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Why do I want to be an English teacher? Svetla Tashevska, NBU

Why do I want to be an English teacher? Svetla Tashevska, NBU

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Why do I want to be an English teacher?

Svetla Tashevska, NBU

Are you:

a teacher of English? a teacher trainer? a Manager/ Director of studies? a professional materials writer/ publisher? a student of English? other – specify:

_____________________________

Your start in teaching English

Why did you become a teacher of English?

How long have you been teaching English? less than 1 year 1 ÷ 5 6 ÷ 10 11 ÷ 15 15 ÷ 20 21 ÷ 25 more than 25 years

Why are you a teacher of English?

Do you consider teaching English as your main professional interest? YES NO

If not, why are you teaching it? to earn my living; because I enjoy teaching; other – specify:

______________________________ ______________________________ ______________________________

Context

Cambridge CELTA (Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults) – Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Introductory course – little or no previous ELT experience; or some experience but little previous training

AVO-Bell, Sofia, Bulgaria 5-week intensive course

Review of applications

40 candidates for 2008 and 2009 courses:

Feb 2008 – 5 candidates Jun 2008 – 11 candidates Aug 2008 – 6 candidates Nov 2008 - 6 candidates Feb 2009 – 6 candidates Jul & Aug 2009 (forthcoming) – 6 (so far)

Candidates’ age

20 ÷ 30 – 17 candidates 31 ÷ 40 - 8 41 ÷ 50 - 11 51 ÷ 60 - 3 Over 60 - 1

Or

Under 35 – 25 candidates (62.5%) 36 ÷ 40 – no candidates Over 41 – 15 candidate (37.5%)

Candidates’ nationality

Bulgarian – 19 (47.5%)

-> Different education backgrounds

Non-Bulgarian – 21 (52.5%) British – 9 (1 Dutch/ Brit) Canadian – 3 (1 Germ/

Canad) American – 1 Russian – 2 Romanian – 2 Italian -1 Serbian – 1 Turkish – 1 Lybian – 1

NESTs - Non-NESTs Ratio

Native English speaking teachers – 13 Non-native English speaking teachers –

27

-> 32.5% NESTs ÷ 67.5% Non NESTs

Women – Men Ratio

Women – 26 Men – 14

-> 65% ÷ 35%

Candidates’ experience teaching English

ranges from:- one-to-one (private) lessons to classroom

settings- general to specific purposes (business)- no experience/ a few months to 19 years- students of different levels & ages- in different places around the world

Personal Statement

Part of AVO-Bell CELTA application procedure:

Please write on a separate sheet why you want to do the course and how you feel you would benefit most from this course.

Reasons

candidates give include reasons: why teach why English why CELTA why CELTA in Bulgaria& vary from quite practical to very idealisticfrom quite honest & straightforward to ‘elated’

formulations aiming to impress

What do you think?

What are the candidates’ 2 top reasons? What are the 3 most frequent words used

in their personal statements?

Formulations (quantity)

qualification/ qualify/ ~ed/ ~ing – used 35x by 15 people

enjoy/ like/ love (teaching/ working with people / with ESL ss etc.) – 27x by 17 p.

career, ~ change, (enhance/ continue ~) – 23x by 19 p.

develop (teaching skills/ techniques/ qualities etc.), development – 23x by 15 p.

Formulations (2)

certification/ certify/ ~ed/ ~ing – 22x by 15 people

culture, etc. – used 22x by 11 p. improve (skills/ qualities/ methods/ style/

awareness/ knowledge, etc. ) – 20x by 19 p. travel, etc. – 11x by 6 p. step – 7x by 5 p.

Reasons

Difference between younger & more mature candidates? More mature:

established in teaching – improvement, quality, development changed circumstances – career change

Younger: aware of needs – training, improvement not aware of needs (but aware of personal strengths) – start

in life

Reasons (quotes)

handout

In conclusion

REASONS: improvement & professional development career prospects learning about other cultures

BUT – MAIN REASONS: enjoying teaching & enjoying English

Resources

Cambridge ESOL CELTA www.cambridge-efl.org/teaching

www.avo-bell.com Medgyes, P. (1994), The non-native teacher,

MEP Monographs, Macmillan Woods, D. (1996),Teacher Cognition in

Language Teaching, Cambridge Applied Linguistics, CUP

Thank you!

Svetla Tashevska [email protected] www.nbu.bg