Having moved to Indonesia to be with my Indonesian wife, I found it impossible to obtain work without a piece of paper qualifying me for something. This stipulation, a Government requirement, made life very difficult to settle in this foreign country.

My options where very limited although my training as a music teacher inspired me to consider learning a certificate in English. I had 2 major concerns here and one was that my Educational background is extremely limited and the second was cost and time learning in Australia.

Numerous phone calls where made to various institutions around Australia and none suited my needs. When I asked if I should study via the internet it was suggested that I could loose my money and the certificate would be inappropriate. NEVER SAY CANNOT TO ME. The challenge was on.

I discovered, after much research the ITTT TESOL course at an affordable cost and time was of no concern. I also discovered a person who would actually talk and assist me from afar. This gave me great confidence, but then another MAJOR problem arose. What about GRAMMAR? I can’t remember a thing.

The primary aim of the course was not just to teach English but to also build the student’s self confidence in their own academic ability and allow them to feel comfortable with learning and not struggling to learn.

From a young age we begin to teach our children the alphabet, along with other things like numbers. Whilst we may not realize it at the time we have begun teaching one of the most important and core subjects of a child’s school life – English.

It goes without saying that a confident student will do better than an under-confident one. Students who begin to loath a subject are generally those who haven’t mastered the basics.

As teachers we need to understand that whilst students may not wish to pursue an academic career, they are nevertheless compelled to do well in English because this subject will contribute greatly to their final school examination – and ultimately their choice of career.

Therefore, as teacher’s, we should aim at not allowing our student’s to fall behind in the subject of English. Once a student falls behind, their self-esteem plummets and their mind closes over.

We will come across students who have a poor grasp of grammar, spelling and punctuation but can still write a brilliant essay. How can these students be expected to comment on a style when they don’t know what an adjective or noun etc is? These parts of speech are important to English.

Teaching should not be aimed at any one particular age group, nor should it ‘pigeon-hole’ intelligence with age, instead, be designed to encourage the students own ability to learn and build self confidence.

Once a student begins to see positive results, amazing things begin to happen.

Having now completed the course, I can’t wait to get my certificate which, a 57 year old man like me thought was unattainable at this stage of life.

It’s never too late.

Greg Sladden