Teaching in Spain - Complete Beginner...

[johnstar]

Hello everyone,

I am a British native who is going to live in northern Spain from 26th October this year and to begin the adventure i will start teaching English in one on one classes with a combination of young children of 5-6 years old, some 11 and 12 year old students and also a few adults too.

Because of the vast difference in ages, abilities and experiences, i have already bought some textbooks and grammar workbooks which will cover early learning/beginner and intermediate levels of english, which i believe will help them to improve their knowledge of the different tenses and build confidence.

My doubts lie in the methods/philosophies that i should use to teach the students in the most effective and interesting way without overwhelming them with information. I am totally new to teaching and although the lessons will be one on one as opposed to a big classroom environment, i want to appear professional and well prepared with every student with the intention of joining an academy or school after settling into the Spanish lifestyle.

I would like to buy the right material such as books, flashcards etc to be able to incorporate different techniques and develop my own teaching style to suit the individuals needs.

If anyone can offer any suggestions or advice as to the best way to begin imparting classes, which books to read to gain a real insight into teaching and ultimately the formulas that have worked to ensure success long term, then i would really appreciate the feedback.

Thanks for reading

Regards

John

 

[emsr2d2]

Welcome to the forum. :hi:

I trust that you are going to teach your students to capitalise the word "I" every time they write it, unlike your uncapitalised versions throughout your post.

 

[johnstar]

First of all thanks for the correction "I". I will ensure it is used appropriately with my new students. Apologies Piscean, I think by selecting "English teacher" this may actually be misleading because although I have helped speakers of other nationalities with english tasks, essays, documents and so on, I am not a qualified teacher and I haven't yet taken a teaching course such as TEFL or CELTA and therefore I lack experience in any teaching environment and will have to learn quickly as I give classes. If anyone else has gone through a similar experience then any advice would be helpful.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm sure the lack of capitalisation on your second use of "English" was a typo but just in case ...!

Your adventure sounds very exciting but I have a perfectly serious question - if you have no teaching qualification or experience, how do you plan to get these one-on-one teaching jobs with children of any age? I lived in Spain for 18 months and both the academy I taught for and the majority of my private students asked me what qualification I had and how many other students I had.

I don't doubt your enthusiasm for teaching English to people of all ages but I have concerns that you haven't chosen to undertake the relevant training for such an occupation.