Training week 5

We met our students outside Kingston Museum this morning. The group splits into two, with the more advanced students going on a local history tour of Kingston, while the beginner level students stayed to explore the Museum.

I joined the group on the tour of Kingston, happy to be out and about in the glorious spring sunshine. It was led very knowledgeably by our tutor / tour guide who took us on a whistle-stop tour of Kingston Market, All Saints Church, Kingston Bridge, the new waterfront development at Charter Quay, Clattering Bridge and past Caesar Picton’s House to the Coronation Stone outside the Guildhall. It was genuinely very interesting, our students were fully engaged and asking lots of questions and I learned a lot myself, despite having lived close by for nearly 20 years!

In our afternoon session, we continued our work on developing coherent lesson plans to teach grammar. We recapped on some of the techniques that had been introduced throughout the course and pulled them altogether to form a solid structure on which we would be able to base our future lessons. Today felt like a milestone, as so many strains of what we had been taught started to bind themselves together and somehow appear to be more digestable. This is a relief, as we are now exactly half way through the LEAH course.

I went with the lower level group on a tour of Kingston Museum. It was a fantastic experience for all, it was thoroughly enjoyed by both volunteers and students. We were told about the history of Kingston, by looking at objects from pre historic times. Everyone learned something new, and students asked many questions to enhance their knowledge too. It was good opportunity to get to know the students better and how to help teach them English. Knowing what they found interesting also allowed us to understand how to structure our next lesson which was based on their tour of the museum. 

Training week 4

Today is our second teaching practice day – and my first experience of teaching. Our groups are the same as last week and we are teaching beginner level students on a one to one basis. Today’s topics are to teach directions and facts about Kingston Museum. I have been asked to focus on Kingston Museum in my 20 minute lesson.

A quick whizz around the Museum after the class gave me lots of ideas for a lesson plan. I could talk about its location, its opening hours and what objects might you find in it. Then I had to think about how I could use creative audio and visual techniques to teach these points to a student who is new to English. After an hour or so at my computer, I had created a short role-play exercise and a couple of visual word games, which I thought would be helpful. I was pleased when the lesson ran smoothly, my student seemed to follow the lesson well and she was keen to visit the Museum herself the following week.

After lunch, once the students had left, we reconvened for a theory lesson with our tutor. Today’s subject is English Grammar and how we can structure a lesson to teach it well. This is an important skill and one that I will have to brush up on before sharing the pearls of my wisdom with students!

Training week 3

The first week of teaching practice is already upon us. There is a frisson of anticipation in the room as the three groups set up their lessons for the students who are beginning to arrive, some with young children (cared for in an on-site crèche), many from South Korea. The students are quickly organized by ability into two large groups, with a small third group teaching one to one.

Lots of different, newly learned techniques were in evidence as thirty or so students were taught how to introduce themselves and then about the many attractions of Kingston Upon Thames. 

After a couple of hours teaching, the students left and we had a helpful feedback session with one of the ESOL tutors who had been observing us. They also briefed us on the subjects for next week’s lesson and gave some pointers on how to best prepare for it. 

We reconvened after a short lunch for a theory lesson. Today’s topic was how to prepare for a spoken English lesson. We considered a range of issues students might face when speaking English, ranging from lack of confidence, to confusion over the order of words, to unfamiliarity with sounds. This was demonstrated as we had a practice lesson based on visiting a doctor’s surgery. 

Training week 2

We are greeted once more by our tutor, Emma. As she writes up the plan for the morning, it is clear that we are going to have another pacy, stimulating day. We start with English vocabulary, its complexities and quirks and soon realize that it is not only difficult for a beginner to learn English, in many aspects it can prove tricky for those of us who speak it as a first language as well!

We moved on to learn how to use different techniques to help teach the meaning of vocabulary, such as pictures, objects, mime and examples. It becomes clear that we must think hard about how we elicit answers from our students. Then we considered how language is different depending on whether you are reading it or listening to it and for example, the importance of punctuation or intonation in defining meaning.

In the afternoon, we prepared our first lesson plan. Examples were given, reading a letter sent from the hospital and calling the emergency services, and then we were split into 3 groups and asked to work together to plan our first lesson. The subject is introducing yourself and the local neighbourhood and we will be teaching this lesson to real students next week. By the time we left at 2.30pm, we had a good idea of how the lesson would be structured and what teaching materials would be at our disposal, but further work would have to be done at home to complete it.

Being allocated groups we were told to get in to pairs and prepare lessons for entry 1 students. These students didn't know much English and so it was a challenge for us to teach them some useful words and sentences. We taught them about directions and how to read maps of Kingston. It was a very challenging yet valuable experience. I think it made me more confident to speak up in front of people that I don't know; and these skills are really good especially if you want to go in to long term teaching like me. The students that we were teaching were very friendly too and so our experience of teaching a group of 8 people was not as scary as we first thought it would be. 

Training week 1

The following week the group meets in central Kingston at 9.30am for our first day of tutor training. Our tutor Emma, greets us and quickly proceeds to give us a Greek lesson, not using one word of English throughout. This was a very revealing process, which put us in a similar situation to our future students and I was delighted to have learned lots of different teaching methods as well as being able to order several items of food and drink in a Greek café by the end of it!

After a short lunch, we reconvened for some theory. The objectives were to be able to understand different learning styles and to assess levels of speaking, listening and literacy. This would enable us to plan lessons that would meet the specific needs of our students. By the time we wrap up at 2.30pm and I realize how quickly the time has gone and how much more I know now than when I walked into the building 5 hours ago.

On the first day of the training course, we were given a icebreaker task to get to know all of the other students. After that we were taught a foreign language which helped us to understand how those who cannot speak English would feel. It was a very enjoyable experience. We also learnt about different learning styles, which would help us in our upcoming training sessions. A variety of tasks were also given to us; working individually and in teams; helped us to develop our interpersonal skills as well as our knowledge for teaching clients.  It was a truly valuable experience in a warm and welcoming environment and I would recommend this course to anyone who is particularly interested in teaching or using their spare time to help others. 

Training to be a volunteer tutor - Introduction

I applied to become a volunteer tutor with LEAH (Learn English at Home) via the UK’s national volunteering database, Do-it.org. I called the LEAH office to find out a bit more and thought this would be a great opportunity which fitted my skills and interests. So, after completing a simple application form and attending a successful interview, here I am at the new volunteers introductory session nervously waiting to hear what the next ten weeks have in store.

The LEAH coordinators have recruited around twenty or so new volunteer tutors, men and women of all ages and from all walks of life. I am impressed by the diversity of people in the room and think that we will learn a lot from each other as well as from the LEAH coordinators and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) tutors who carry out the formal training. After a quick, straightforward ice-breaker, we receive information relating to LEAH and the course. A quick flick through shows that this is likely to be a focused, well supported course.