Saira has been teaching in Indonesia for 3 years. Having taught a range of people varying from children to business workers in Jakarta, and prior to that teaching voluntarily for a refugee charity based in England, she has met a variety of people from differing backgrounds and cultures. By adapting her classes to the individual, she aims to achieve personalised classes that are both fun and beneficial for the student. In Jakarta, she has had work experience with Wall Street English, Astra Daihatsu and Makamah Konstitusi as well as having Mandiri, Elevenia ans Sushi Tei as some of her former clients.
Education Overview
[checklist icon=”star” iconcolor=”dark” circle=”no”]
- Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Arabic (2:1 Hons) at the University of Leeds
- TEFL Certification
- Certificate for High Achievement awarded by TEFL International
[/checklist]
Key Skills
[checklist icon=”check” iconcolor=”dark” circle=”no”]
- Business English Training
- Essay Writing
- Teaching for both adults and children
- Presentation Training
[/checklist]
Insights – with Saira
What kind of teaching technique do you think the most effective way to motivate students skill in speaking?
Topics that are of interest to the student! Once you have gathered some background information on the students’ line of work, lifestyle, interests etc you can get a sense of their personality and topics that would interest them. Also, repetition, it can sometimes get annoying to constantly repeat something over and over but, that’s how you will gain confidence and perfect your pronunciation “practice makes perfect”.
What are the obstacles that you often face while you are teaching English?
Getting students to have more confidence to speak! Students can be afraid of making errors while speaking so, I find it challenging to constantly push my students to ensure they’re working to the best of their ability.
What do you like about your students?
They are kind natured and I can always have a good laugh with them. They are extremely polite and very hospitable.
What do you do to stimulate students creativity while they’re having an English class?
For business and company classes, I give students different role plays to do for example, how to negotiate a contract, establish contact at a trade fairs/conferences, start small talk to establish good rapport with their clients or deal with complaints. Giving them spontaneous situations like these helps students become more creative, but most importantly practice so they can then apply this when they are dealing with clients. To keep younger students motivated and creative, I use scripts from various TV shows or movies that are of interest to them. We role play various characters and scenes and this is fun, and a great confidence builder!
