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.