Abstract
This chapter is concerned with reconciling formal teacher training and actual classroom practice in the first year of a language teacher's career. A case study of the experience of a Cambodian English teacher's first year of teaching in Cambodia is presented. The teacher completed a four-year BEd (TEFL) degree to teach English in Cambodia's public secondary school system. By graduation, however, she had been recruited along with nine other graduates to replace a team of expatriate lecturers and teach on the BEd (TEFL) programme itself. The chapter explores diverse issues as this teacher had to adjust to a demanding and high-profile teaching position for which she was not specifically trained. Among the issues discussed are: the adjustment from native-speaker expatriate lecturers to non-native-speaking local lecturers; the classroom management of unruly students; and gender relations in the language classroom. The research methodology (combining introspection, questionnaire and interview) provides a rich description of this teacher's personal account of her first and most formative year of teaching.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Novice language teachers |
Subtitle of host publication | insights and perspectives for the first year |
Editors | Thomas S. C Farrell |
Place of Publication | London ; Oakville, CT |
Publisher | Equinox Publishing |
Pages | 29-42 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781845534028 |
Publication status | Published - 2008 |