Trinity Cert TESOL

Why did you take the course?

I took the Full-time Trinity CertTESOL course this past summer because my current job as an elementary school ALT in Japan offers very little support and professional development. Although I am technically an "assistant", the English program in my city's elementary schools is very weak, and ALTs typically become the primary English teacher. Much of my "lesson planning" was centered around scouring the Internet and Facebook forums to find games and activities for a full 45 minute lesson. I was also trained to use a lot of classroom Japanese during my lessons. While talking to a fellow ALT friend friend in my prefecture about lesson plan ideas, I was told me about Shane's Trinity CertTESOL course and how much it helped him become a better teacher. After doing my research about the Trinity CertTESOL and the strong foundation and prestigious qualification it gives ESL teachers, I decided to take the course because I wanted to become a better teacher for my students.

Projects/Classwork

Mornings are input/lectures about grammar, theory, IPA, etc. They're generally more discussion-based with a lot of group work. I loved my class of four. There's a break for lunch, and afternoons are for student teaching. I taught a lesson almost every other day. To be honest, I sometimes felt that there wasn't always the time to enjoy lunch because I often had to work on homework or prepare for my lesson. However, such is the nature of the course. In the end, I felt that I was able to learn best practices and become better at properly planning a lesson from start to finish.

Before taking the course, I was slightly apprehensive of IPA, and I was unsure of how I would fare as an American English speaker using British IPA. However, I grew to LOVE IPA and how useful it is in pronunciation. (And you know you've grown to love it when you start writing notes to your tutor in IPA!) Quite frankly, I have not been able to teach IPA in my courses with my young learners as it's not part of the curriculum; however, I hope to use it in the future if I teach adult learners.

The Unknown Language (UL) and Learner Profile (LP) journals were my favorite two projects over the course because they both challenged me to think from the perspective as a student and develop teacher awareness. The UL is a complete game changer towards teaching English because I learned that you CAN teach English without translation. To this day, I STILL remember the UL words I learned.

The most challenging project was the self-evaluations of the Teaching Practice. The "self-evaluation" is not "fluffy." Talk to your classmates, and talk to your trainers, who are more than happy enough to stay and talk and review any comments you received on your teaching practice.

Tutors

The tutors are highly experienced and supportive, and they genuinely want to help you succeed not only in the course but also in your job. Tutors are generally available before and after class. They are also there to throw out ideas for your lesson, but it's up to you to execute the lesson successfully. As with any human teacher, no lesson is perfect, and we make mistakes. However, I've gotten better at spotting mistakes (nicknamed "bear traps" during the course) in my teaching, thanks to my tutors and multiple practice teaching opportunities. I appreciated their quick, responsive, and effective feedback. The tutors not only helped me with becoming a better teacher, but they also helped me with my own personal development as a learner. If you have the opportunity to be trained by either Sophia McMillan or Gavin Addison, you are in very good hands, and your course will be full of life and fun.

What advice would you give other people on the course?

The course is not a walk in the park, and it was as tough as previous students have said it is. I took the full-time course because it was the only course that would have fit with my job's schedule, but I probably would have taken the course part time if I had the chance. Talk to your trainers and classmates for help if you need it. Be prepared to work and figure out a study and self-care routine that will get you through the course efficiently and mentally healthy. There is a LOT of paper and a LOT of information in one go, and half the battle is organizing your papers logically in binders. I actually recommend taking a suitcase if you want to keep physical copies of your work; I left for Tokyo with a light carry-on suitcase, and I returned home with the suitcase significantly heavier.

Living close to the training center helped me get home at a reasonable time. I did not explore Tokyo while on the course, and I prepped as many meals in advance when I had the time. But as intense as the course is, take time off to recharge appropriately.

During the course, I used a laptop to take notes during class. This is not necessary, but it really helped me organize any details I needed to catch up on later while working on my homework, particularly during the UL lessons. I found I could better recall what happened during our UL classes much better with play-by-play notes of the class.

How has it helped you? What did you benefit from the most?

The entire course itself helped me change my approach towards ESL. Since teaching for six months after the course, I find that I continuously refer back to my UL journal and the materials that I was given. Even though I teach children instead of adults, I still find a lot of the material that I learned in class relevant to my work, particularly with lesson plan structure and drills. Now that I have new knowledge and key words (hint, Google "Young Learners" instead of "Elementary School"), it has made researching different teaching techniques much more relevant to the kinds of ideas I am looking for. I've also learned to appreciate simpler activities delivered with clear, staged instructions over complicated activities that may incur translation from my homeroom teacher. After taking the educational theory input classes/lectures, I am also able to better explain WHY I chose to do a lesson the way I did when asked to explain.

As a whole, my experience was quite enjoyable. This IS an expensive course, but the materials, knowledge, support, and friendships are well worth it.

After having taught ESL for over 20 years, I was starting to feel that my methods were becoming stale, so I decided to take a refresher course in the hope of making a new start. Two of my friends had already taken the Cert TESOL course run by Shane, and both recommended it to me. They warned me that it was hard work, but I knew of the course's good reputation, so I decided to apply.

When I attended the interview, the course director, Sophia, told me that there were full-time and part-time options available and that both were very challenging. However, she reassured me by saying that she would give whatever support was needed to make sure I and the other trainees passed. This reassurance, plus the outline of the course contents convinced me that the Cert TESOL was the right qualification for me to take, so I signed up for the part-time course.

Regarding the course itself, the first thing I would say is that it does indeed involve a great deal of work and dedication. If you are looking for an easy-option teaching course requiring minimal effort, this is not the course for you; the pace of the classes is intense and the amount of homework is considerable. If, however, you are serious about teaching and are willing to throw yourself 100% into the course, then you will come away with a top-class teaching qualification and the confidence to use it.

The course was held in Kasai, and I looked forward to going out there every Sunday. My fellow trainees were a great bunch of people, and I appreciated the rapport I built with them; we supported each other throughout the course and are still in touch even now. The in-school activities were comprehensive and comprised a mixture of theoretical and practical classes. In the former, we covered a wide range of ESL essentials - classes on grammar, phonology, classroom management, methodology and types of student. We were also given projects which enabled us to empathize with learners (The Unknown Language Project), assess and develop courses for students (The Learner Profile Project), and learn how to make and use teaching materials (The Materials Assignment).

Perhaps the biggest advantage of this course compared to the many other ESL courses offered is the amount of time spent on actual teaching practice. Each trainee was able to observe the classes of qualified teachers and also had ample opportunity to teach large group classes themselves every other week. The tutors were intensively involved with both class planning and feedback with the aim of giving the trainees the best chance to learn and develop. I am happy to report that not only did I pass the course, but I did so with a good set of marks, and with hindsight I am sure that was because the tutors pushed us so hard to achieve.

All in all, I would recommend this Cert TESOL course to anyone who is serious about a career in ESL and wants to get a top-level teaching qualification. It was probably the toughest course I have ever taken, but it opens doors in the teaching profession that would otherwise remain firmly closed.

I took this course because I wanted to further my teaching career. The Trinity TESOL certificate is world renowned and competitively priced, in my opinion, compared to other companies offering TESOL certificates. Shane offered two scheduling options which were really handy for my own work schedule and support was readily available.
I found this course challenging and thorough. The standard of work they require ensures that you constantly and consistently try your best. The tutors were knowledgeable and clearly experienced in teaching, which they demonstrated regularly. Take in all feedback and ideas learned from the demonstrations, and incorporate them into your lessons each week. This will help to improve your lessons each week.
When taking this course, I suggest starting all assignments as soon as you can. There are some dissertation worthy reports due requiring a lot of time and effort.
Having this certification lead to an immediate pay raise with my employer which was great! I also benefited from learning another foreign language within the course so I could take a few steps in the learners shoes. Seeing language acquisition from this angle really helps you to understand what your students are going through and what they need to succeed.
I would definitely recommend this course to anyone considering taking their English teaching skills to a higher level.

After a hard week, mind numb and exhausted the last thing I wanted to do was teach an evening class at the end of my week. The lesson started of routinely enough and progressed to the meat of the lesson. Though I tried to stay focused my mind was elsewhere. Then the student asked a question. Time slowed down and data points connected and a stock answer came out. A puzzled look from the student, that means I don't really understand but I don't want to say anything. Hold on a second, I was just reading about this language point in the TESOL Diploma texts. What was it saying again? Oh yes, let's take a step back and approach this from a 'task based' learning scenario. Wow! This is going really well, everyone is really getting into it! Wait, how do you pronounce that word? I spontaneously start dictating it on the whiteboard in IPA, students can say it magically. Hold on, one of them is really having problems with the plosive, no problem, draw a diagram on the whiteboard showing the position of the lips, tongue and palate. Then demonstrate using a tissue over the mouth. Hold on a second, the lesson is over already? Where did the time go? The class finishes on a good buzz. Every day is a new day!

I had been teaching English in Japan for several years before taking the Cert TESOL course in Tokyo through Shane English School. It would have been nearly impossible for me to have gone back to school to get my TESOL certification otherwise, so this was a great opportunity to learn over my summer break.

The course itself was incredibly challenging, and I learned a ton of stuff through this four week trial by fire. I believe that this course equipped me for the first time with the tools necessary to actually teach English with confidence. I am glad that I took this course, and would highly recommend it to anyone already living in the country who is looking to up their skills.

* What made you take the course?
I was recommended this course by a friend of mine. I originally wanted official certification in English teaching in order to further my career here. Furthermore, I wanted to learn more TESOL teaching strategies for young learners.

* How did you find it?
I found the course very beneficial for beginning teachers as there was ongoing feedback throughout the teaching sessions to improve and become more efficient/effective/reflective as a teacher. For example, the phonology/grammar sessions provided practical advice on how lexis and vocabulary could be taught, to which I have incorporated many of these techniques into my full-time teaching work.

* What advice would you give other people on the course?
Originally I had underestimated the difficulty of the course, and the work involved. Time management skills are needed efficiently juggle the demands and ongoing assessments in this course with full-time work. Time is also needed to review the work covered in the input sessions and to apply it into practice during teaching sessions. However, this time is well worth it as it equipped me with new strategies and approaches that I had not encountered before during my teaching endeavour.

* What did you benefit from the most?
I benefited the most from with input sessions and the Unknown Language project. The opportunity to learn a new language provided me with the opportunity to put myself in students' shoes, and thus develop tailored approaches to English learners in my community and some of the barriers to language acquisition, in the same way I had experienced difficulties with the new language myself. The teaching sessions also provided me with an opportunity to experiment a variety of teaching approaches, and clear and detailed feedback from tutors allowed me to reflect on the fine tuning of these ideas.