First Contact

Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcan_salute

 

As a young teacher this is a pretty big step for me. I’m not usually one to feel nervous, however I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at the moment. After much consideration, it’s time for me to put my work out there.

I’m starting this blog for several reasons. Firstly, because of the reflection that naturally occurs when blogging about your work. As an EFL teacher, and especially as a new in-service trainer, I want to include more reflection in my professional practice. My second reason for wanting to start a blog is feedback. I want fresh eyes. I’m at a stage in my professional development where I need people to point out what’s good, what could be better, and what’s just bad.

I ask that before continuing reading this post, read the “About” page.  I put all my relevant background information there, so it’ll provide context.

What’s with the name?

I realise that calling the blog “Ambitious ELT” might raise a few eyebrows. I chose the name really carefully, and I felt that if I was going to be blogging, that’s the title it had to be. I’m not a “gap year teacher” as I had originally intended to be. I love this industry and it put a fire in my belly that just wasn’t there before. Like it says on the “About” page, I want to start my Delta this year. I’d like to become a CELTA tutor, to go back to school and study Linguistics, to work with major publishers and design materials. “Ambitious ELT” has to be the name of the blog, as it’s the most accurate description of me.

Who am I writing for?

Primarily for myself, however my target audience is non-native English teachers. Us native speakers get all of the attention, but non-native teachers far outnumber us. The teacher-training experience I’ve fallen in love with consists entirely of helping non-native teachers who are not CELTA holders. I love the idea of helping to bring out untapped potential in teachers and students alike. I’m sure that native speakers will find something of interest here, but after this post I’ll be making an effort to use graded language in my posts so that teachers of all levels can understand my posts.

What type of content can be expected here?

I’ll be basing a lot of my posts on the teacher-training sessions I conduct. They’re going to go from basic skills to more advanced ones as time goes on. I also hope to post a few activities and lesson ideas as I go along. I’m primarily a teacher, and I really want the quality of my work to improve. I hope that this space can help me do that.

If I’m still running the blog in July (and I hope I am) I’ll probably use this space to chronicle my Delta journey, but it’s a little early to think about that 🙂

Anyway, if anyone reads this and has any ideas about what type of content they’d like to see on here, then please comment and let me know. I’d love to know what other teachers are thinking about, and maybe to help out if I can.