Jean Sciberras

I first met Jean in 2004 when I visited NSTS in Gzira, Malta. My first impressions were that she was an extremely busy lady. As you will see, things haven't changed!

Whereas most teachers break up for summer holidays, in my case it’s more a question of break down.  No, no. I can’t really complain as every weekend is a guaranteed mini holiday on the beach followed by the Monday morning after the holiday feeling, that feeling of not wanting to go back to school. I want to lie on my sunbed , look at the horizon and dream of far away countries, of land unexplored.  With the sea, the world’s our oyster.  It is an open-ended element and it connects.  In my mind I’m the sturdy swimmer that can reach far away countries without the confines of land.

Back to earth. Every day is a busy day in summer in a language school in Malta.  Because we adopt the rolling system every Monday brings in new faces and new problems, placement tests, allocating of levels, moving to higher or lower levels, coping with the ‘more grammar, less speaking’, ’more speaking less grammar’ until you finally get it right.

As assistant Dos, I run the adult school, deal with students’ academic needs, look for qualified teachers and am there for the teachers.  As teacher trainer I run and coordinate the local TEFL Induction Course, which is a pre Celta type of course and compulsory to all the Tefl teachers in Malta. I am between courses at the moment. The last intensive one was in June and the next one will start on the 9^th September. The last course had 24 participants and was one of the best courses I’ve trained.  The trainees were young, enthusiastic and fun and every session was rewarding.  I am now in the process of sending out applications and selling the new course. Following closely is another course, a preparation for the EFL exam, another local product to substitute the English A level requirement.  The EFL exam is more geared towards teachers than the A level is.  It has some tricky, demanding grammar questions . Have a look here if curious.

I am also involved in training Business English teachers, or rather TEFL teachers who would like to get some training in teaching English for Business.  This course at the beginning of summer was open to qualified teachers and attracted an interesting mixture of nationalities.  It was a 1 week course and I was allocated half the sessions. I chose first day activities including using a needs analysis, getting to know students, Needs Negotiation and Course Design. I had done my business certificate with Paul Emmerson and it is amazing that even after 8 years or so he and Maurice Cassidy were both ready to share material and ideas with me.  This is what I like in this grown-up TEFL world.  We’re not afraid to share anymore, afraid that someone gets better results than yourself.  Ok.  I know. I’m an idealist but I prefer to think so and based on my own experience this is what I still believe. Two books I found useful while preparing sessions for this course were Paul Emmerson and Nick Hamilton’s Five minute activities for Business English and Evan Frendo’s How to Teach Business English.

I then continued with sessions on Negotiations and Getting Business English learners to speak.  This last session was based on Marjorie Rosenberg’s IATEFL contribution which I saw on video.  I later on elaborated on this session and presented it in our national tefl teachers’ association, MATEFL, also held this summer.

As you see it’s been a long hot summer and it’s not over yet as on Wednesday a group of 10 Belgian teachers will be coming over to our school for a refresher course.

And that is only a snapshot of what being a teacher trainer , teacher and asst DOS in Malta could entail.