I would have to say the worst mistake I have ever made in my teaching career has been making a professional decision based on emotions. I met someone when I was studying a premaster’s diploma in Cambridge. Once I finished, I applied to do an MA in Modern Languages at Bristol University because it was my dream to study there. Although I was accepted, I preferred to do an MA in Discourse Studies at Lancaster University because that person decided to study in Manchester, which would just be thirty minutes away by train. In the beginning, I was quite motivated to do my tasks and deal with deadlines efficiently. However, as time passed by, I found myself to be ignored by that person I met a year previously. As a consequence, and regardless of my endless effort to keep on, emotions took over me, so I started to lag and feel out of place with the program. After three months, I came to realize I had made a bad decision. I quit the program and went back to Venezuela.

What I have learned from this experience is that when it comes to your professional life you need to make sure you are venturing into something you really like. In addition, you need to understand that finding a balance between your personal and professional life is what can make you really succeed in life.

If we were to walk into your classroom while you are teaching, describe what we would see.
I strongly believe you would see a student-centered class where students had the opportunity to put into practice their communicative skills. In the same way, you would also see a class that allowed student interaction in order to enhance their strengths and foster their language needs.

Finally, you would see a class managed in a way that could create a conducive environment to learning by including the teacher’s roles in the classroom, rapport with students, the classroom layout, interaction patterns, and how to give effective instructions to learners.

Describe a time when you have had to remain resilient and calm under pressure.
On July 6th, 2018, I was given the opportunity to teach a demo lesson to upper-intermediate students at the British Council Colombia. I was told to prepare a 60-minute lesson for 12 students who were already familiar with the grammar topic. I designed a lesson plan with a grammar focus on present tenses and future forms for arrangements, predictions and timetable actions. As I arrived at the classroom, I started to welcome students and mingle around a little bit to find out about their interests in the English language. Students were getting into the classroom and, to my surprise, I suddenly found myself to be with twenty-two mixed-ability students with different language levels, all of whom were ready to start a lesson that had been designed for fewer individuals with specific communicative skills.