Who we are
TeachEng (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) is a new society at Warwick supported by the Student's Union, the Careers Service and the Centre for Applied Linguistics (CAL) dedicated to fulfilling the following two objectives:
- To give HOME STUDENTS the opportunity to gain some invaluable experience in teaching English as a foreign language.
- To help INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS improve their academic English, study skills, and offer informal careers advice.
By using peer-to-peer teaching, TeachEng runs weekly one-hour classes and workshops that are organised and taught by a mixture of both undergraduate and postgraduate students, all of whom are passionate about teaching English and enthusiastic about helping their fellow students make the most of their time here at Warwick.
For further introductory information, see our article featured in the Warwick Boar: (12/01/09) 'It's time to teach' by Katie Farrell (Vice President)
To find out about the people who run the society, click here.
What we do
TeachEng is responsible for pairing up teachers and students who share common academic backgrounds in order to provide international students with the maximum level of support. Topics covered in class generally range from essay writing and delivering group presentations to writing CVs and preparing for assessment centres. However, these topics are not exhaustive as teachers are encouraged to expand on the matieral provided depending on the interests and needs of the students.
TeachEng is also very conscious about encouraging group interaction and keeping a fairly informal tone within the class. It is with this in mind that TeachEng ensures that its classes are kept reasonably small in size and that its students are always taught by the same teacher. This set-up enables both parties to build a rapport with one another over the course of the year and also ensures a certain level of consistency for both the teacher and the student.
The overall objective of TeachEng is to increase confidence in both our teachers and students, to build a strong support network through the society for both parties and to ultimately break down the language barrier which so often forces international students to retreat into their respective social groups and prevents them from performing their academic best.
What we don't do
It is important to stress that TeachEng does not offer formal lectures in the English language, nor does it offer proof reading, English grammar lessons or nationally recognised qualifications for teachers. TeachEng is a society which purely offers INFORMAL SEMINARS led by one or more native English speakers who work to address all manner of ways to improve English language learning.
We would also like to highlight that if you are an international student who is interested in improving his or her spoken English only, we would suggest that you contact the Linguistic Improvement & Practice Society, Lip Soc as an alternative to TeachEng.
Why we do it
The reason why we are passionate about what we do and how we do it is because of the mutually beneficial nature of our society: TeachEng's double objective is to increase students' confidence in their teaching skills or language ability, whilst breaking down the language barrier for international students and opening up home students to the possibility of taking up a PGCE or TEFL course after university.
Moreover, the way that we intend to meet these objectives is by nurturing an environment of COOPERATION as opposed to competition.
Contact Us
For more information about TeachEng (including course timetables) please contact teachengatwarwick@gmail.com