Teaching Assistant Review

I was a teaching assistant at two different schools, teaching students of all ages in English. My degree is in German Language and Literature so Austria was a good choice for me as that is the main language they converse in. I was tasked with assisting the main class teacher in all activities, including not only the delivery of content but also behaviour management. I created lesson plans and original content for students to improve their English.

I have learnt a lot of skills that are relevant to teaching and other professions. This includes classroom management, pedagogy and conversing with different stakeholders. I was able to tailor my communication effectively, which was not easy because I am studying German but it is not my mother tongue. I learnt the virtues of patience, positivity and wisdom in a classroom environment. I also learnt how to make others feel at ease by creating a positive environment.

I was given a lot of responsibility. I was in the year abroad stage (Year 3) of my four year German course, so it was a heavy undertaking to take the responsibilities I had. Many of my fellow teaching assistants were graduates so given that I was still a student, I was going in with less experience. I think my German language skills were crucial in helping me to survive the responsibility of conversing with so many stakeholders.

I received a lot of support and guidance, especially at the beginning when I was starting out. This is because it is a daunting task to go to a different country and work. Granted, I had been on personal travels to Germany beforehand, but not Austria. Therefore, at the beginning I got a lot of help from class teachers on how to work. This included creating structured lesson plans and receiving rigorous feedback as well as training on classroom management.

There was a great company culture. I was doing my year abroad during the COVID year of 2020/21 so there was a lot of uncertainty amongst modern languages students at many universities including my own. However, we managed to arrange our year abroad at the British Council very smoothly, with as minimal disruption as possible, and clear expectations around the possible difficulties we might face. This created a good camaraderie amongst fellow teaching assistants.

I really enjoyed my internship. At a time when a lot of people were anxious over the impact of COVID, especially on travelling abroad, it was great to be able to complete my year abroad with minimal disruption. Granted, I appreciate that I was in a somewhat privileged position for being able to afford to embark on my year abroad, but the staff at the British Council were excellent at enabling us to enjoy the experience.

Yes

I would say that you should emphasize both what you can offer during your year as a English as a Foreign Language Assistant, as well as what how can benefit from the experience. It has to be a two way match. There are a lot of enthusiastic colleagues at the British Council who are keen to see the impact of their work in improving relations, so if you show that there is a two way match then this makes you stand out.