Wednesday, June 10, 2009

On why I don't teach content classes

So at my uni, there are occasionally programs for public school teachers, or various other things where we do "teacher training." Now, I haven't gone to school to learn how to become a teacher, nor do I have any formal training in the ESL Field. Of course, I've read lots of books and articles, and think about it a lot and have 4 years experience. But I would never really pretend to be qualified to teach a teacher training class, or an interview skills class, or something of that sort. I generally will stick to conversation classes, with brief forays into reading and writing and listening, with a bit of grammar teaching mixed in, if required.

Part of the issue is that it's generally just not worth the money. Like I'd need to do a lot of research before doing a teacher training class, so I don't look like a dumb-ass and waste people's time. And there are handouts and stuff. And the $50 or $60/ hour that I would get paid for it just isn't worth the 3 or 4 hours I would need to prepare, plus the one hour that I would actually teach. For a conversation class, I generally prepare for 15 or 20 minutes, for a one hour class.

Anyway, I seem to have just been signed up for a program of this sort, this summer. The joys of my uni. More OT going around than teachers to teach it :) Sigh.

1 comment:

Jason said...

This is why I'm getting out of teaching university . . .

3 000 000 won on EFL/ESL books and hundreds of hours of studying EFL/ESL methodology . . . and this isn't my long term career either . . .

I need to be reading literature and literary theory for grad work--not how to help EFL in-service trainees teach English in English . . .

Anyways, I agree with your view--BIG TIME!
J