks aged 20 to 30 years with little or no English. We held classes daily for a total of 6 days, with a children’s group at night. We taught conversational style English to get them speaking and using words about everyday tasks and objects. This style of teaching was far different to our experience at the school in Penang. Whereas the kids in Penang seemed disinterested, these people hung on every word and were so keen to learn. We had a great week there and were made very welcome by the group and given accommodation and food. We also took the opportunity to do some sightseeing at the famous Ajunta and Elora caves as well.

We returned to Pune where our gracious hosts, Melinda and Brian put us up in their spare room. We went out to teach at the Gyanakur English School for the next 3 weeks filling in for teachers that had either just left or needed time off, or just helping out around the school. We mostly taught standard 1, 2 & 3 classes. We were teaching English grammar, Maths, Environmental studies, Computer studies, Work experience, and even some music, well I took my flute to the Nursery group to play nursery rhymes. The teaching at this school was different again. The children at this school were aged between 3 to 8 years. We also assisted in the nursery and Kindy levels, as they were still not old enough to understand us, and might burst into tears if they didn’t understand us. The std 1,2 & 3 classes were great to teach, once again very keen to learn, like little sponges sucking in the information. They do tend to get a bit boisterous at times though.

We also helped conduct an evening class twice a week for local village folks, but only the women ever came, and only a few of them. We taught them some classes of everyday English and tasks as well.

Our other teaching experience was in the afternoons at the local Marathi school, a state run school. They taught in the local language Marathi, Hindi was the second language and English their 3rd. The teacher who taught them English could barely speak it themselves. We could converse with a few of them. Louise took the younger ones, std 1, 2 and 3 while I took 4,5,6,& 7. Mostly I did some basic reading and listening comprehension. Most could read a little bit, but machine gun style, not stopping for punctuation or really understanding what they were reading. Louise taught some basic directions and prepositions, “the banana is under the table” type lessons. Once again you could not fault their enthusiasm. The teachers seemed as keen to have us there as the kids. However we found it really difficult without having any real syllabus to follow or knowing what level they were up to but we found it a rewarding experience all the same. The other big difference here is the class sizes, up to 80 kids in a class here, whereas as only about 30 per class in the English school.

Well I’m sad to say our teaching experience in India has come to an end here now and we will be heading back to Australia in a few days time. We would like to thank Melinda and Brian very much for providing this opportunity to us. Our experiences here in India and in Penang have been invaluable to our knowledge of teaching. We now feel much better prepared to start applying for jobs, knowing we have a bank of knowledge to fall back on now. I’ll also be able to fill in that blank spot in my CV.

Ric & Louise Noble have been travelling for 10 months and will arrive back in Australia on the 6th February 2008 and will be actively seeking work at TESOL Teachers abroad.

Travel Article - Southern India Kerala and Goa

If you had asked me before I left Australia if I was intending to go to India during my travels, I would have said no way. The thought of millions of people packed into a space the size of a typical Australian suburb is enough to give me claustrophobia, acrophobia and several other phobias as well. Anyone I had ever talked to about India said it is hard work, only for hard core travelers. The poverty, pollution, health and security issues had always made me think twice about India.
However the way things turn out in reality is always different. After traveling for so long, eight months when we made our big decision to take a side trip to India, we had been through Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand Greece and Turkey by that stage and tends to make you somewhat braver.

While staying in Bangkok, I was trawling through the internet, (free broadband and plenty of time) and came across some really cheap flights from Kuala Lumpur to Bangalore, about $300 or so each. And without too much thought I booked the tickets. Here is where I find that at least a bit of research should be done before attempting a trip like this. Firstly we needed a visa before we got there. That bit alone cost us a week’s delay in Bangkok. Travel warnings were current for every boarder shared with India. Mumbai was also mentioned and since the writing of this article has suffered terrorist attacks. That aside, I discovered that November to March is an ideal time to visit and since we now had our six month tourist visa, we figured the time was right to go.

We had booked our tickets to Bangalore by default and luckily enough it is in the middle of the south and not close to any borders. We found Bangalore to be a safe and gentle introduction to India. It is the IT capital of India and where all the call centers are located. The people have a bit more money here and as a result have better facilities and services.

Once again having made no plans we wondered where we would go from Bangalore, so hit the internet again and invested in the Lonely Planet guide. A bit of intensive research brought us to the State of Kerala, which follows the coast up the western side of southern most India. Kerala comprises about 35,000 sq km about half the size of Tasmania and has about 30 million people.

We traveled to Kerala’s central town of Kochi (also spelt Cochin) by bus. You can travel by train which would be the preferred option but you need at least one or two weeks’ notice to book your train tickets online without any fuss or waitlisting. Kochi itself comprises several areas, the main town of Ernakulam where bus Train and airport connection are, Fort Kochi and several beach areas north and south. Fort Kochi is an old fort town area on Mattancherry Island at the entrance to the large bay or lake as they refer to it.

The Fort area is a charming slice of colonial history, small streets lined with guest houses, hotels restaurants and shops all with Portuguese and Dutch architecture. There are also many old churches showing the European stamp of early Christianity in the district. This is a perfect place to stay. You can walk out to eat at a large variety of good restaurants, serving local and traditional Indian food and a good range of European style food as well. A walk around the river and foreshore area is a pleasant walk and you can see Chinese fishing nets in action. These huge wooden crane like structures are operated by up to a dozen men to haul out their catch, although considerably diminished these days.

Close by is Mattancherry, the old commercial district also called Jew Town. There is still a Synagogue there, the oldest in India. Only a few of the original Jewish families still reside here. There are also a number of other attractions to see in the area, including the Dutch Palace.

One of the real reasons for visiting Kerala is to do a Houseboat cruise of the backwater. A large inland waterway system made up of lakes, rivers and reclaimed swamp land make up the Kerala backwater and this is an ideal place to spend a few days cruising in your own private floating losman. We hired the boat for three days and two nights. The boat contained 2 air conditioned bedrooms with ensuite, an open dining and lounge area at the front of the boat and an upstairs veranda and viewing platform. We had three people looking after the two of us for our trip and needless to say we were well looked after with 3 cooked meals a day, morning and afternoon tea that included fried banana. The scenery along the way is stunning with palm trees as far as the eye can see lining the never ending water avenues. It’s great to see how the local people live their lives on the shores of these waterways, children going to school, people preparing food, washing and bathing in the rivers. Other sights not to be missed are the duck herders and duck farms, fish farms, oxen ploughing fields, teams of men running up coconut trees, every time we turned around there was something new and interesting to see. The bird life here is great to see as well, Kingfishers hunting from overhead power lines, flocks of water fowl, Ibis, flamingo and more. Of course the sunsets could not be more romantic or special here.

These waterways are also a real highway, as barges plough up and down the river full to the gunnels of produce, building supplies, sand, gravel and anything else you can think of. Most tourists seem to take the overnight option but we thought it was worth doing the extra day as we saw some much quieter areas that you would not see otherwise. Any longer may become boring unless you are travelling from one place to another as the waterways here span several hundred kilometres.

After reluctantly leaving our houseboat, we stayed in the local town of Allepy where most of the Houseboat tours start and finish from. Although it is a pleasant town it is only a base from which to do your House boat tour. From here you may wish to do a trip to Periyar Tiger reserve.

From here we travelled to Munnar a hill station and tea growing region, one thousand eight hundred metres above sea level. The drive up through the towns is a bit tedious, but then you start through the jungle with views overlooking grand waterfalls and eventually clear the jungle for the splendid tea plantations above, beautifully manicured as far as the eye can see. The town of Munnar itself is not the jewel but the surrounding country side. Our small homestay, JJ Cottages has a fabulous view overlooking the distant hills and tea plantations. There are a number of local tours you can do with a tour company of just with a car and driver. A trip to the top station is recommended as it takes you past two dam walls and their lakes beyond, along the way you pass elephant rides, market stalls run by local ethnic tribes, some stunning scenery and most probably see the women in their colourful saris cutting the tea leaves you will be drinking sometime soon.

Another daytrip option is to visit the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary. However this requires a 4am start and a 4 hour drive to be at the park to do a three hour trek at the right time of the day. On offer are deer, leopards, buffalo, elephants and some rare and endangered goat and the giant grizzled squirrel, however I can’t tell you how big it is as we didn’t see one, or any of these critters. It’s all down to luck I was told, however we did see paw prints of the leopard in the sand and some elephant dung. However having missed the animals, the park is in a beautiful valley some two kilometres above sea level and well worth seeing on its own.

After staying in Munnar and the surrounding district for a few days you probably won’t want to come down off the mountain as the fresh air and the temperate climate is addictive. But come down you must if you want to experience the beaches. There are some nice beaches in the north and the south of Kerala that are worth going to. However, depending on your time limit, a train trip to Goa would round out your southern India experience fully.

We took a second class sleeper train from Ernakulam to the main station in the south of Goa, Margao. The trains in India are an institution and at one time the pride of train spotters the world over. If you have ever travelled one kilometre on an Indian road, you will know why taking the train is such a good idea. Second class sleepers offer bunk beds with curtains, including linen. The trains stop regularly even if you are on an express train, I guess to allow the hordes of tea, coffee and food vendors to step on and off the trains. Our big tip if you are catching the train is to make sure you know when and where your stop is, as there are no announcements on board and staff can’t be relied upon, especially if your stop is in the middle of the night.

Goa is mainly a beach haven. And before you say hey, I come from Australia with some of the best beaches in the world, you would be right, but you should really see these ones as a comparison. Our first stop was Padnem Beach, one of the most southern beaches in Goa and ended up being the cleanest and least crowded. A slower pace means no loud music and fewer hawkers trying to sell you t shirts and beads between entree and main. Yoga, massage and relaxation is the order of the day here with a beautiful beach to stroll on at sunset and don’t forget that the sun falls into the sea here. Night time brings on a fairy land landscape on the beach with a plethora of candle lit restaurants to choose from, all offering fresh caught seafood. Be discerning and look into the eyes of the fish, prawns and lobster.

North to the capital of Goa is the city of Panaji. We stayed in the old part of Panaji town filled with Portuguese houses and churches. We chose a nice traditional house, Alfonso Homestay with peal shell shutters on the windows, a roof garden for serving breakfast and a lovely Portuguese family running the place. The main town itself, on the banks of the Mandovi River, is a compact and clean enough for Indian town standards and has the usual smattering of upmarket hotels, stores and restaurants as well as some parks churches and old colonial Government buildings, lining the river. A pleasant enough town, but half a day will see it done.

The reason for staying here is to visit old Goa, the site of the former Portuguese city and capitol of Goa. The city was abandoned during the mid eighteenth century due to plague and most of the city has since disappeared except for a string of churches in a varying state of decay. The old cathedrals’ and churches are worth seeing and the Church of St Cajetan is based on St Pauls in Rome with the Italian baroque dome on top. The site is a UNISCO protected site.

If you can’t get enough beach, there are several more options available, including Anjuna beach which is home to some fantastic flea markets twice a week where you can buy everything hippie, cool and smooth. There are literally hundreds of beaches up and down the coast here offering the same familiar hut style accommodation at really reasonable prices.

If you decide that the south of India is enough for you at this time or you have run out of money and need to return home, Bangalore is probably your best choice. And since you are going that way you should probably stop in the religious town of Mysore for a few namastes on your way home.

Highlights; Houseboat trip, Allepy; Tea plantations, Munnar; Padnem Beach, Goa
Helpful websites to google for more information; Australian Government Travel Safe site, India Visa requirements, Lonely Planet for tips, India Mike’s travel resources, and India rail information pages.”