My only prior experience teaching English was in 2004 when I was in North Laos. A local school was looking for native English speakers to be teaching assistants. No experience needed. I was told to come later that afternoon where I would be assistant to the teacher for the afternoon classes. On arrival that afternoon I was greeted by the teacher, who handed me an English text book, told to start from chapter three, grinned at me and then promptly left. I was left standing at the front of a class of 40 kids all staring at me. Deep breath. How difficult could this be? My Mum’s a teacher, surely I just had to tap into some innate teaching talent and it will all be okay. The following two hours however were not okay! Forty blank or bored faces stared back at me as I tried to instruct the class on the use of the present perfect continuous. Panic set in. My classroom management skills were atrocious and, although the lesson didn’t end in a riot, I can safely say I learnt more in those two hours than any of the students. The experience left me with a new found respect for anyone in the teaching profession and a curiosity to one day learn more.

Ten years on and I finally signed up for a TESOL course (the Trinity College London certified EFL* qualification) at St Giles International in London. Before I was accepted on the course I had to complete a written test and attend an interview to gauge my level of understanding of the English language and the role of an EFL teacher. I have no idea what I was taught in English at school but it definitely didn’t prepare me for this! However with the help of Google and Carol Vordaman’s ‘English Made Easy’ I managed to pass. During the interview I was told numerous times about how intense the course was and how I should be prepared to cancel my social life and ensure that I had no other distractions going on in my life. How intense could this be? I’m used to working long hours, having multiple deliverables and deadlines and working under stressful conditions. This caution seemed a little melodramatic. How wrong I was! I expected to be challenged and I wasn’t disappointed. The sheer volume of deliverables, number of classes, continuous assessment and feedback meant I was working up to 16 hours per day. The hardest part was getting my head around all the various elements of the English language, tenses in particular were challenging. The actual teaching, although nerve wracking, was a joy. To have a classroom of students fully engaged in a lesson and to see their understanding grow and develop has to be one of the most satisfying things I’ve done.

After four intense and challenging weeks I passed with a distinction and a head full of grammatical tenses, superlatives, comparatives and conjunctions!

*English as a Foreign Language