TEST 3 PAPER 1: READING Part 3 (questions 16-30)
A Career in Teaching
A Anna
I first got into teaching 4 years ago when I decided
to quit my office job and do a bit of travelling. I’d
heard of the CELTA qualification to teach English
to adults and thought it would be a great way to
see the world. I’d also been interested in teaching
since I was at school and with the CELTA thought
it would be a perfect combination - teaching and
travel. Since completing the course I’ve spent time
teaching in the UK, Austria, Poland and Spain and
have loved every minute. I’ve taught people of all
ages and levels. I’d say the main thing I enjoy about
teaching is the fact that you’re able to engage with
people from different countries, all of whom have
different backgrounds and experiences, and I feel
that this therefore makes teaching an interesting,
varied profession. I think the thing I found the most
frustrating was probably going into different
schools and trying to teach children and teenagers
who were not interested in learning English and
only there because their parents had made them.
However, this meant there was always a challenge
in trying to find material that these students would
be interested in and a job where you don’t have
challenges I imagine would be rather boring. I’ve
recently started working as a primary school
teacher, which I’m really enjoying. I look back on
my time teaching abroad with a lot of fondness and
for this reason it is something I would definitely like
to do again in the future.
в Valerie
I love teaching because it is never boring. I have
been a teacher for over twenty years and I stilt
enjoy my day to day work. I teach Science to
students aged eleven to sixteen. This sometimes
involves explaining d ifficult concepts and
examining ethical questions which some students i
find very difficult. It is very stimulating working with
young people and their enthusiasm and optimism
can be quite infectious. To be a good teacher you
need to be very knowledgeable about your subject.
You must have a good sense of humour and be fair
and consistent in your dealings with other people,
but most of all you must be a good communicator.
There are lots of teachers who know their subject
very well but unless you can enthuse your students
and build their confidence and self-esteem you will
never be an inspirational teacher.
с Sally
I have been teaching for 3 years now and decided
to train to be a food technology teacher after
working in the food industry for 5 years. I was fed
up with working long hours, knowing the end result
was making profit for the company I was working
for at the time rather than giving me satisfaction. I
have also always loved my subject - Home
Economics, Food technology and Cookery - and
wanted the opportunity to use my experience and
knowledge to inspire and help others. Friends had
put me off going into teaching previously due to the
notorious heavy workload. It has been the most
rewarding and challenging job of my career and I
now couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I am
lucky with my subject because progress and
success are instant in practical cookery lessons;
giving plenty of opportunity to praise pupils and
raise their confidence.
There have been very difficult times in my teaching
career, especially the first year, when learning the
work life balance was impossible to grasp; this in
conjunction with challenging behaviour issues was
a steep learning curve, but I am pleased I
persevered. Over time teaching got easier and I
think it is the most fulfilling, satisfying profession I
could do. The odd pupil that walks out of the class
and says ‘thanks for a great lesson, M iss’ or the
look on a pupil’s face when his bread comes out
the oven, makes the hard work worth while.
D I Joanna
After studying languages at university, I was unsure
what I wanted to do for a living. I worked for a year in
a nursery school and. in my spare time, volunteered
for a charity that sends people on projects in
developing countries. I put together a programme of
induct on for the volunteers, to prepare them for going
on tne r projects. I soon decided that I would like to
do this as a full-time job, but I needed to get a
qualification in education and some more experience.
I took a postgraduate teacher training course and
worked for three years teaching languages in a
secondary school. During that time, I got very
involved in global education - teaching school­
children about global issues and how they affect
people in developing countries. After three years of
teaching, I got a job managing a global education
centre. I co-ordinated and contributed to a
programme of workshops for children and training for
teachers. A further three years later, the charity I had
volunteered for could afford to give me a full-time job,
and I’ve been working there for two years now.
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