Georgia on his mind

ONCE IN A LIFETIME TEACHING EXPERIENCE FOR LOCAL MAN


Rob with some of the pupils he taught

A LISBURN man has recently returned from a once in a lifetime experience, teaching English in a public school in the former Soviet state of Georgia.

Rob Hamill, who graduated with a politics degree from the University of Nottingham, struggled to find work after his graduation and decided to embark on a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course before setting off to Georgia to teach for a year.

"I didn't want to just travel, I wanted to sustain myself as well," explained Rob. "I did a TEFL course and looked to apply that somehow.

"I stumbled upon Georgia because they have started a new initiative to encourage native speakers into the schools to help local teachers."

Opportunity

Rob travelled to Georgia in October last year and taught English in a local public school for the academic year, before returning home to Lisburn in June.

Whilst in Georgia he stayed with a local family and took the opportunity to soak up the culture, as well as spending time travelling.

"I worked with 6-18 year olds with the aim of improving their spoken English. Most of the teachers there were old, strict ex-Soviet teachers so I tried to make things as fun as possible," he continued.

"We played a lot of games and did grammar exercises. I had every class twice a week and taught about 25 lessons a week.

"There were little highlights everyday at school when you do an activity that goes down well and I made a lot of friends there as well. "The family I lived with were amazing and I had plenty of time

"It was a culture shock but it was great fun and I would really recommend it to anyone," he added.

julieann.spence@ulsterstar.co.uk

Ulster Star
19/08/2011