TESL Seminar

On Sunday, Megan (the Elder) and I finished a six-day course for Teaching English as a Second Language. The course was put on by Oxford Seminars, a company that appears to be a leader in providing TESL training. The class was given over three weekends, 9-6 on Saturdays and Sundays. Before the class started, even though the daughter of a friend had taught English in China with no academic credentials other than an Oxford diploma, I was somewhat concerned that Oxford was just a diploma mill. As I discovered, there's a bit of truth to that, but it was a very good course nonetheless.

As it turned out, Karen was great; a professional instructor with lots of international experience. There were about a dozen people in the class, ranging from unmotivated kids who dropped out of college, to fresh college graduates looking for adventure, to people with masters degrees looking for a career change, to me and Megan. It was a good intensive class, that touched on lots of teaching techniques and learning styles. It was well worth the money, even though a couple of shit-birds in class got diplomas in spite of sleeping through classes when they bothered to show up at all. I think that in the final analysis, the diploma is only one arrow in the quiver. If you want a job teaching ESL, you'll have to sell yourself and have more than just an Oxford diploma on your resume. I can't imagine either of those two guys managing to get a job of any kind anywhere.

And I guess some things never change. Even after all these years, I'm still a bit of a suck-up as a student and a sucker for a teacher's attention. Karen really liked me and called on me a lot. I would have gladly cleaned the blackboard erasers after school for her! I was especially pleased when she graded the practice lesson I taught, praised me lavishly, and marked mine as being the best in the class! My chest was puffed out until I saw Megan's evaluation. She too was at the top of the class!

Oh well. Sucked in again.