A while back I asked my connections on LinkedIn how they felt when they first started teaching IELTS.
I got to read a lot of teachers’ stories, and the majority were speaking to how FRUSTRATED and UNSUPPORTED they were feeling at the time. 🙁
Unfortunately, I experienced the same lack of ACTIVE support and ENCOURAGEMENT in many teaching contexts. Often there just isn’t enough time (…?), or sometimes not even any relevant materials to really MENTOR a teacher who is new to teaching IELTS.
And of course it doesn’t help terribly when different LEVELS/required COURSE LENGTHS, and even DIFFERENT MODULE (i.e. Academic and General) students are dumped together in the same course, under the umbrella term of ‘an IELTS prep course…’ :O :((
I’m all too familiar with these ‘SAUSAGE’ IELTS courses, TBH. They go beyond ‘challenging’ even for the experienced IELTS teacher… (sometimes veering into unethical territories as well…).
Sausage IELTS courses –have you ever taught on one? What was YOUR biggest hurdle?
#showmehow #skillsfirst #IELTSTeacherTrainer #TeachingIELTSafterCELTA
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Hi. I’m Fatime. I’m an IELTS Teacher Trainer, helping CELTA-qualified English language teachers become better at teaching SKILLS, as opposed to just testing them.
DM me if you’d like one of the modules (Listening, reading, Writing, or Speaking) of my course, How to Teach IELTS –The Ultimate IELTS Teacher Training Bootcamp FREE! 😉
