Kestutis Beisys
Certified English teacher profile

Kestutis Beisys TEFL certificate Kestutis TEFL certificate

PROFILE


Although I am not a native English speaker I have been exposed to English language from the age of 10. For the last 6 years I had been living in Ireland and all the courses I did and positions I worked in were entirely in English language environment. I also hold bachelor’s degree in Public Administration and English Philology and I have recently finished TEFL 20 hour classroom course (100 hour online course is in progress). My native language is Lithuanian and I also fluent in Russian and I am learning Spanish at the moment.


PROJECTS


Interests & Hobbies: o Theatre - was a member of the Lithuanian theatre in Dublin for the last 2 years o St. Patrick’s festival in Dublin – participated in the parade 2013, 2014 and 2015 o Healthy life – non-smoker, non-drinker, ran half marathon (21km) twice (in Dublin and in Vilnius), regularly going to the gym, practising yoga o Dancing – attended salsa classes.

My teaching approach

MY APPROACH TO TEACHING

 

Introduction, or the old school method

I have learned English language using the old school model: at first student learns how to write, how to read, gets familiar with the grammar and only then how to speak in English. I cannot complain that this method was a torture for me because I always had love for English language and I enjoyed the learning process. However, only when I went to England for the first time I realised that at school I was not taught how to communicate using the language in the daily life. Only then I realised that my school gave me the tools of language but didn’t explain me what to do with them.

 

Speaking is the key to communication

And my school forgot to explain to me the importance of the tool called ‘speaking’. This tool was underrated at my school and was hidden in the bottom of my tool box for a long time. When I needed it again in England I found it rusty and it took me a while to get it into good shape.

I believe that a person needs to learn how to speak and how to communicate using the language first and then focus on other skills. That is how language is naturally learned – at first baby learns how to speak and then how to read and write.

For the last 3 years I had been learning Spanish, but not the usual way. I decided to try something different. I did not attend any course and I did not study any grammar book, I was just meeting Spanish native speakers for language exchange. For example, one hour we talked entirely   in English and one hour in Spanish. One thing I noticed about majority of my ‘companions’ that all of them had good skills of reading, writing and they knew English grammar very well, but their spoken skills were very poor. This experience helped me realise that having language tools is not enough, you need to use them as much as possible, especially the spoken language tool.

 

Conclusion, or what can you expect from my teaching method

To wrap it up, my method of teaching would be to focus firstly on the spoken language and practise it as much as possible. The other language tools such as reading, writing and knowledge of grammar can be acquired in the process of learning.