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ESL forum >
Techniques and methods in Language Teaching > Some advice on IELTS, please!
Some advice on IELTS, please!
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genzianella
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Some advice on IELTS, please!
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Hi guys! I could really use some advice here and thought I might ask you. I �ve been contacted through some acquaintances of mine by a small group of college students preparing IELTS. They are looking for some lessons to help them prepare the exam, so that if they score more than 5.5 in IELTS their college will consider it proof of their good knowledge of English and they won �t have to sit further exams.
My question is: I am a qualified teacher, I am quite fluent in English, I have passed my Proficiency last year BUT I �m not a native speaker. Should I take a job as demanding as preparing students for IELTS or not ? Would I be up to the job? What would you do? This question has been bugging me all night! I need the job but at the same time I don �t want to rip them off of their money when they could probably have a more qualified teacher .... Am I just being paranoid here?
Thanks for your advice!! |
6 Mar 2009
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yolprica
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I �m sure you are prepared to do it perfectly well. You won �t have any problems but be ready to work very hard. That work won �t be useless, believe me that you won �t regret it.
Good luck |
6 Mar 2009
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kaz76
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Preparing students for the IELTS exam is tough even for native speakers, expecially if they are doing the Academic Paper. However, there is no reason at all for you not to take these students.
I think when you are preparing students for the exam the main things that you will be doing with them is teaching them the techniques of the exam and going through the different types of questions that are asked, especially for the reading paper. Also teaching the techniques for writing about graphs and charts is essential. The majority of preparation will probably be about how to do the exam and I think you �ll be great.
I hope it goes well:)) |
6 Mar 2009
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genzianella
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thanks very much for your help and support! I now feel more confident!! I �ll give them a few lessons and then if they don �t like my way of teaching, they can always fire me :)
Thanks again, you �ve been a tremendous help- also in boosting my self-esteem!!!!!  |
6 Mar 2009
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Naranjas
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I will add another kick for your self-esteem:
One of the best teachers I had(it was in England and he himself was a native speaker of about 60 years of age) told me that from heaps of the teachers he met non-natives were better in 90 percent of cases because they do can explain things better and get the structure of the languge not just the "feeling". So he told us: "If you wish to learn everyday English - go to a native speaker, but if you �re taking an exam - better find a foreigner."  Believe it or not but that �s what HE said. |
6 Mar 2009
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Logos
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I would totally concur with Naranjas. Living in Malaysia as a white guy is a great advantage as the thinking round here is that �the native speaker knows best �. But in reality, it �s just a bluff. I have met numerous teachers of English, who are not native speakers, who can help and explain about points of English far better than I. You may or may not notice, but I rarely respond to grammar questions in the forum - you know why? Cos I don �t know the answer and I leave that to the experts - non-native speakers who know a darn sight more about the language than me.
Okay, I can bluff my way through a conversation and bully my way with long bombastic words, but the truth is, there are a thousand teachers in Malaysia who are far better than I am - but they do not have the advantage of having pasty white skin and blue eyes.
So genzianella, I suggest you either get the operation to make you white and pasty, change the colour of your eyes, or just get on with doing what I would think you are clearly more than qualified to do. If you can pass Proficiency then you �re pretty good in my book.
Take the job, do your best and don �t ever feel inferior about your level of English. |
6 Mar 2009
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aftab57
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I agree with Logos and your are more than qualified to take this on. If you need any resources please let us know through the forum here and you �ll get plenty of support. Good luck. |
6 Mar 2009
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genzianella
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aren �t you all amazing?? thanks a lot for your kind words and for your support! I �ve phoned the kids and told them that I shall be meeting them tomorrow! the writing part, the one where you have to describe flow charts, graphs, this is the one that scares me most!
Anyway, thanx again to you all !!!  |
6 Mar 2009
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