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SHS Student Stacey Ngo Starts Young with a TESOL Certificate

With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, various educational institutions had to cope with the sudden change in the learning setup and modify their traditional teaching strategies to accommodate the digital age. Likewise, students also had to adjust to new learning platforms and power through to finish their education at home. 

Amidst the personal difficulties that have plagued Filipino students and educators during the pandemic, it didn’t take long before these institutions managed to realign with the new normal and come up with solutions to help their students take care of their personal and educational well-being. Similarly, students have also come up with long-term and short-term goals to facilitate their educational growth while they’re at home.

One of these students is Stacey Ngo, a senior high school (SHS) student. Stacey’s interests aligned with teaching English, and she wanted to enroll in a course that would help boost her skills while also preparing her for a career in English language teaching. This is when she decided to enroll under ATI’s Advanced TESOL NOW program.

A learner’s spark

Stacey’s genuine interest in teaching English came from enthusiastic pleas from her friends and schoolmates to help them whenever they would have a hard time in school. Holding tutoring sessions for the people who valued her knowledge in the field paved the way for her to consider a career in education.

When the pandemic hit, Stacey found that she had time on her hands to pursue a skill she was passionate about. Upon discovering Advanced TESOL NOW, an asynchronous and self-paced TESOL certification program, she thought that the program was a wise investment for her future, “Since TESOL Now uses an online learning platform, I decided that it would be a wise investment of my time and effort to remotely learn and finally acquire the TESOL certification,” she mentions.

Into the modules

What Stacey enjoyed most about the program once she got used to ATI’s learning platform was the learning style. Self-paced learning may not be for everyone, but for Stacey, it contributed greatly to how she digested and processed the lessons. Having complete control over her progress with the modules without the added pressure of a teacher-facilitated environment gave her the freedom to learn at her own pace and her own time.

This was made possible due to the nature of the modules, according to Stacey. The setup of Advanced TESOL NOW is that it contains 12 modules, these modules focused on topics such as teaching reading, writing, listening, and pronunciation. Some of these topics were lessons Stacey was already familiar with but ATI not only added new insights to her current knowledge but she also learned new concepts, “The 12 modules under the program are ones that are very beneficial and insightful. I was personally able to learn new information, and I was also reminded of information that I have previously been taught."

Perhaps the most important lesson that Stacey gained from Advanced TESOL NOW was the art of classroom management, “I was exposed to different teaching and learning styles. I hope to remember what I learned and eventually use this information when I start teaching professionally,” she says. As a student, it's hard to imagine what teachers go through to prepare for one class but ATI’s TESOL program gave Stacey a glimpse of how teachers manage diverse groups of people, and how important it is to consider various learning styles to be able to teach English effectively.

What the future holds

As a SHS student, Stacey expressed her desire to go to university and use her TESOL certificate to give her an advantage. Upon entering university, she also considered that though she may pursue a career in medicine or business, her heart is still set on teaching English, "I eventually see myself working in either the medicine or the corporate sectors while doing some private tutoring part-time." As she continues her budding teaching journey, she hopes that her TESOL certificate would also provide her credibility to her current and future students.

 

Stacey may be young, but it is never too early to work towards a TESOL certification. To all the young dreamers who wish to teach English language, like Stacey, enrolling under Advanced TESOL NOW may also be a wise investment for you.