Why do you do what you do?
I create online courses and work with other trainers in the writing and video editing of video lessons for TESOLs. I also provide trainee support.
I work with Train The Teacher on the online TESOL as Train The Teacher has a great vision for a new way of delivering TESOLs online. We had looked at several other courses and found so many were endless Pdfs and have no real assessment of trainees skills.
Train The Teacher has a huge amount of experience in delivering offline TESOLs. I thought my experience with teaching online would work really well in combination with the other teacher trainers at Train The Teacher to make a really unique and beneficial online TESOL.
What is your favorite part of your job?
Now that the course is running, I like responding to trainees' questions, especially helping them find jobs after the course. Reading their feedback is fun too as it's always great (although I do often get great suggestions for tweaks to the course to make it even better!).
What advice would you tell your pre-travel self?
Check the accreditation of the TESOL course you take. You don't want to get to a foreign country and be told by an immigration official that your course is not accepted!
Also bear in mind that one year can turn into 15. Make sure you keep improving your teaching skills so it can become a great career!
Why should someone choose Train The Teacher over competitors?
We are a teacher Training company. It says so right in the name! It's what we do and what we are really really good at. We were founded in 2008 and have a huge amount of experience delivering training and TESOL globally with some of the largest names in the TEFL industry. We are trained teacher trainers that are serious about our skills and always improving what we do.
What hopes do you have for the future for your organization?
We currently have a fully online Certificate in TESOL, I would love to make a Diploma level course so our trainees can really take the next step in their careers!
What makes Train The Teacher easy to market to potential participants?
We do Teacher Training and have been doing so for over 25 years. We incorporate both the best in teaching methodologies and modern online delivery platforms for post-COVID world. We are also much more personalized than other providers. We limit the number of trainees we have on the courses so that we can always give really great personalized feedback both in emails and in our meetings online with trainees.
What do you hope participants take away from your programs?
The skills they are going to need to teach! I remember my first class after my own TESOL and it was terrifying at first. However I realized that everything I had been taught I could use, and in doing so I calmed down and started really focusing on my students!
This is why with the Certificate in online TESOL we wanted it to be fully video based without relying on lots of written material as people don't retain the information as effectively by just reading. We also include a video of the trainees teaching at the end of the course as part of the assessment.
This gives trainees both practice teaching and also the confidence that they need when teaching in the real world. This really sets us apart from other online courses.
How do you help support participants?
Learning online can be hard! In a long course it can be tough to stay motivated so we make sure that not only is the course as engaging as possible, but also that we are constantly in touch with our trainees so that they know that there is always someone on hand to not only answer questions but also provide support, encouragement, and guidance.
What questions do participants often ask you, and how do you typically respond?
I think well over 50% of the questions are the same: Is teaching online harder than teaching offline?
I always say no. It's different, yes, but harder? No! All the skills you have learned are applicable to online teaching as well as offline.
The medium is different and there are a few additional skills to learn, but fundamentally the teaching is the same.
What advice do you have for individuals thinking about going abroad?
Be prepared to not come back. I did a TESOL in 2005 with a view of going to China for a year and then moving back to the UK in 2006 and starting my career. It's 2020 and I am still in China and TESOL is my career! I moved into management and training and have had senior positions at some of the largest TEFL companies in the world. I loved (almost) every second of it!
What does meaningful travel mean to you?
I don't think you will find out much about yourself by hanging out on a tropical beach and bars. You need to really go to real places like industrial cities and towns to really see what the world is like and learn about it.