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I’m going to be a (trainee) teacher!

It’s been an extremely long time since I have updated my blog… There have obviously been several reasons for this. Firstly – the last blog post I wrote was about my first few weeks living and working in the city of Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China; my China adventures didn’t quite work out as I had expected or hoped they would. Secondly – I haven’t really had any real reason to write blogs or update my blog website.

Until now.

I have given the blog website, as well as my social media sites – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – a subtle makeover. Now, it’s going to be a medium to document my teacher training adventures (beginning in September 2020), as well as any travelling I decide to do (once the COVID-19 pandemic is safely over – of course, I am writing this during lockdown in the UK), and also during my teaching career.

The exciting news is that I have a conditional offer on an Initial Teacher Training course at the University of Reading where I will be studying for my PGCE, and training to become a Secondary School teacher, with the view to teach Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) – specifically, French and German (and perhaps other languages if I am able to learn more as time goes on). My course will begin in early September 2020.

Before then, however, I am studying online Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses in both French and German. This is to improve my confidence in French as GCSE and A Level French has developed and changed a lot since I took my GCSEs in 2010 and my A Levels in 2012. I am also taking a German SKE course to help me to learn the language so that I will be confident enough to teach it to GCSE level. I am enjoying both of these courses, especially as I am studying the languages with more of a “how could I teach this” focus, so to speak. The current lockdown situation has also given me the inspiration to learn a little bit of Spanish also, as it is quite similar to French and Italian.

My interview for the University of Reading PGCE course took place in early November 2019, shortly after I started a new job working in Breakfast Clubs and After School Clubs for a company called Energy Kidz. I enjoyed the whole interview experience – it was very relaxed and informal for the most part and included having to deliver a 5 minute presentation about an aspect of teaching MFL. I chose to speak about using poetry in MFL classes, as it gave me the chance to combine two of my passions – languages and creative writing. Then, I had an interview with two of the course leaders, which included a short conversation in French, and then there were two written tasks – one in English and one in French. The day after the interview, I received a conditional offer – which was very exciting!

I am really looking forward to becoming a trainee teacher in September and working on my career as a teacher. A lot later on, I would like to do a Masters course in specialised Education, and then advance in my teaching career focusing on pastoral care. I think I would also love to teach abroad again one day too.

As far as my blog website goes, I hope to be able to find time to update it monthly during my PGCE course. Before September, I would like to write in more detail about my SKE courses and what they have taught me, etc., as well as how I prepare for my course as September comes closer!

Thank you for reading, keep safe!

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