According to my WordPress statistics, in about a week it will have been a year since my last post. What have I been doing from summer 2018 until now? As the title suggests, I’ve been working on my own self-advancement in EFL teaching. But what exactly does that look like?
Transition from Teaching Assistant to Teacher
Like many of my readers, I came to Spain on a student visa through the auxiliares de conversacion program sponsored by the Spanish government. It was definitely a learning experience being dropped into a new culture and a new work environment with little to no guidance. I showed up on my first day with zero contact from my school and was asked: what have you got planned for today? If this happens to you, don’t panic. I’ve got you covered.
I was an auxiliar for 2 years, from October 2015 to May 2017. My first year, in Huelva, Andalusia, I learned how to create engaging lessons out of necessity. My second year, in Vitoria-Gasteiz of the Basque Country, I learned that I didn’t know much about classroom management, and that not all of my teachers were very keen on helping me. Even though stressful at times, I consider these first two formative years to be essential for the teacher I later became. They taught me what I didn’t know.
Fast forward to summer of 2017, and I get approved for residency through pareja de hecho. This is essentially a legally recognized domestic partnership which grants me the permission to live and work in Spain. I’m not going to go into the details of the process here, nor for how to convert your student visa into a work visa after three years, but I will link you to a very useful facebook group for research purposes. The search feature will offer a bounty of information.
Working as an English Academy Teacher
I would like to highlight the fact that I do not have a TEFL of any kind. I do have a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in Spanish literature, but no official teaching certificate. This did not stop me from getting an academy job in Spain. It may have limited my options, as I’m sure some HR managers eliminated my candidacy immediately, but I got an offer in Caceres, Extremadura and made the cross-country move.
I was a little nervous to start teaching as the main teacher rather than as an assistant, but if anything, I had already been taking on the role of main teacher for the past couple of years while the actual teachers sat in the back of the classroom marking papers or using their phones. But this would be different. This was my classroom. At least, I told myself, there was a maximum of 10 students per class. Classroom management couldn’t be too hard.
From Teacher to Academic Management
That’s funny now, but I’ve come a long way. And if you’re reading this and worrying, don’t. You’ll come a long way too. In fact, by February of 2018, when my boss was inviting me to stay for another academic year, I actually secured myself a promotion to Director of Studies for the 2018-19 school year. I’m about to start my second year as DOS in September, among other changes.
Some of the other things I’ve been able to experience over the last year or so include:
- Teaching summer intensive courses for Cambridge B1, B2 & C1 exams, guaranteeing summer-long income
- Earning a 100% passing rate on Trinity GESE exams
- Stepping into an HR role by screening CVs and helping build my team
- Building and improving company-wide organization systems via Google Drive
- Training new teachers in-house
- Preparing future public school teachers to pass their state teacher exams (aka oposiciones)
Self-Advancement in EFL Teaching
All of these things were made possible through constant self-advancement in EFL teaching. What does that look like?
- Go to conferences. Take notes. Apply them in the classroom. There are many free regional conferences. I have seen auxiliares attend. Even though no one is paying you to go, that’s free education that you can take with you anywhere. Follow the TESOL, Cambridge, and Trinity pages in your region to get updates.
- Take online classes. I’ve just completed a free course by Trinity called Encouraging Young Learners to Think and Problem Solve. I had to create activities to apply what I was learning, and was able to use them in 3 of my teenage groups with great success. The courser also provided a database of every other participant’s activities.
- Listen to podcasts. I love podcasts in general, and in a later post, I’ll talk about how to use them in the classroom. But for your own development, I recommend TEFL Training Institute, Phrasally Verbocious, and Truth for Teachers. I’m sure there are a lot of other good podcasts. Feel free to leave recommendations in the comments!
- In my opinion, a CELTA isn’t really necessary unless you feel more comfortable learning in this way. You can definitely get hired and promoted without it. CELTA or equivalent is one of the requirements for becoming a Cambridge speaking examiner. I haven’t got one. They hired me anyway. At some point, experience will trump the CELTA. I am considering a DELTA in the future, but that would be specifically for gaining access to CELTA teacher training positions.
Throughout the summer, I’ll be focusing on teacher development. I plan to post guides for teaching specific exams in one-to-one and group settings, managing the young learner classroom, managing TEEN classrooms, different teaching strategies and methodologies, and developing specific skills, such as reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
I will also be sharing relevant content on my facebook page from other sources, so don’t forget to follow for updates.
If there is anything specific you’d like to see in this summer self-development series, please speak up in the comments!