My career teaching English as a foreign language: the love of a linguist
Annie Ashmead, EFL teacher and Accent Language School Academic Director, has been teaching for nearly 30 years and still loves doing it.
After many years abroad Annie has returned home with her husband and beloved dog Monty.
Here’s an insight on her teaching journey……..
1. how did you get into teaching?
I’ve wanted to be a teacher since the age of 5. Then when I was an adult I wanted to travel the world. So I combined the two and trained as a TEFL teacher.
2. did you do any training?
I first trained as a Secondary School teacher, specialising in Dress & Textiles, but because I wanted to see the world, being able to teach English offered far more scope.
3. what did you consider as a career path before teaching?
After leaving school I did consider becoming a fashion buyer and went to work at Harrods in London and was there for 2 years.
4. so what eventually drew you to your qualification?
Basically I’d had enough of London and I had the opportunity to take 6 months off and travel from London to Sydney on a double-decker bus! And so I had something to come back to, I enrolled at Bath College of Higher Education to start training as a teacher upon my return. Since then, after qualifying I subsequently did a 4-week intensive TEFL course, followed by a TEFL Diploma and then a Masters in Teaching English to Young learners.
5. what are your most valued observations drawn from your experiences?
That being a teacher involves so many different roles. It’s not enough to simply know your subject and pass this knowledge on to your students; you have to be able to engage your students; motivate and inspire them and facilitate their learning process.
6. can you describe typical working life in your day as a teacher?
It’s hard to describe a typical day as one of the joys of teaching is that each day is different because you’re working with different people. In my career to date I’ve taught students from the age of 3 to retirees in their 70s; and from private 1 to 1s to classes of up to 48 students! I’ve also been involved in teacher training.
7. what are your main challenges in your work?
Currently, outside of holiday courses, due to how classes are timetabled it means there are very few opportunities to meet with colleagues which is not ideal; whereas during holiday courses we meet every single day to discuss how the teaching has gone, to share ideas and offer support to each other i.e. we work together as a team.
8. what qualities are necessary in succeeding in your industry?
There are many qualities necessary but I think one of the most important is being open to learning; from each other (as teachers), from our students, from other TEFL professionals etc. I’ve been teaching for around 30 years and I’m still learning…
Accent welcomes to Guernsey over 200 students every year from all over the world to teach them English and experience the Guernsey culture – we teach also many foreigners who already live in Guernsey who want to improve their English.
As our business grows year on year we are always looking for EFL teachers to work with us – get in touch with us if you are interested in joining our team!
tel. 714909 – info@accent.gg – www.accent.gg
