How a TEFL Certificate can help you become a better student

How a TEFL Certificate can help you become a better student

                                                                                               By ​Charlotte Leonetti

​Although the main purpose in a TEFL course may be for teaching, the course can aid you become a better student as well. A TEFL course provides information about learning styles, techniques, and how to communicate more effectively. The material that you learn in the TEFL course can be beneficial for aspiring teachers but for also students that want to learn ways to become a better student as well.
 
The Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Course has multiple benefits – it prepares the aspiring teachers to be able to connect to actual classroom teaching. TEFL is all about the techniques of teaching the skill-based tasks related to listening, reading, speaking and writing. 

The course itself is a comprehensive compilation of techniques and strategies that are required in day to day teaching process. The course covers the lesson plans and uses techniques that are applicable at all levels of language learning and for all ages-young learners to adults. Beyond the language teaching techniques, the TEFL course also explores classroom management tactics and how to deal with issues related to student management. The students may be adults as well as young learners. All of these topics can help you become a better teacher but also help prepare you to become a better student as well.

If you aren’t sure whether you want to be an English teacher in the long run, you might still find that a TEFL course is valuable to you because of how it helps you as a learner.
 
The first important topic the course covers are the three learning styles: kinesthetic, visual, and auditory. Knowing this as a teacher is important, but comprehending this as a student can be very beneficial in the classroom when learning of ways to retain information and material more efficiently. Knowing what type of learning style you have could help you apply techniques that could help you learn and study more effectively. Sometimes just having practiced the skill of teaching a section of content in a variety of ways can help you learn how to better engage with material that you have to learn for class.
 
The course also goes through different techniques that allow you to be effective and confident when it comes to speaking, presenting, and leading the classroom. In addition, learning how to communicate more effectively can also help you in a student role as well when making classroom presentations and communicating in general to the class. Confidence in speaking and preparing presentations comes with practice, and that confidence can help you to get better grades and also just be more comfortable in the classroom.

Having seen the classroom from the teacher side, you may find that you are more able to understand the point of activities and that you find it easier to know which materials to study for exams. You also may find it easier to engage with classroom activities or actively participate in asking questions because you have been in the teacher’s shoes before. The best teachers make the best students, because they’ve been on the other side!
 
Additionally, you will learn the skills and qualities that make a good learner, especially when it comes to language learning. By knowing and understanding these characteristics, you are able to take full advantage of the classes you are attending. You will learn how to: work as a team and in a group, hold conversations and communicate more effectively, be observant, stay motivated, take risks in class, among other beneficial qualities. This will help you succeed in your classes, in ways that people without the TEFL certification would not be able to.
 
Regardless of your reasons to take a TEFL course, it opens up a whole new world of opportunities – ways that can be beneficial as a teacher, student, and learner in general. Getting a TEFL Certificate can open up a world of opportunities to you in your current classroom and it can also take you places across the globe!

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