How difficult could it be? What should you expect if you are a non-native English speaker doing a TEFL course at TtMadrid? Being the only person whose mother language is not English in a course  of 19 it was quite intimidating at first, but with all the support and encouragement from my TtMadrid trainers, I managed to gain the necessary confidence. Before I joined the course I was level tested by the director of studies who kept reminding me that if my level of English was not good enough, they never would have admitted me. So, it was all about believing in myself.

Prior to the course I had about 3 years of teaching experience and I thought that getting a TEFL certificate would be a piece of cake. However, as it turned out, learning something from scratch is sometimes easier than trying to fix some old habits.  I didn´t do quite as well as I expected in my teaching practices, but my skills at grammar were always my advantage. That´s the thing, it is so much easier for a non-native to teach grammar, because we learnt it ourselves and we know exactly what our students need to progress.

Among other advantages, I studied with 18 different people which exposed me to all types of accents in my group. It meant that I made friends and was able to practice my English with people from all over the world.

It was such a beneficial experience,I really enjoyed it. Also, many people are worried that they won´t get a job after the course. After working in such companies as Telefonica, Real Madrid, Thyssen Krupp, Deloitte and many others, I can assure you that there is a demand for non-natives in Madrid.