We recently had the pleasure of interviewing Georgia, one of our EBC Trinity CertTESOL graduates. In this article, she tells us about her experience taking the 4-week online course and how it has played a key role in strengthening her skillset as an English teacher. If you want to teach English in France, be inspired by Georgia’s story.
Teach English in France: Georgia’s background
At EBC, we make it a point to support our teachers even after they have finished the course. As such, we like checking-in with our graduates to see how they are doing after the course. We are proud to say that so many of our graduates have gone on to make their own waves in TEFL all over the world. From Tyler, who is teaching English in South Korea to Helga, who is teaching English in Colombia. We even have graduates like Amir, who is set to teach English in the UK.
The EBC Trinity CertTESOL is your ticket to the world. After all, the certification is accepted and recognised by the British Council. Whether you want to teach English in France or Colombia, or anywhere else in the world, really, it always pays off to get certification that is recognised internationally.
In our online sit-down with Georgia, she told us a little bit about her background.
“So I’d already finished a TEFL (course) in 2020, which was online, but no face-to-face,” she said. “Like we had no opportunity to teach, no teaching practice, no opportunity to get feedback from either peers or the trainer or the school. What else? I’ve been teaching students and I also have a human resource background, so I’ve got a pretty good understanding of what’s involved and expectations of people. But when it comes to myself, it was tough.”
Then, she told us what made her choose to get Trinity CertTESOL certification to teach English in France, citing the recognition of EBC. “The recognition of EBC,” she said. “Also that it’s Trinity accredited. And I know Trinity has a good reputation as well. I also read a lot of reviews and I did a lot of my own research and it came up that EBC was one of the top ones to do online.”
Teach English in France: Georgia’s overall experience with the course
Georgia told us about her experience with the course, saying,
“It was what I expected. Having done some research about CELTA and TESOL, I know that they’re in intensive courses, so I expected it to be intensive. My experience was good (and) I learned a lot about myself. The workload, I have to say, wasn’t easy for me because I haven’t studied for a while. And I did find–because I tend to want to do things right, a hundred percent. It took me a little bit longer.”
She also told us about the intensity of the 4-week online course and how she managed to handle the workload.
“Well, I put aside that time because I knew from reading the the material at the beginning and also looking at the website, it said to make sure you put aside time for this course,” she said. “So I did that. I didn’t have any other commitments and I said to my family, ‘You’re going to have to cook because I can’t commit any time at all. I’m just coming up for air, so to speak’.”
However, despite the initial challenge she felt studying for something again as well as getting used to the intensive schedule, Georgia found that the course was well-worth it. So, if you want to teach English in France, or anywhere else in the world, the EBC Trinity CertTESOL course will prepare you for it.
Teach English in France: EBC Trinity CertTESOL training
Georgia also told us about her take on the training she received throughout the course.
“So I would describe it as quite personable,” she said. “I did feel like it was a lot of one-to-one, even though we were five in a group. The trainer and also Tita (founder and CEO of EBC) were very…anytime we wanted to contact them, it was fine, we could do that. They always had their finger on the pulse, so they were quite aware of what was going on and what was coming up.”
Georgia was also honest about her personal challenges, sharing, “I guess I would’ve liked to have had more experience with something like the materials. That’s part of it. I would’ve liked to have had more exposure and I understand it was an assignment that had quite a lot of weight in the expectation. And I would’ve liked a little bit more time to be able to come to grips with it. The rest was fine. It just made me think a lot more (about) the grammar side–that was always a challenge.”
Teach English in France: Access to helpful resources
She also talked about the self-testing material that teacher trainees had access to.
“You know how you had that at the end of each week, you had the material that you could test yourself with, for example, the grammar…” she said. “You could do them at the end of most days or at the end of most weeks. And I think I can still do them.”
Even as Georgia teaches English in France, she, along with all other EBC graduates will always have access to the teacher trainee resources from the Trinity CertTESOL course. As English teachers, it’s always good to have English teaching resources handy. So it’s good to keep in mind that EBC graduates have a great set of materials they can access even after they finish the course.
Helga, one of our graduates who is now teaching in Colombia, told us in our graduate check-in that to this day, she still refers to her notes from the EBC Trinity CertTESOL course.
Teach English in France: Georgia’s biggest takeaways
When we asked Georgia what her biggest takeaways from the course were, she cited her love for learning from others. She also talked about how the feedback she received throughout the course helped her grow by leaps and bounds.
“I like learning from other people,” she said. “So it was good to work in a group and to get some feedback because as you know, working online as a teacher can be quite lonely and can be quite isolating. It was good to get other people’s take on their views and also how they approach things.”
Then, she shared how she liked the experience of teaching Spanish people.
“And I also liked teaching Spanish people,” she told us. “I found that because I live in Paris…French people are very solemn and straight and (it’s) really difficult to get them to open up. So I just found that Spanish people were so engaging and so welcoming, and it was like I just felt like I was in a different world. So that was another big takeaway, the fact that (there was) group work. And I also liked the experience of Iza the trainer and also Tita. I liked that experience. I liked those two things.”
Teach English in France: Learning a new language
After talking about her biggest takeaways from the course, Georgia also reflected on the Unknown Foreign Language sessions. If you want to teach English in France, or any other country, then you will be working with people whose first language is not English. So, the chance to experience what they go through as English language learners, is something that can help you significantly with your English classes.
In Georgia’s case, she and her fellow teacher trainees learned Polish.
“The first day was okay,” she told us. “I think the second and the third lesson–perhaps the third lesson…I kind of lost it a bit because I couldn’t quite put together everything…I just couldn’t absorb it. And I understand I had this issue when I was learning French.
“I was trying to put things together and I always would get them wrong, and I felt like that’s what I was doing. I have to say it was hard to try and pronounce so many consonants and not many vowels. So I had to do my own little phonetic pronunciation, and I just wrote it as I could spell it, as I could pronounce it, which helped me a lot.
“But all the intonations and all the little…What do you call it? Those little commas underneath, I think the S or the C or the Z. That was a challenge–trying to remember how to pronounce those words and letters as well.”
According to Georgia, the Unknown Foreign Language gave her the chance to experience what her English language learners go through in the classroom. So whether she continues to teach English in France or moves to another country in the future to teach English there, this gives her an advantage. After all, it helps her anticipate possible challenges her students may have. And, it gives her the opportunity to think outside the box.
Aspiring English teachers will find that it is much easier to relate to your students when you have been through the experience of learning a new language as well. This is one of the things that sets the EBC Trinity CertTESOL course apart.
Teach English in France: Teaching English to French speakers
Georgia also told us about her experience teaching English in France.
“I have taught (and) I still teach,” she said. “I have a couple of students that are quite low, but they’ve got…perhaps they have, ‘Hello, how are you?’ And when I start to get into a little bit more, I don’t realize that they have problems keeping up like I did in Polish. So I can just imagine what it’s like for students trying to keep up. Not only is it the introductions and the greetings, but it’s also the accent. So the accent is also quite different.
“And little things. For example, I have a student and she’s a B level student, and this is where it’s quite similar in the Polish language. It’s that you can’t get hooked on one word–trying to understand one word. You really have to understand the gist of it (and you have) to be able to get that overall definition more than being hung up on one word. So my student was hung, and I would say to her, ‘Don’t get hung up’. The French tend to do this because they want to understand every (word) but you can’t, as you know, in English, you can’t do that.”
Now, as for how the EBC Trinity CertTESOL course met her expectations, Georgia said that it “fully met them.”
Teach English in France: How teaching practice sessions helped Georgia
Another thing that sets the EBC Trinity CertTESOL course apart is the practical training that teacher trainees get. Georgia shared what she learned through the teaching practice sessions and how they helped strengthen her TEFL skill set.
“You’ve gotta be prepared,” she said. “You’ve gotta have your lesson plan prepared. And I think mine was a bit overkill. I wanted more information in there because it would help me and I could just refer to it kind of like a Bible. Whether it was CCQs, whether it was definitions, whether it was MF…I found that that helped me a lot.
“As far as the teaching practice goes, no problem. It didn’t bother me doing the practices, just the Zoom and putting people in breakout rooms. That was the hardest for me. But I think I did a couple with my family and I got to put them into breakout rooms and I didn’t realize that you have to do it manually rather than assign them. Because when I was assigned to them, I was assigned to people that were watching as well.”
Teach English in France: The importance of being prepared
Georgia also spoke about how these teaching practice sessions helped her feel more prepared.
“The other thing I would say is that the confidence was okay,” she shared. “It was more about being prepared for unexpected events. That’s one thing that we tend to get a lot of in teaching–being prepared for unexpected events and you can’t always plan with them.
“And you can’t run with them and make it up. You somehow have to…I don’t know if it’s anticipated problems, perhaps. We don’t always envisage anticipated problems. The problems that we anticipate don’t always come up, so it’s always a challenge. And I think with experience, this would probably overcome a lot of fears as well, because I do get nervous when I’m in front of a group.”
Teach English in France: Why Georgia would recommend the course
When asked if she would recommend the course and why, this is what Georgia had to say:
“Yeah, I would recommend the course. I have to say…it’s more of a self-reflection. And I like that because I understand that CELTA isn’t so much self-reflection. CELTA is more academic and it’s more…there’s no room for improvement or not as much room for improvement as there is with Trinity. And having said that, I’m not criticising CELTA, but I think CELTA would be for more academic-type people, right? And the Trinity would be more for people that would like to self-reflect, which is what I found useful for me.”
Teach English in France: Georgia’s future plans
Now, as for Georgia’s future plans, she shared that she would like to go into teaching English in France, as she can’t relocate at the moment. She also told us about her interest in expanding her pool of students to include even English language learners who aren’t French.
From all of us at EBC, we’re sure you’re going to do amazing things, Georgia! We’re looking forward to our next check-in with you. Au revoir!
Whether you want to teach English in France, in Colombia, Japan, South Korea, or anywhere else in the world, enrol in the EBC Trinity CertTESOL course today. Another big plus is that EBC graduates get access to our worldwide job placement programme. And the best part? It’s lifetime and free. Plus, it’s really simple.
First, you finish your course, then you send us your CV. Afterwards, you tell us where you want to work and which age groups you prefer working with. Then, we send your CV to all our partner language schools in your chosen area, and that’s it!
If you’re ready to take the first step, then talk to us today and we’ll help you get started.
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