Review and major takeaways from – The 6th annual Future of English Language Teaching Conference (FOELT) presented by Trinity College London and Regent’s University

I managed to pull myself away from decorating my house to sit down and spend most of the day in front of the laptop watching some great talks at the 6th annual FOELT conference. Here are some takeaways from some of the talks I was able to get to:

Revisiting teacher language proficiency and the native speaker

Presented by: Khanh Duc Kuttig

As part of the ‘Teacher Education’ (TE) strand

‘It is language that enables you to do things in the classroom.’

My 3 takeaways from doing the Cambridge CELTA

I completed my Cambridge CELTA in June 2015 with Kaplan in Dublin. I’ve written about my experience here. Below are my three biggest takeaways from the course:

My CELTA Story

I completed my Cambridge CELTA in June 2015 with Kaplan in Dublin. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it propelled me into the ELT world. Looking back on my experience now, I would love to do it again, just to experience that magic once more. That’s why it is my objective, with my Delta now in hand, to be certified as a CELTA trainer either this year or the next. The following is what I can recall about my CELTA experience:

Pre-CELTA

I was very much at a crossroads in my life before CELTA. I had been working in retail for over a decade as my main source of income and was getting gradually tired of it. You can get incredibly comfortable in retail, but it is something I think everyone should do at least once in their lives in order to be a better and forgiving customer. 

I was looking for a change and had recently completed my BA in English and History. I was ready for the next step. My girlfriend suggested getting into English language teaching if I wanted to use my degree to pursue further interests in secondary school teaching. No word of a lie, I didn’t even think about English language teaching as an avenue for me. It is now a huge regret that I have today that I didn’t even consider this prospect when I was younger. But, you live and learn. 

From language student to trainee teacher

For me, like everyone else I guess, my history with other languages started at a very young age and it was hit and miss all the way up to my first foray into language teaching. 

I was always very much fascinated with Japanese and their culture. I used to watch a lot of films and video games in Japanese but never felt the urge to actually learn the language. I was also very keen on French films, which I still consider today to be the best around.

When I got to secondary school in England, this was my first experience studying a foreign language. We only really had the option of studying French and I studied that for two years in London, and a further year in Ireland. I later dropped French for other subjects in the Sciences and Business. I’m not sure why I did that. I guess looking back now, I felt frustrated at not getting anywhere with French. It’s a real shame because obviously now I would have liked to have continued studying French.

Hobbies and interests

What free time activity do you do the most?

I try to balance all my interests out but if i had to choose it would be learning German at this present moment in time.

What free time activity do you turn to straight away after work?

I like to see what my friends are up to on social media, check emails, and watch a few of my favourite vloggers on YouTube.

How many languages do you speak?

Just English for now, and trying my hand at German. I talk a lot more about my history with languages here.

Why am I blogging?

Entering the blogging world, and maintaining a blog seems like a very daunting task to undertake, but it’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. The reasons why I want to start a blog are quite varied.

For me, just coming off Delta, I need to be able to keep developing as a teacher. Having a blog would be a small step in the right direction. This will motivate me to keep reading and keep researching, something which I really enjoyed doing on Delta. I was encouraged to consider starting one by my peers and tutors and they were instrumental in getting my confidence to where it is today to take this plunge into the blogging world, so, thanks a mill!