Herbie Goulart is a CELTA tutor at IH Lisbon in Portugal
How long were you an EFL teacher, and how long have you been a teacher trainer?
I have worked as an EFL teacher for 25 years, and as a teacher trainer for five years.
Did you have a different career before EFL?
No but I previously worked as a part-time translator.
What are your hopes/aspirations for your trainees?
To be able to develop the necessary basic teaching skills to feel capable and confident in beginning their teaching careers and further develop from there.
When you were an EFL teacher what did you like most, and how do you bring that into the classroom for your trainees?
I enjoy most helping in developing communicative skills through sharing of interpretations, opinions and giving the learners opportunities to further expand on these together, using their language skills to do so. I try to bring this also into the classroom with the trainees so that they can do the same in their training but also draw from this in their own teaching classroom contexts.
What advice would you give your trainees for successfully completing the course?
Share their queries with each other and the trainers; discuss the day’s content to better shape their understanding of it and build on it; have a positive constructive attitude towards all you do and deal with throughout the training.
What advice would you give your trainees for an interesting and rewarding career?
From the very beginning, try teaching in different learner contexts so that you develop solid experience in working with as many levels and learner dynamics as possible; from here, you will become more aware of your own strengths and find new ways of helping learners develop in their language competence.