let the teaching begin...

I am in full swing of my teaching certification course. For those of you who may not what exactly I am doing here (don't worry, i think it's been pretty vague) I am taking a CELTA certification course to teach English. The certificate itself is recognized all over the world and is often a requirement for jobs. SO I am not taking teaching Spanish. That would be impossible and most likely very humorous to see. English I think I have down. I think...

The class is very intensive and I've been working quite a bit, learning fun little bits about auxiliary verbs and modals. The best part though is the practice teaching. We have classes of adult students in the morning and take turns leading the class every other day. It has been really wonderful and I am really enjoying it. The students are great! They range from 20 somethings to students well into their 70's. They have all been super enthusiastic and quite funny. The beautiful thing about teaching in another country is that you are given this window to meet people from other places, different walks of life and really share something. It may sound a bit cheesy, though to be honest it's really that sensation. It does help that we seem to have lucked out with this group in particular. In class on Friday, one of the Nestors- there are two- stopped class to present a rose to the teachers for Valentine's Day and to give a poem about Darwin. It was spectacular. I believe it went something like...

Before, all was darkness
Then God said, DARWIN (Nestor #1 raises his voice and arm in grand gesture)
And all was light


Perhaps a bit off topic and slightly controversial considering the setting, but it was definitely a highlight. I could really talk all day about the students. Actually, come to think of it, I probably do...

The group of people studying with me are all great as well. Most are brits and I find I'm learning new vocab every day. I am fighting the desire to casually throw in words such as knackered, fancy that, and adopt a silly hybrid accent. Oh, and they all really do love biscuits (cookies). It's true.