How long does it take to have enough experience to be fully comfortable teaching ESL to an age group?

How long does it take to have enough experience to be fully comfortable teaching ESL to an age group?Enna Morgan·June 27, 2019International Instructor and Ed. Counsellor for 13 years.

Anywhere from 1 day to a few years; it depends on many variables (my response assumes that your question meant “any” age, rather than “an” age):

  1. Your prior experience with public speaking and sociality is a definite jump-start to this career. Extra bonus if you have experience with children. The adults will be a breeze, it is the children, who will rattle you…they lack filters.
  2. Your training. If your course included a practicum, that will help to speed up the comfort level
  3. Your travel experience. If you are culturally savvy and integrated, you should not have too much difficulty in varying classrooms.
  4. Prior experience with managing people can certainly accelerate your growth as a groovy teacher!
  5. The extent of your knowledge. Since confidence is directly linked to your knowledge of a subject, the better you understand your world, your topics, your audience, and yourself, the better you are able to handle the random and unrelated inquiries. And you will be able to always dance lithely through the game of let’s-see-how-we-can-make-teacher-look-like-a-fool-today, when you stand in front of a room full of curious, unrelenting, uncompromising scalliwags.

Thanks for the A2A, Samuel!146 views · Answer requested by Samuel Stephen