Teach English in Suwu Zhen - Wuwei Shi

This unit went over professional development, which includes: cultural issues, C.V./resume design, finding employment, what to ask in an interview, additional qualifications, and associations and organizations related to TEYL and TEFL in general. First, with cultural issues, it is important to find out as much as you can about the country you're going to prior to arrival. Some tips to remember when in a foreign culture are to be conservative in manners, speech, and approach until you grow comfortable and confident that you will not come across as offensive, use the formal greetings of the country until you have learned alternatives, never express social or political opinion, do not use sarcasm (might not be understood), and do not make any comments about people in the organization who are not there. A useful resource for researching and learning about cultures was provided: www.cyberlink.com. Next this unit went over the different ways of finding employment. The first way is through advertising yourself (i.e. job postings online, newspapers such as Educational Guardian, and recruitment sites). A second way of finding employment is in-country (if you know where you'd like to work, it may be most beneficial for you to travel there and to look for a job, as many employers value meeting you face-to-face before offering a job position). Of course, if you know somebody who is already in your country of choice who is part of the TEFL field, this can help you greatly in finding employment (i.e. having or gaining recommendations are a very successful method). This unit then went over C.V. and resume design, providing templates/examples of each. Additionally three main points to consider when looking for a job were presented. They are as follows: when is the time of the main recruitment periods, do you work during school holidays (i.e. summer school, summer English camps), and do you already know someone working in the area? A list of questions to ask potential employers before you arrive or are at an interview were listed as well for our knowledge and resource. When creating your C.V. and resume, the internet offers several examples that can at times be confusing, contradictory and/or overwhelming. However, there are a few basics to include: your full name, date of birth, marital status, phone number and email address, current address, nationality, teaching experience and qualifications (in reverse chronological order). It is important to remember to be concise, relevant, and clear in writing your C.V. and resume and to give flavour to your personality. A sample resume was provided for on page 10 of this unit and a sample cover letter email was presented on page 11, both of which were very informative and helpful to read. There are also several additional qualifications that we can earn to enhance our chances at employment or to further our professional development. For example, a diploma or masters in teaching english as a second/other or foreign language. Experience is also a crucial and fundamental method of building skill and strength as a teacher, as is keeping an open and flexible mind. I believe teaching can be very challenging but is also a very rewarding and satisfying career choice, especially if you love working with people/children and different cultures (like myself). Furthermore, this unit provided a list of some organizations/associations that we could become involved in, such as: ACTFL, ELTCES, JACET, and VSO to name a few. Lastly, this unit provided a very resourceful list of websites for TEFL. Some sites include job postings that are available and active, other sites include worksheets and activities for TEFL, and some sites provided regard reference and reading (i.e. books, journals) material and resources. Overall this unit provided a great deal of informative and helpful information to help me enter into the TEFL world and the career of teaching, which alone can be overwhelming. I am very appreciative of the information and aid that this unit provided me.