My experience in South Africa, reasons for taking the course for teachers of Spanish ELE.<

My experience in South Africa, reasons for taking the course for teachers of Spanish ELE.

Hello everyone!

I have just finished the report and I would like to share with you why I took the initiative and did the ELE teacher-training-course. The reason was South Afica.

Until about 7 months ago, I had been living in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, for four years. There I had the opportunity to begin my adventure as a Spanish (ELE) teacher, which lasted for three and a half years.

It all started completely accidentally and I had never thought about teaching before. I wasn't sure if I would be allowed to teach, as I was trained as a Bilingual Secretary (Spanish and English) and I did Theatre Studies.

I lived there with my German husband for personal reasons, and one day a friend asked me if I would dare to give classes to a pair of German friends who had just arrived and needed to continue with Spanish classes, which they had started at school in Germany. They were urgently looking for a teacher who coudl fo to school. This si because, in South Africa, they teach many different languages in private schools, with the glaring exception of Spanish. I took her up on it without a second thought, and the school welcomed me and agreed that I would give private classes.

I was very happy. I started to prepare for the classes and I was looking forward to doing them well. What really helped me was searching for information online and in language books, my experience studying languages, my own creativity, as well as the guidelines that the German school had sent to the children.
I began to love the school and I felt as if I had a purpose. I got along very well with the children and apparently the classes were fun, interactive and with a good base of theory.

In the first year one of my students gave me a very good evaluation at a national level, which made me quite popular in the city, thereby spurring on their parents and the school to recommend me to new foreigners who had just arrived in the city and were looking for Spanish classes for their children. I began to work in four school and I had about 15 students every year (Germans, Americans, Brazilias ...) from beginner's to advanced levels.

I then began to give classes to South African adults, at a beginne'rs level, at a language school in the city. This was also an enriching, pleasant and unique experience.

However, I lived working with children, even if they didn't know any Spanish wnatsoever. I was spurred on by watching them make progress and the sheer enthusiasm they brought to the class. This whole experience encouraged me to take the ELE teacher-training-course. I wanted to have a certificate (in case I would need one in the future), pick up and consolidate my knowledge about teaching Spanish as a foreign language, and learn and use new methodologies.

I have been living in Germany now for the past seven months and I am also doing an intensive German language course. I don't know hoe much longer we will be here for, but if I get the opportunity to carry on with this new adventure that I embarked on in South Africa, I would definitely take it.

Regards to everyone and best of luck!