Hello everyone!

Hello everyone!
I'm Jelena and I come from Serbia. I've been teaching English for about 6 years now and this is something I would like to do for the rest of my life. So far I have taught general and conversational English, preparation for international exams, business English, as well as tailor-made courses. I'd like to get to know some fellow teachers and to improve my knowledge in couple of problematic areas. Nice to meet you all!

Comments

  1. Jasmine TaiwoNovember 2, 2017 at 7:05 AM

    Glad you are with us!

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  2. Anne HendlerNovember 2, 2017 at 4:59 PM

    Hi Jelena. Nice to meet you! I look forward to learning with you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Julia BlinovaNovember 4, 2017 at 6:16 AM

    Hi Jelena Nice to meet you. I've doing a few tailor-made courses myself through the years, so I'd be really interested in your experience

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  4. Jelena RuzicNovember 5, 2017 at 12:54 PM

    Hi Julia! I found tailor-made courses to be a breath of fresh air, kind of a break from teaching routine, because you do have to put a lot more thought and effort into it then with regular courses. What's your experience?

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  5. Julia BlinovaNovember 8, 2017 at 2:06 AM

    Jelena Ruzic I admire your positive attitude. In my experience, even though tailor-made course are definitely interesting and challenging, they are also extremely time-consuming and not really cost-effective. I wonder if there are any techniques or ways of improving the situation. What would you recommend?

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  6. Elizabeth BekesNovember 9, 2017 at 5:47 AM

    Hi, Jelena, are you still in Serbia or do you now teach elsewhere? teflequityadvocates.com - The long and winding road to success by Tatiana Njegovan - TEFL Equity Advocates

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  7. Jelena RuzicNovember 9, 2017 at 5:55 AM

    Elizabeth, I am still in Serbia. I wasn't familiar with Tatiana's story, thanks for sharing, it's so inspiring! We mainly don't have that problem in my country, but there are some schools that still ask for natives only. My Serbian friend moved to Barcelona and had a lot of problems finding a job as an English teacher, given her Serbian origin.

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  8. Jelena RuzicNovember 10, 2017 at 3:46 AM

    Julia Blinova, to answer your question - I think it depends on the type of tailor-made course. Is there some particular one which causes problems for you, maybe I can assist you in that area?

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  9. Julia BlinovaNovember 10, 2017 at 7:16 AM

    Jelena Ruzic I am not sure I can pinpoint any particulars at the moment. It might be more about the general approach for me. When I am thinking about designing a new course almost from scratch (e.g. for dentists) these days, I mostly feel exhausted by the mere idea. How do you make it worth your while?

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  10. Jelena RuzicNovember 10, 2017 at 8:42 AM

    Julia Blinova, for me, it all depends on the type of tailor-made course and the level of enthusiasm varies accordingly :) I had a course for pharmacists and it was interesting to combine some parts of Medical English course books, some general English books with medical topics, as well as to adapt parts of popular journals or magazines in that area. I learnt quite a lot! This other time I had a crash course for cabin crew, which was also something completely new for me. At the moment I am preparing English for Presentations and I feel terrified and thrilled at the same time!
    As you can see, though I really enjoy my general and conversational courses, tailor-made courses make me explore, learn new things, build on existing knowledge, consult professional literature and so on. Also, here in Serbia these classes usually cost a bit more, so you do get financial incentive as well. Overall, though time-consuming, these courses help me expand my knowledge of the world as well as of English, and I look forward to that. Maybe I will not be so enthusiastic once I get a full schedule, but so far - so good!

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  11. Julia BlinovaNovember 10, 2017 at 12:48 PM

    Jelena Ruzic Thank you for sharing your experience. You do sound very enthusiastic. And you made a great point: it is all great until you have a full schedule and then... Well, I am really looking forward to the weekend :)

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  12. Elizabeth BekesNovember 11, 2017 at 10:51 AM

    Jelena Ruzic We loved Tatiana's story so much that we included it in our book on NNEST identity.

    ReplyDelete

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