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Things I wish I knew before taking a TEFL courseBefore starting this course, i went about my normal day speaking, reading and writing without giving it a second thought. When i wanted to say something i just opened my mouth and it came out, getting my point across to whomever i was speaking too. Not once did i ever stop and consider or question why i was putting the words in that order, because it all came naturally to me, or so i thought..... We all learnt our language from our parents and family ever since we were babies. We grew up learning from them, and how to say things but very few of us ever stop and question "why?", why do i say it that way and not another way! While in school you are taught the basics of word order, grammar and verbs but they never go into great depth mainly because you can speak the language and most people around speak the same and will you learn as you go along. After doing this course, i think this is an old fashion and out of date approach to the teaching of the english language. If my schools had ever gone half the depth to cover what this course has done, i would have had a better appreciation for a language that i took for granted all these years. Also bear in mind i went through 14 years of schooling and this course taught me new grammar, verbs etc. things you would think would and should have been covered in them 14 years. I don't blame the teachers, i blame the schools. If i had known all of these before i started this course, it would have made it a lot easier and most of it wouldn't have been "new reading" to me. Even a simple thing like present continuous verbs, if someone had asked me what they were one month ago, i would have looked fairly stupid in their eyes, being a 26 year old man and a native speaker of english and not knowing them. But i'm not in this boat alone; there are many people that fall into this category. I guess this is why people don't ask others what they mean because they don't understand them themselves. I knew i would be learning new teaching techniques and tips on how to control the class, and "brush up" on my existing verbs and grammar. But i didn't know i nearly could have scrapped everything that i had learnt in school and start back at the very basics. This is nearly what i had to do. The only advantage i had was being about to read and write this time around. So the things i wish i'd known before starting this course would have to be, being taught to at least this level of grammar, verbs, past present and future tenses. Quite a lot actually haha. This should be the threshold that schools would be made meet or above. I know from doing this course, this will be my goal in my teaching career, to give my students a better start in life with the english language than i ever got. I never appreciated it, because i never had it in the first place, until now.
