TEFL is a two-day course exploring how to teach English as a foreign language. One such course took place at Simon Langton Girls’ Grammar school on the 22nd and 23rd of April.

The first day of the course was based on introducing teaching techniques and gaining an understanding of how to structure lessons. To introduce said techniques, a quick exemplar lesson was held by the instructor in a foreign language. It started with a series of warmups: a key way to get students to be comfortable enough to contribute in lessons later. The lesson proved first-hand the effectiveness of good teaching on retention of a language- I can now confidently state that ‘planchar’ means ‘to iron’ in Spanish!

A class discussion after this demonstration revealed the model structure of a lesson: 1) Presenting the information e.g. ‘planchar’ introduced with an ironing motion 2) Practicing using the vocab e.g. repeating the pronunciation and hand movement 3) Producing own material e.g. using ‘planchar’ in a sentence The second day focused on refining the delivery of a lesson, specifically focused on pronunciation and stresses. It may shock some that there are over forty sounds in the English phonetic alphabet!

At the end of each day, students were tasked with planning and delivering a beginner-friendly English lesson in small groups using the techniques outlined in the course. They were then given feedback by their peers and instructor on how engaging, clear and informative their lessons were.

In conclusion, this course proved incredibly useful to understanding the intricacies of language teaching. I would highly recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in travelling as it is a great asset.