How do you teach a language that you yourself are not proficient in? This was the burning question that settled in Teacher Nemia Socorro’s mind when she took on the ambitious challenge to teach English.
Serving in a public school for 15 years already, Teacher Nemia is no stranger to the role of an educator and could even be considered highly experienced in this field. She was already well-versed in designing lesson plans, preparing assessments, delivering lectures and handling diverse students for different subjects.
Despite this background, English was not her forte. For Teacher Nemia, ATI’s Advanced TESOL Virtual program was precisely the course she needed to fill this gap, equipping her with the skillset to thrive in English language education.
Taking On New Challenges
Although Teacher Nemia had a general grasp of teaching different subjects, she was specifically assigned to teach English just last year—and for four sections at that. “Back then, I was not so sure about my abilities so I decided to look for ways to enhance my teaching skills,” she revealed.
With the vision to keep progressing in the field of education, Teacher Nemia wanted to give her absolute best to the students she was responsible for. Besides her own goal of continuous improvement, she was also confronted with the task of online teaching amid the pandemic.
“Gusto ko pang i-challenge ang sarili ko. This feeling was pushing me to pursue the program,” said Teacher Nemia. “You can gain from this particular course and you can learn from experts at ATI. Kahit nagtuturo ka na, mayroon ka pa ring makukuhang something new na ‘di mo pa alam.”
(I wanted to challenge myself further. Even if you have been teaching for some time already, you would still be able to gain something new that you didn’t know previously.)
From Plan To Delivery
During the 15-day virtual program, Teacher Nemia shared that she was able to learn new strategies for teaching that she had not been aware of before. It was an eye-opening experience even for a veteran teacher like her, as she was able to become more focused and detailed in her approach. These techniques were applied to how she executed the lessons in class, allowing her to meet the specific learning needs of the students.
According to Teacher Nemia, one of the major learning points of the program included developing their own lesson plans. Indeed, this was an activity that she was already all too familiar with, and yet, the strategies she learned from ATI completely revolutionized and enhanced her lesson plans. Moreover, she received extensive mentorship to make her lesson plans more detailed—going from a major skill and identifying subskills, and preparing specific activities to enable the students to achieve each of these subtargets.
While the major skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking were already being taught, Teacher Nemia’s approach changed in that she learned new ways to measure those specific skills and subskills. This enabled her to hone in on the areas where the students needed the most guidance and to reach the learning targets set out for them.
“After ng session namin, mas na-inspire akong magturo ng English sa mga bata. Nai-apply ko agad noong nag-demo ako sa school namin. Confident na confident akong i-impart sa mga bata yung mga natutunan ko from ATI,” Teacher Nemia expressed.
(After our session, I became more inspired to teach English. I was able to apply the lessons right away when I had a teaching demonstration at our school. I felt very confident in imparting my learnings from ATI to my students.)
A Competitive Edge
Through this experience, she learned to appreciate the language and the teaching profession in a deeper way. This translated to the classroom as well, as Teacher Nemia overcame her own limitations and took charge of honing students’ skills in an unfamiliar language.
“ATI’s TESOL program was like a refresher to me. Kahit nagtuturo ka na, hindi ko pa lubos na alam ang lahat. It became an advantage for me to teach more effectively,” she explained.
(Even if you’ve been teaching already, you still wouldn’t know the ins-and-outs of everything.)
Given that students locally are still struggling to grasp the English language, Teacher Nemia currently feels a sense of responsibility to help them hone their skills and become experts at using the language. However, she also revealed that she has plans to consider going overseas in a few years’ time.
Whether she takes her talents locally or abroad, Teacher Nemia knows that, combined with her extensive experience, earning the TESOL certificate is a huge edge to enable her to conquer the global stage. “Sa natutunan ko sa ATI, may bago akong maibibigay kasi may bala na ako para makipag compete kung anuman sistema nila doon,” she concluded.
(Leveraging what I learned from ATI, I would be able to offer something new. I now have what it takes in order to be competitive and adapt to various educational systems abroad.)
Worried you might not have what it takes to teach English competitively? Not to fear! ATI's Advanced TESOL Program is designed to equip you with the skills to create effective learning environments.