Tag: CELTA

MLEA Micro-teaching

This afternoon was my group’s turn for micro-teaching. Last week, two groups had presented on SBA so this week, my group will be presenting on MLEA.

N was good! In fact, she was so good that I actually just wanted to find a crawl space to hide. For all my CELTA experience and whatnot, I have to say she was a natural. Someone once said to me that there are people who have a natural flair for teaching. N is one of those.

K was calm and she has a very soothing personality.

Actually, ever since coming into NIE, I’ve started doubting myself more and more. It’s a struggle to stay afloat amidst the assignments, group works and readings. Despite whatever experience I thought I had, I am really finding it very tough to come up with lesson plans, unit plans and all the little things in-between.

I know that I joined this PGDE programme to learn and that it is alright to feel overwhelmed as long as I keep at it. It is just frustrating that I am not as good as I can be even though I have been trying.

This is something I have been wanting for a long time and now that I have gotten into this programme, I feel like maybe I am just not cut out for this.

CELTA (iii)

I have passed the CELTA course. I am now a certified ESOL teacher. On paper.

In real life however, I am not an ESOL teacher. I have applied to a few schools and I have been rejected by all of them. Some cite the fact that I have yet to finish my Bachelor’s as a reason. Yet some others cite the fact that I do not have any relevant ESOL experience as a reason to reject my application. So here I am, stuck in limbo.

My final exams will be held in May 2016 and if everything goes well, my convocation will be held in October 2016. The longer I stay in my current job, the longer I end up not being able to teach ESOL. Not being able to teach ESOL means I will not be able to garner experience in teaching ESOL. I fear my time is running out.

I do not want to teach English in a mainstream school. I want to teach ESOL, not English.

I fear I may have to give up my dream if this goes on. I fear I may settle for teaching English after all.

God help me if that happens.

Actually, all I want is just to teach…

CELTA (ii)

I’ve just booked an apartment on Airbnb (it’s really just a room) and I am all set to head to Bangkok this November! All that is left is to purchase the plane ticket and my travel insurance.

I have paid a US$600 deposit to my CELTA centre to reserve a place for me. Never having made an overseas bank transfer before, I’m kind of worried that they may not have received my money. That seriously would not be fun. I will check with them within the next two days as I assume bank transfers do take some time. This is the first time I have even heard of SWIFT.

This feels even more nerve-wracking than the time I bought the engagement ring. How so? At least the ring is something tangible. The deposit? No idea if I did it right. If I did it right, that means I still need to transfer the rest of the course fees by October 16. If I did that wrong…? I don’t even want to go there.

I don’t think I can sleep tonight.