Phoebe Liptrot, Final Year BA(Hons) English Language and Linguistics with TESOL student, talks about her experience studying with us and her time working abroad.
Phoebe began studying TESOL with Korean, but soon realised that Korean wasn’t for her. With help from her tutor, she discovered her ideal course.
'I never wanted to change my Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) side of the course because I’d found my calling, which I didn’t expect. I thought I would hate teaching because, back then, I was very introverted and couldn’t even do a presentation, nevermind teach in front of a whole class. My tutors helped me to break out of that shell and I am such a better and bubblier person now because of this course.
At the start of Second year, I got the option to do the Trinity CertTESOL, which qualifies you to be a English teacher. You do it within the degree course anyway, so it was only a little more work than what you would normally do in second year. I am so glad I took this opportunity! Finally getting that certificate through the post was outstanding. I felt complete joy and I was so proud of myself and how much I had grown in just two years.'
"I don’t think any of my dreams could have become a reality if it wasn’t for my tutors. I am forever grateful for them, and they should be proud that they have made me a better person, the person I have always wanted to be."
— Phoebe talking about the help and support her tutors on her course provided
'In the summer, two months after getting this qualification, I got my first teaching job. I was at Nantwich for two weeks at a summer camp with a company called UKLC. It was the best experience of my life. I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. I didn’t feel like I was good enough to be a paid teacher, but I was, and I needed to have more confidence in myself.
I was teaching 12 to 15-year-old children for about six hours a day, with a one-and-a-half-hour break between. The students were so much fun, and the company provided my food and accommodation, as well as paying me well which was a bonus! The company gave me a booklet with lesson plans, so I didn’t need to worry about creating my own lessons and it only took about an hour to prepare for the next day.
After completing this summer camp, I wanted to do more. I went to Greenwich, London, for five days to teach at a summer camp and to Chester for eight days. Again, having the time of my life, being ‘Teacher Phoebe’.
Studying TESOL at UCLan has enabled me to write this story from Leon, Spain. I am now on an Erasmus+ project for four weeks in Spain, teaching in a primary school. If it wasn’t for UCLan I would not have even known this was a thing*.
As an aspiring primary school teacher, I now have experience with children, which you kind of need to get into your preferred PGCE course. I have also found out that I prefer Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2 which surprised me. If I did TESOL elsewhere, I don’t think I would have known about this. I wouldn’t have had the confidence to go to a different country for 4 weeks with people I didn’t know.'
*This Erasmus+ project was available in 2022 and Phoebe had to apply for the position, it may not be available in the future.