English Language Assistant Abroad

When I applied for the role of language assistant with Comenius I didn’t really know what to expect. I based any ideas on what the language assistants at my school had done, which was not a lot really. Every year we had one German and one French assistant. We rarely saw them more than once. When I was in Year 9 we saw the assistant every two weeks, I believe. She would take us out of the classroom in small groups and play some sort of speaking game with us in the computer room. We were never really too fussed about the assistants, it was just a nice excuse to get out of the classroom for 10 minutes.

Comenius vs. British Council

Most people I know who are on teaching placements are doing it through the British Council. Comenius is part of the British Council too, but it is not a “British Council Teaching Assistantship”. Both assistantships are similar in the role you play in the school, however there are a few differences that can affect whether you choose the usual BC or the Comenius placement.

1. Erasmus Scheme: The main reason why people choose to do the British Council Teaching Assistantship over the Comenius during a year abroad is that the BC falls under the Erasmus scheme. This means that not only will you be getting paid for the placement but you will also receive the Erasmus Grant through your university AND a fee weaver (i.e. you don’t need to pay any tuition fees to your home uni for the year). Comenius, although under the British Council, is not under the Erasmus scheme so although you will be paid very well for the placement (I’m only doing 14 weeks but receiving over 4000 euros) you will need to add in the added expense of paying half fees to your uni and receiving a little less money, although to be honest the Erasmus grant isn’t really necessary, just an added bonus.

2. Flexibility: The reason why I chose to do Comenius rather than BC is because Comenius is much more flexible. I say “chose”, but to be frank I had no choice, I couldn’t possibly do the BC assistantship. Unless you are applying to Germany or Austria, which offers a few 6 month placements, you are stuck with a year contract. Obviously this was not possible for me as I study two languages and need to spend time in both environments. Comenius on the other hand has a set minimum of 13 weeks but after that you are free to choose how long your contract is and the start and end dates.  Originally I was going to apply to do the 6 month BC placement in Germany and then go to uni here in Italy, but they dates didn’t match up! I would have ended up with a small overlap. I’m glad that it didn’t work out. Half way through my studies in Marburg I realised that I would be much better off out of university in Italy. Having started Italian at Ab initio level at university I was not competent enough to do well at an Italian uni and I really needed to be in an all Italian environment to make sure that my Italian improved as much as possible.

3. Choice of Location: You can see this one as both a positive or a negative really. With BC you put down a preference of areas/cities in the country of your choice. This means you can end up somewhere familiar or even somewhere that you’ve always wanted to visit. Comenius is different. You are given preference list, but you can only choose the size of the city/town and not the location. Some people may be put off by this but for me it was perfect. I had never been to Italy before and had no idea where I wanted to go. I was happy with anywhere. I just put it all down to destiny and ticked the “no preference” box. I think this is a real advantage for people who are in search of an adventure during their placement.

Your role as a teaching assistant

Your role in the school really depends on the teacher you are with. I work 16 hours a week, which is the maximum that Comenius allow, and visit all of English classes twice in a three week rota. I work alongside four teachers, all Italians. Two of the teachers use me for oral practice. I usually read a passage aloud and then have an oral discussion with the whole class. I’m also used to correct pronunciation. The third teacher pretty much “takes advantage” of me (according to the previous two). She just sits back and tells me “oh teach them the English phonetic system”, “teach them about The Ghost of Canterville”. I try to tell her that I am not a qualified English teacher so I do not know the English phonetic system or the rules of pronunciation (It’s my mother tongue!) nor have I read every book every written in the English language. She gives me such a long stare. As if she’s saying “why not you lazy b****?”. Then she just gives up and tells me to ask them some questions. “About what?” I ask. “Anything”. I think it would be better if she told me beforehand so that I could prepare something, but being asked to do stuff like this on the spot is really difficult. The last teacher is lovely but she really doesn’t do anything with me. I just sit there listening. There have been a few occasions where I have almost fallen asleep.

Teaching alone

In theory you should never be left alone in the classroom. You are there as an “assistant”, therefore you should assisting the teacher. Yesterday one of the teachers was ill so I was given the role as “stand in teacher”. I was very scared at first. It was just like when the other teacher tells me to do her job for her and teach the phonetic system. But we had a quick look in the kids’ exercise book and found some grammar and some topics to cover. I liked being able to choose what to teach them. I was able to not only pick the topic but decide how to teach them. I didn’t have someone telling me how to teach. It was really nice. I wasn’t alone in the classroom, on both occasions there were support teachers in the room for the children who struggle. I think I did a really good job. I’d like to do it again, but this time, like I said previously, I’d like to be able to prepare for the lesson before.