Comments on: Christian TEFL

By: Caroline Ansell

Caroline Ansell — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 14:03:38 +0000

I thought this was an excellent course. I had completed my CELTA training at the beginning of this year and I have just started teaching refugees English. The Global English “Enter English Course” very much complemented and reinforced my CELTA training. It gave me new ideas and was very helpful specifically about how to teach refugees. I very much enjoyed the input from both teachers and refugees.

The only reason I have only given 2 stars to “teaching practice” is because my course did not involve any teaching practice. I consider all other aspects of the course to be excellent.

I found the feedback inspirational and very encouraging. I would highly recommend this course.

By: Claire

Claire — Sun, 19 Mar 2023 17:26:24 +0000

I recently completed the 10-hour Enter English course, designed to give people in contact with refugees and asylum seekers some initial training in teaching ESOL. I found its content very helpful, ranging from teaching techniques and lesson planning to basic grammar and resources. The webinars and other videos were particularly useful, by showing concepts/ideas in action, as were the pointers towards thinking about what might be most important to these particular learners, not just in terms of language acquisition, but in terms of feeling safe, welcomed and at ease. There isn’t scope in the course to cover all levels of learners – its main focus is teaching beginners, although there are useful sections which touch on more advanced levels, for example, when planning what vocabulary to include in a lesson (with a link to a very helpful dictionary resource) – but I would certainly recommend this course as an excellent starting point for anyone who hasn’t taught English before or needs a refresher (I’d taken a TEFL qualification years ago, but went on to teach something else), or perhaps hasn’t taught before at all. Aside from the course itself, communication with staff is excellent – very prompt responses to any queries etc.

By: Zoe Tubbs

Zoe Tubbs — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 11:16:18 +0000

I thought the course content was very good and it was particularly helpful when example lesson were given or shown. It was very useful to be assigned a personal tutor and mine (Kerry) was always helpful and prompt in her replies. Her feedback on my work was balanced, kind and instructive.

I thought the layout of the course modules took some getting used to (in terms of navigating) and I had a few modules which differed (in order) from the printable outline (e.g. my Module 3 came after Module 6).

I liked the mixture of multiple choice questions, longer answers, and Lesson Plans.

I personally found the section on tenses quite challenging and would have appreciated more material/examples/clarity.

By: Julia FitzSimons

Julia FitzSimons — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 21:04:09 +0000

I am a volunteer with local refugee support groups and am hoping to be part of a new conversation café shortly, so I thought it would be helpful to learn some more about teaching English.

I have just completed the 10 hour Enter English course and found it very helpful and enjoyable.

I found that it reinforced my existing knowledge, which was reassuring, but it definitely added so many new insights and ideas and packed a lot of information into a very short course. I particularly appreciated the signposting to some great resources, too.

I look forward to putting this into practice.

By: Catherine Keedwell

Catherine Keedwell — Sun, 08 Jan 2023 14:46:57 +0000

I undertook this short course to enable me to help asylum seekers in my town. I am fortunate that I work with an experienced teacher who plans the lessons. The course has certainly given me a much better insight into the methodology used. I found the grammar lessons very useful – although I had to refresh myself on the technical grammar names (it’s many years since I thought about structure). One thing that really sticks with me is the importance of not speaking slowly or in a raised voice as this could be misinterpreted by the learner as being condescending. I loved the lesson ideas. They were simple and effective. I also enjoyed the videos, listening first hand to teachers’ experiences was reassuring and informative. Thank you

By: Diana Walsh

Diana Walsh — Sun, 08 Jan 2023 11:10:22 +0000

I have recently started to volunteer at a refugee centre and found it quite daunting how to interact with the refugees who spoke very little English – which was most of them. The course has really given me confidence and actual tools to use to aid me. I found the interviews with teachers working with refugees extremely useful and gave me the confidence to continue. They were honest about their nervousness at first and how smiling and just be friendly and welcoming was the main thing to remember. The interactive word games were great ideas, and going over the grammar very useful too, along with the details of how other languages differ from our own.

To be able to do the course on line and in one’s own time was perfect.

By: Kate Lillie

Kate Lillie — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 11:29:03 +0000

This course took you through the whole process from thinking about why a church might start a group to support English language learning, to teaching styles, classroom organisation and grammar. It took a module at structure, which made it easy to put down and slot into the time available. Feedback was rapid and courteous. The links to external resources at the end of each module were really helpful. I recommend it

By: Susan Joy

Susan Joy — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 14:03:02 +0000

I have thoroughly enjoyed this course. I am a new volunteer working with asylum seekers, and although I have many years teaching experience under my belt I felt out of my comfort zone once the classes started.

This course really got me thinking about the needs of our students apart from just the need to learn English. This led to us helping our students to make contact with the local library for computer access, and also the local Sports Centres who provide some physical activity free of charge.

I found the videos with other volunteers sharing their experiences and tips helpful. I think one of the best pieces of advice given was to smile even if sometimes neither student nor teacher knew what we were trying to say to each other!!! Thank goodness for ‘google’, though I am finding I am using it less and less as I find other ways to express meaning.

The hardest part of the course for me was the grammar section and the one where I lost marks. If I did this again I would go over the lesson at least twice before attempting to answer the questions. Maybe I should have paid more attention at school all those many years ago!

Thank you once again for all your help.

By: Amelie Latham

Amelie Latham — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 12:07:06 +0000

I have enjoyed the Enter English Course a lot. It was very detailed and all you need to know to start teaching English to refugees. There are many tips and practical ideas. I liked the fact that I could do this course in my own time. The videos and test questions keep it entertaining. I recommend it!

By: Jonathan Baker

Jonathan Baker — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 09:05:15 +0000

I have recently started volunteering to teach conversation skills to some local Afghan refugees and, with no background in ESOL, was pleased to have the opportunity to undertake this short Enter English course with Global English. I found the course very relevant and helpful.

In particular I appreciated hearing the experiences of other, more experienced volunteers, seeing some model ‘classroom’ practice, and the sections of the course offering practical advice on how to teach particular skills. The course ended with a series of links to a wide array of resources.

My only suggestion would be to review the balance between the practical elements and the more theoretical sections covering the different parts of English grammar. That said, I thought the course was easy to follow with the facility to ‘rewind’ if necessary, very clearly constructed with ongoing feedback, and contained a wide range of interesting material. As well, any queries were answered very promptly with a reassuring personal touch.

Overall, I thought this was an excellent introduction to ESOL teaching.