Introducing: Simon Leclerc
Title: CELTA course assessor
Simon Leclerc has been involved in the education field, both research and training, since 1997. His initial work experiences with education were through research projects at Wilfrid Laurier University where he conducted counselling groups for high-risk students. This led to his work in researching the influences of residential mobility on academic success and socialization.
After some travel around Canada, Simon completed his CELTA certification at LSC Toronto in 2000 where he took on ESL teaching duties at LSC until 2003. At that point, he decided to pursue a Bachelor of Education for K-grade 6 and spent some time in the public sector. Having added to his experience, Simon came back to ESL instruction at LSC and also developed curriculum. Two projects of note were a young learners summer program for ages 5 to 16 (for those from disadvantaged regions of Mexico) and redevelopment of a teacher training course for non-native speakers and TKT preparation.
Looking for new challenges, Simon moved to London, England to complete his DELTA in 2007 at Oxford House College. He also continued to further his teaching experience by focusing on IELTS and Cambridge test preparation courses, as well as working as an IELTS examiner. Upon returning to Canada, he was hired as the CELTA Administrator for LSC Toronto and trained up as a CELTA course tutor and then a CELTA course assessor. He really enjoys watching the transformation that CELTA trainees go through over the month of the course. Simon views the CELTA as a perfect marriage of his educational research findings and practical classroom application.
Advice:
To become a successful teacher, it is essential to have the proper hands-on training. This should help teachers not only build the best foundation of practices, but also delineate a clear pedagogical identity and beliefs. These are then very useful in presenting a clear vision to potential employers – who are keen to find out if you are on the same page. Also, once you are in a teaching job, keep seeking out developmental opportunities through workshops, conferences, peer observations etc. Employers want to see that you care about your craft and that you are always looking for new ways to grow as a teaching professional.
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