We recently had the privilege of interviewing Amir, who just finished the EBC Trinity CertTESOL course. In today’s EBC graduate interview, our former student from Iran tells us all about his experience taking the course, as well as his plans to teach in England with his newly earned certification that is accepted and recognised by the British Council.
Teach in England: Amir’s background
Having graduated in psychology, Amir has always been interested in the language acquisition process. He would know all about this, given that he is multilingual himself. “My mother tongue is Persian,” he shared with us. “I’ve learned English since I was eight. We (also) learn Arabic… French…and I’ve learned German since I was 17. (Plus) a little bit of Polish.”
When telling us about his psychology degree, Amir also shared his interest in neuroscience, saying, “An interesting thing for me is learning new languages and the brain system. How does it work?
This interest, together with his plans to move abroad in the coming months to study neuroscience and teach in England, got him searching for the right course.
“I was looking through job websites,” he shared. “And I found out that teaching English in London–in the UK, is a good job. So I looked through the opportunities and all of them want international degrees such as TESOL. So I asked my previous teachers who had that experience.”
Amir also told us about the lack of such courses in Iran. “As you know, in Iran, we do not have this kind of course because of the sanctions and this kind of thing,” he said. “We have to take the course online or in countries near us, such as Turkey, Emirates and these kinds of countries. I looked through the Trinity website and I chose EBC because of the time and the comments that I have received. I actually I searched through the net and found some good comments.”
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Teach in England: Amir’s takeaways from the course
When we asked Amir what his main takeaways from the course were, he had this to say: “I learned lots of things. How to teach. Even useful English knowledge. For example, I had some struggles with pronunciation and the IPA symbols, but I learned. That was an awesome experience.”
Amir also told us about the intensivity of the course and how he allotted four weeks to focusing on it. “There was (also) practical experience,” he shared. “We taught international students…some were from Spain, Turkey, (and) African countries. That was very good for me because my plan is to immigrate to the UK and I will have to deal with a lot of international students with different accents.
I hadn’t dealt with Spanish accents, for example, but that was interesting. I really enjoyed it.
Amir also shared how the course being online was a plus. “In Iran, our holiday is different from Europe,” he said. “For example, in Iran, we have holidays on Thursdays and Fridays. So I had to do the teaching practices on Thursday and Friday. (But) it was just (for one course) so that was okay. I also think that the intensity of the course is pretty good because I had to do other things.
For example, this month I had to make myself ready for the visa and this kind of thing for my immigration, and I didn’t have enough time for a three-month course. So it was good for me.
Teach in England: Amir describes the Trinity CertTESOL course training
From the teaching practise sessions to learning how to build rapport with students, Amir found that the Trinity CertTESOL course really helped prepare him to teach in England. He also cited other key takeaways such as the lesson planning, creating a learner’s profile, teaching one-to-one classes, grammar, and even how to handle interviews for TEFL jobs.
He also shared that he and his course mates were prepared well for the final moderation. “Actually, the interview was not that difficult. I had lots of stress before it, but that person was very nice. So it was not that difficult. And also, I think because, we were all ready before the interview.
Amir also shared how the course helped him learn how to balance Teacher Talking Time with Student Talking Time. “I try to reduce it in the teaching practices. Also, I hadn’t had enough online teaching. So the experience of teaching online was very useful for me. The lesson and material planning were good too. For example, I knew some things about lesson planning but, the structure of lesson plans that EBC provided for us (made them) easy to write. (They weren’t) time-consuming. It was very good.
Teach in England: How the course met Amir’s expectations
Amir’s plans to teach in England while he studies led him to take the EBC Trinity CertTESOL course. He shared how it met his expectations. “It was really awesome,” he shared, saying that he had previously attended other teacher training courses.
“They weren’t (very) practical. They were theoretical–they taught you lots of things, but you did not have enough time to practice them. But this course is amazing because of the practical training. You have to teach two classes every week, and you receive lots of feedback from your classmates and from your trainers.”
Amir also shared how the practise sessions helped him grow in his confidence as an English teacher. “It was fascinating to learn how to work with Zoom,” he said, sharing that in his first session, he had technical difficulties. “With the breakout rooms and with the share screen and that kind of thing,” he said. “(But) I learned lots of things about them.”
Aside from learning how to properly and confidently navigate such challenges, Amir shared that the feedback he received helped him grow a lot as well. He also mentioned how the self-evaluations helped him become more aware.
When asked if he would recommend the course and why, Amir shared that he would. “As I said before, there were so many practical experiences,” he shared. “There was so much useful and constructive feedback. And also we have (access to a) permanent worldwide job placement programme.”
Teach in England: Amir’s journey
As for his life plans, Amir is set to fly out next month. “I graduated in psychology, and I’m really interested in neuroscience,” he shared. “I’m going to study cognitive and clinical neuroscience.”
Amir, from all of us at EBC, we wish you the best of luck as you pursue your studies and teach English in England. We know you’ll do great out there. Until our next graduate check-in!
If you’re inspired by Amir’s story, talk to us today. You could be next!
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