During Field Days, eighteen pupils had the exciting opportunity to learn how to teach English as a foreign language. Over the course of two days, they engaged in a variety of fun and interactive activities, ultimately earning a valuable qualification in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language).

The first day was about ‘systems’ (grammar) and understanding what the classroom experience is like for those learning English. To do this, the instructor taught the group some basic greetings in Chinese without speaking any English. Instead, he used pictures and gestures to convey meaning and instruction. This helped the whole group learn how to ensure pupils with little knowledge of English can understand instructions and learn new vocabulary.

That afternoon, the pupils taught their first lesson in small groups to the whole class about any aspect of English grammar. Topics ranged from the future simple tense to adverbs of frequency. Although the topics were wide-ranging, all the lessons followed TEFL guidelines, such as minimise Teacher Talking Time and follow the three Ps (Presentation, Practice, Production).  

The next day focused on teaching the skills of learning a new language: reading, writing, listening and speaking, with a particular focus on reading and listening. They took part in many different activities that they could use to teach people listening and reading skills, such as dictation, gap fills and sequencing events in a story.

The group also learnt to structure a skills lesson with activities before, during and after the reading or listening. With plenty of knowledge under their belts, the pupils taught their skills lessons that afternoon which featured many different activities, including those that they had created themselves, and some familiar favourites such as board slap and charades.  

This TEFL course was a wonderful experience for all involved, and in a few weeks, pupils will receive a certificate which shows that they are qualified to teach EFL abroad.

The whole group would like to say a big thank you to Mrs Osborne for organising the course, Ms Masters for supervising and Nathan Lomax, the TEFL instructor.