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.