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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Letter Writing

Please check my personal statement!!

This was done in a day and I feel needs tweaking:

Having been brought up in a family of educators, it comes as no surprise that I will one day follow this path myself. Throughout my first degree, numerous research and reading have been done surrounding teaching methodology, learning/teaching styles, including but not limited to, interpersonal skills. My interest in the teaching ESOL as a profession has grown throughout my TESOL and CELTA courses as well as personal experiences.
In TESOL, I was introduced to the theories and reasoning behind the teaching, whereas CELTA entailed working with adult learners with different needs and levels. As a result, my experience have allowed me to acquire a number of skills such as effective communication, ad-hoc decision making, and pedagogical, social, interpersonal skills such as giving feedback, body language and empathy. Whilst under CELTA, I was involved in plenty of group as well as pairwork as we were required to liaise with the others to ensure our lessons flow smoothly; consequently, this enhances my social as well as negotiation skills. During the teaching practicum, I also learnt how to deal with difficult personalities as the first class I taught consisted of refugees and asylum seekers. It is an understatement to say that I have learnt so much throughout the CELTA course.
Outside the university, I have a diversity of interests. I am a private tutor of English where I address the needs of few non-native speakers in learning or improving their English language. Not only do I obtain more experience in this way, I get to prove or disprove several theories I have come across during my studies such as that from Swan and Harmer. Besides teaching English to non-native speakers, I volunteer whenever I can. In the first year, I signed up on a program provided by Init8, which is a university volunteer society and was assigned as a "Reading Auntie" at the Clifton Library for a few weeks. Unfortunately, this particular program proved unsuccessful and thus is discontinued. Through the same society, I also used to spend time at Emmanuel House Soup Kitchen, washing the dishes and spooning food onto plates during lunch. Because of the people that I met throughout the volunteering period, the experience was no less than rewarding. Recently, I managed a fundraising event on my own called "Cake Time" on behalf of the organisation Shelter, which involved baking cakes and offering them to the public while asking for donations in return. Due to my tight schedule, I only kept this up for a week but managed to reach my goal; more than fifty pounds was raised for Shelter.
My other interests include cooking, travelling and languages. I personally feel that being able to cook and travel are steps to achieving personal development as both show signs of independence, adventure and enthusiasm where one gets to experience different cultures, languages, weather and food, amongst other things. Language has always been another pursuit of mine; I am currently learning Polish, Italian and French. One of the benefits of studying a TESOL course is that the methodology and theories that I learnt can be applied in my own language learning.
It is my sincere belief that TESOL encompasses most, if not, all of my interests, whether it is in helping other people, learning a new language or travelling. In addition, my career objective after completing a master's degree is to seek a teaching position abroad where I will enjoy the opportunity to apply what I have learnt from your TESOL program blending with my personal experience and own knowledge. I look forward to expanding my practical and theoretical knowledge by attending a master's degree at your university and after serious consideration, I came to the conclusion that your university is the right place to pursue my studies due to the reliable expertise of its TESOL team and curricula. I am fully aware that you rank quite highly, which has influenced my decision.
  

Top answer

'I also learnt how to deal with difficult personalities as the first class I taught consisted of refugees and asylum seekers'. seems very prejudiced? i dnt know if that is how it is meant to come across.

  • 'I also learnt how to deal with difficult personalities as the first class I taught consisted of refugees and asylum seekers'.
  • seems very prejudiced?
  • i dnt know if that is how it is meant to come across.
  • Were they difficult becuase they were refugees and asylum seekers ?
  • or because YOU could not understand their cultural needs or recognise tone of voice etc?
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1 Answers
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'I also learnt how to deal with difficult personalities as the first class I taught consisted of refugees and asylum seekers'. seems very prejudiced? i dnt know if that is how it is meant to come across. Were they difficult becuase they were refugees and asylum seekers ? or because YOU could not understand their cultural needs or recognise tone of voice etc?

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