TeachingEnglish
      Can an upper-intermediate English learner become a good teacher?

      Hi,

      I was an English student two years ago. I attended IELTS preparation courses for six-months. Then I got to level Upper-Intermediate. I'm now still at this level I think. Now I'm thinking about opening a small school to teach my home-town kids English.

      Do you think an upper-intermediate can teach English for other students? If so, what is the highest level he can teach?


      TeachEd's picture
      TeachEd
      Submitted on 27 January, 2011 - 14:03

      I don't see why you wouldn't be able to teach children who will probably be beginners or level A1. At level B1 you might probably start experiencing some difficulty teaching distinctions between tenses and vocabulary and at level B2 this will certainly be harder. Teaching a language requires different skills to learning it, so it'll be a question of learning the "tricks of the trade" as well as improving your own language skills. Some initial teacher training would be useful and if you could try to get level C1 yourself, even better. But if you're planning to teach primary only, I don't think you should have too many problems.

      For methodology in teaching English to primary learners, try the Try, Think and Train sections on this website, You'll find lots of useful advice there, as well as online teacher training courses you could do. There is a course for Primary teachers you might be interested in!

      Hope this helps

      besherry's picture
      besherry
      Submitted on 4 February, 2011 - 18:37

      I think you would be the best teacher for complete beginners, the reason being that you'll be able to draw on your recent experience as a learner to better explain things to your students. And if you also speak the same native language, you'll also be able to explain the key differences better.