Having finished my exams on the 20th of May I turned my eyes to my looming year abroad. I had planned to make use of my lengthy summer to become a qualified teacher as I had already secured a job as an English teacher in Ecuador, but a better opportunity came my way. Following the outbreak of war in Ukraine many refugees had fled to Wimbledon and King’s (my old school) had pledged to give 12 of them beginners English language and culture classes before a more stable situation could be found for them in the new year. King’s knew I was an aspiring language teacher and asked if I’d like the experience.
I spent the month running classes alongside a full-time teacher and it was an incredible introduction to the profession. I was taken aback by the incredible resilience of the boys, far from home and surrounded by a language they didn’t understand they seemed to have a bottomless reserve of energy and positivity. In an exchange that will stick with me till the end of my days a boy of 12 turned to me and remarked that his village had been hit by a missile that day, but the damage wasn’t that bad, before asking me if I knew about Harry Potter! It was a slightly surreal experience for someone so recently out of school. They made real progress during my time with them and having met some of them a year on a couple weeks ago I was so glad to see that they are really finding their niche.
Encouraged by the generous scholarship I was gifted by the Bulkeley-Evans trustees I started my gap year proper in September 2022 by enrolling on a CELTA teaching course in central London. I spent one month attending lectures, observing foreign language instruction, completing written assignments and giving graded lessons. I had a great time, learning from my mistakes as I gave free lessons to people from Ukraine, Brazil and plenty of other parts of the world! Having attained my CELTA qualification with a “Pass B” (top 30% of my class) I set off for Ecuador with high hopes that I might have what it took, and a sinking feeling that I was terribly out of my depth.
After a 30 hour journey I crashed onto a hotel bed in central Quito at midnight. The next day I was let into my flat-share and informed by my boss that I would be teaching the next afternoon, which gave me little time to get over the jet lag and would not be the last instance of me having to work things out on the fly…
My first lesson was 4 hours long with one 20 minute break (which was a bit of a change of pace) and given to 10 year old beginners (apparently the fact I was only qualified to teach adults wasn’t really relevant). I arrived bristling with confidence and a bit encumbered by the small mountain of worksheets I’d made, sadly this group of “beginners” were in fact no beginners at all and had made their way through my mountain by half time. Having panic walked to the teachers lounged and then made a mixed first impression on a fair few present by blurting out that my class had finished their work with 2 hours to go I was touched by how quickly the other teachers rallied around me, suppling me with their own resources to get me through to the end of the lesson.
I vowed that I would come prepared for all eventualities to my next lesson, 4 hours with 15, 12-14 year old intermediates the next afternoon. Unfortunately, I was blindsided once again. I arrived, ready to teach past and future tense, to find that the majority of my students, having spent the last 2 years doing lessons online due to covid, could hardly introduce themselves. I would come to see this as a bit of a boon in the months to come as the considerable overlap with my other children’s class allowed me to use resources for both but this lesson felt long as the children struggled to grasp what I was saying and I had to pivot down a few levels.
In the months to come I would take on 7-9am (with an accompanying less than welcome 5am wake-up) and 9am-1pm Monday-Friday adult classes as well as a 8am-1pm class of 16 year olds and an evening class online. I coped surprisingly well with the early rises (though one or two Saturday mornings were a little tricky after a stint in the salsa club) and introduction of adult classes, for which I felt properly trained, helped me get into a bit of a groove. The staff around me were lovely and I got invited out to a wild sales team social that really made me feel welcome.
