EBC recently had the pleasure of checking in with Tyler, one of our Trinity CertTESOL graduates who is on her own TEFL adventure. After completing her Trinity CertTESOL certification, she flew from her home in the United States to South Korea, where she is having the time of her life teaching English at a South Korean school. In our recent interview with Tyler, she shared how the EBC Trinity CertTESOL course helped her achieve her dreams.
Teach in South Korea: Be inspired by Tyler’s journey
The last time we spoke with Tyler, she was all packed for South Korea, ready to start teaching English at a school there. In our previous interview with her, she shared that she always knew she wanted to live in Southeast Asia. To help her achieve her goals, she took the EBC Trinity CertTESOL course to get certification that would help her become an effective English teacher.
She shared that her experience in South Korea so far has been an amazing ride…and she is just getting started. “I got here in February and I had a week to prepare for teaching and then they sent me to our city. And after that, I mean, you’re just kind of thrown in there, so you have to figure it all out on your own.
I was really lucky to have coworkers that were really helpful. So it was good. I just had to figure out, okay, this is what these students are learning. How can I apply what I learned from EBC? And make it a good effective lesson. And as time went on, I gradually definitely got better at being an English teacher.”
Tyler also shared that one of her favourite parts about being an English teacher in South Korea is getting to work with her students. “I really love the students. I like engaging with them in English, but also learning from them too,” she shared. “Summer break is here, but I’m still teaching English and I’m always looking for more opportunities to get better at teaching (it) and expanding the way that I can do it…It still feels very fresh, very new. But it’s going really well.”
Teach in South Korea: Tyler’s first year
“I really love this school,” Tyler told us. “ It’s really great. It’s a really good school.” She also shared the vision she had for herself when she first moved to South Korea to work in the TEFL industry.
“I didn’t come to Asia to travel. I came to live. So I’ve been here living, teaching, and I still have a lot to see, and I still have, I created all this bond with my students and my coworkers,” she said.
And as for her plans moving forward, she shared, “I want to continue to build upon that. Not just come here and be like, all right, time to go somewhere else. I want to build upon the relationship I have with the students and the school itself. And also build on the skill levels that I’ve developed here. I wanna stay here and strengthen that.”
How the EBC CertTESOL Course prepared Tyler to teach in South Korea
We went on a little trip with Tyler down memory lane, asking her questions about how she thinks the EBC Trinity CertTESOL course helped prepare her for teaching English in South Korea. “I think the course prepared me really well,” she said, including ample training in how to speak to students. “The ability to, you know…speak slowly, take my time with the students, and also give them the instruction questions, the check-ins, and then check-ins of past knowledge. (To) be able to ask them (and) make connections to what they might understand or what they might already know.
But then also whenever I’m giving instruction, have those little conversations and ask them those questions to be able to see if they’re really understanding what’s going on. And I think the course really prepared me to do that with in-person teaching. And I can see that made a really big difference in my teaching here.”
Teach in South Korea: How Tyler shocked teachers
Tyler also shared how her capabilities as an English teacher shocked the teachers she met in South Korea. “I think a lot of the teachers were shocked that I actually had a good foundation in teaching,” she told us, before sharing how some people come to Asia to teach but aren’t properly trained.
“I think a lot of people come teach in Asia and they don’t really have a lot of experience or they didn’t have a good foundation,” she said. “So a lot of the teachers were shocked. They were like, oh, she actually can do something. So it helped me in that way.”
Tyler also appreciates the training she got for online teaching, as face-to-face classes and online learning can be quite different. “For online teaching, because I did the course online, I was already familiar with what it was like to speak with non-English speakers online because we did those online classes and those were really great,” she said.
“So now, (when I speak) with my students, I’m able to find ways to get out of awkward silences or just keep the conversation going…trying to make connections from one thing, not just sitting. It really helps me,” Tyler said. She also said that the course prepared her to be comfortable with teaching both face-to-face and online classes.
Teach in South Korea: English as a science
The EBC Trinity CertTESOL course also gave Tyler a strong TEFL foundation. “It gave me the base foundation as to how to approach the language of English, “ she told us, “and understand that the learners’ first language is going to impact their ability to learn English or how they view English…how they understand it and perceive it. So I think that was the biggest thing.”
Tyler also shared how the course expanded her perspective when it comes to TEFL. “It really gave me a different perspective on English language learning in general,” she said. “It allowed me to see English as this kind of systematic, scientific way of thinking. Language (is) like layers. You have to build on top of it onto the next. So I think that’s, that’s the biggest thing I got from the EBC course. Understanding how language is perceived by other people and how you can build on top of it to learn more and more. And it also helped me understand myself as an English speaker.
It kind of allowed me to put myself in the student’s shoes and really gave me a great insight into what it feels like to be an English language learner. And I was also able to relate I also am studying Korean and I had to study Spanish. So, it allows me to put myself in their shoes and vice versa. EBC really helped me value language in a different kind of way.
Teach in South Korea: Tyler’s most valuable takeaways from the course
As for her most valuable takeaways from the course, Tyler’s answer was, “Honestly, I think like the study of English linguistics because we’re not really taught that as native English speakers. I remember getting into the class and so many of you could answer questions. I really couldn’t about English because I was never taught that.
And so I think that was the most valuable part. Learning more about the English language and like I said, being able to really understand it as a science, almost. And to be able to apply that to witnessing my students learn. So I can really see where they’re at and build upon that and understand them to a greater degree. I think that was honestly the most valuable part of the whole course.
Teach in South Korea: The importance of asking the right questions
She also cited how her teacher trainer stressed the importance of asking students good questions. “I remember her telling us that we have to ask more CCQs or ICQs. So that’s something I always have to be very sure that I’m doing. Because otherwise, sometimes my students, because they’re so little, they’ll look at me like (what?) So I have to be sure to ask many of them. I think that that’s something that always influences what I do every day. Asking questions.
Tyler also talked about how the course helped her become a better lesson planner. “The lesson planning, honestly, it helps the lessons be more helpful to the student and be more entertaining,” she says. “Because it’s one step at a time. Like this step goes here, then this step is like the most logical next step. So the lesson planning is really helpful. And like I said, it’s logical and it makes sense for English language learning.”
Tyler also shared that the practise she got with designing activities for her teaching practise learners during the course helped a lot. “That gave me a really good foundation as to what makes an engaging language activity,” she said.
Teach South Korea: What sets the EBC Trinity CertTESOL course apart
Tyler also shared with us what factors made her choose to get her certification with EBC. “Definitely the prestige one of the course,” she said. “The certification you receive. The prestige of the certification you receive is great. It’s going to be looked at higher than most everyone else. But not only that, you get a high-intensity course that values your time and education–like it actually wants you to be a teacher that’s gonna be beneficial in the world of English language learning. (This) is a big deal because most of these certification sites are for money.
“Like they just want to make money and they see you off like, okay, go travel the world and have fun. And it really puts English language learning as something that’s not taken seriously. So I think I really valued our course ’cause it was very evident that they were giving us a quality course that was gonna prepare us very, very well to be quality teachers and make a difference when we taught English and when we could apply everything we learned in the course.
“I think that’s, that’s what really set it apart. Because I’ve seen people who have gotten different courses and they just aren’t as well prepared, or they just don’t have that same passion or understanding about English as a science, you know? That’s what I really like about our course. It’s passionate. It’s very prestigious, but it’s also very intense and it really prepares you to be a good English teacher.
It expanded my knowledge and I could tell it was gonna take me farther than other courses, of course. So I really, I really value that.”
Teach in South Korea: Tyler’s plans for the future
As for her future plans, Tyler shares how happy she is in South Korea and how she plans to stay another year. “I’m going to stay in Korea for sure. I can’t imagine myself going back to the USA. I’m gonna go visit. I miss it. I love the USA, but I don’t think it’s time to go back yet,” she shared. “I still need to travel around. I’m still earning my money. But yeah, definitely stay here and like I said, continue to build the relationships and the skills that I’ve just started using in English teaching and get a little more skillset in that area. That’s what I wanna do.
“I love Korea. It’s really great country. It’s really fun. Very, very different. And I love all the friends I’ve been making, and I definitely need to study harder for my Korean, but it’s going really well and I’m really grateful to be here. It’s really great.”
We at EBC are always happy to see our graduates living out their dreams. From all of us, we are proud of you, Tyler! We wish you all the very best in South Korea. Until our next check-in!
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Accredited TEFL Training Courses
- Accredited online TESOL certification course, a face-to-face live-streaming TEFL course
- TEFL course in Madrid Spain, accredited TEFL course, the Trinity CertTESOL
- Trinity CertPT CPD courses courses for practising teachers
- Accredited teaching Business English course, a Business English CPD course
- Accredited CLIL course – Content and Language Integrated Learning, a CLIL CPD course
- Accredited CLT course, Communicative Language Teaching, a CLT CPD course
- Accredited teaching English online course, a teaching English online CPD course
- Online TEFL certification course in TESOL & TEFL, a 200-hour course with trainer-marked assignments
- EBC short TEFL skills courses with certification
