(upbeat music)
- (speaking in Czech)
And welcome to my Instagram takeover, everyone.
My name is Megan Newham.
I am an ITA alum from San Diego, California,
and I am coming to you live from Prague
in the Czech Republic.
Today I'm going to take you to my classroom,
show you what living inside a fairytale is actually like,
and answer a lot of your questions about teaching
and living abroad, and maybe teach you a little bit
of Czech along the way.
So come along, let's go.
So a little bit more about me,
I actually originally enrolled in the ITA online course
and then ended up taking it at the Language House
here in Prague because I knew I wanted to move here anyways.
I teach 21 classes a week, mostly in Prague,
but on Tuesdays, I go to Beroun, so we will be
taking the train.
(train engine noises)
Hey guys, and welcome to one of my classrooms here at
my main job (speaking in Czech).
(speaking in Czech) means language school,
and this is where I teach ten out of my 21 classes.
This was actually the first job that I interviewed for
and was recommended to me by another ITA alum as
she was leaving the position.
I was super nervous to interview, because this was my
first teaching job and I did not major in education.
I completed by TEFL program in June and applied for
this job and interviewed the Monday following the program,
and I really feel like the program helped me prepare
with the practicum, the actual teaching real life students,
as well as a lot of the grammar classes.
A lot of the techniques that really helped me get this job
are things that I learned from TEFL, ways to engage
students at every level and every age,
and I don't know that I would've gotten the job without it.
I also had to take a grammar test, so all of those hours
of studying grammar during my monthlong course
definitely paid off.
So study your grammar.
As a native speaker, we know when things are wrong,
but we might not know the rules, and all of my students
really want to learn those things.
Of course at the lower levels, they just want to have fun
and learn the language.
A lot of other job resources that are available as
an ITA alum are Facebook events, putting you in contact
with employers, job boards, just all part of their
lifelong job assistance program, which is applicable
anywhere you want to live and teach in the world.
A main part of getting a job here in the Czech Republic
is having the proper visa.
Here you need to have a freelance visa, so that you're
able to invoice your employers.
ITA also helped me out with that program
through a business called Visa Guru.
Without visa assistance honestly, I think I would have
been a lot more stressed out than I was.
There are a lot of different steps, a lot of which you can
complete from home, but it helps to have someone who
knows what they're doing.
One of the more common questions that I get,
especially from my Czech students is,
Megan, if you lived in San Diego, why would you move
to the Czech Republic?
I majored in Marketing in college, and afterwards,
all that I wanted to do was live in California.
I moved there and lived there for four incredible years,
and it was absolutely paradise, yet when I finally got
a really good marketing job, I didn't quite feel fulfilled.
As stereotypical as it sounds, I really felt disconnected
from people, and I knew that I wanted to do something
that had more human element.
I took a monthlong trip around Europe right before
I started my last marketing position,
and I fell in love with the people, the culture,
the buildings, and really the way of life in Europe.
I went to, I think, 11 different countries,
and one of my favorite, favorite cities when I was here
was Prague.
It just looked like something out of a fairytale.
When talking to my sister, one of my best friends,
about what I could do and how I could move to Europe,
she suggested teaching online.
But I thought, I'm not a teacher, I do marketing.
How will that help me?
But when I look back on my life and thought about the things
I really loved and enjoy doing, I realized that things
I found the most fulfilling were anything that involved
an aspect of helping others,
and I did have some experience in tutoring.
I reached out to the International TEFL Academy
and spoke with Helen, the admissions advisor.
After our conversation, I felt confident that while
I might not have all the answers in this moment,
ITA would have my back and help me answer those questions
along the way.
After living and teaching abroad for the past nine months,
I can confidently say that this was the best decision
that I have ever made.
I absolutely love teaching and next year, I am going to
pursue a Montessori education to teach younger children.
My current lesson schedule involves teaching a lot of kids
as well as a lot of adults.
This was very helpful for me because I gained a lot of
experience and that's how I found out I love teaching kids.
Here's a sneak peak of my current work schedule.
(speaking Czech)
(kids playing and speaking in Czech)
I hope you enjoyed seeing my classrooms.
We are about to teach our last class of the day
and then go meet up with some of my ITA alumni friends
back in Prague.
See you there.
(train engine sounds)