Leonardo Projects

UKLC have successfully run several Leonardo projects involving training young British students and taking them out to Italy and Spain, or hosting students from these countries as they come to fulfill a work placement. We have also recently received funding to give extra training and work placements abroad to recently qualified EFL teachers. If you wish to participate in a Leonardo project that we are running then please get in touch.

We are always on the lookout for new European partners with whom to run Leonardo schemes. Please contact head office for more information.

If you’re interested in finding out what our group of students in Spain got up to, you can log onto the blog at http://starslanguagelearn2lead.blogspot.com/

Here are some case studies from the 2011 Leonardo Students:

Paul: When I saw the advert for this Leonardo Project I leapt in full throttle and in my (metaphorical) Speedos. It was a perfect opportunity to gain some much needed experience, plus snap up a trip to Spain into the bargain. It’s a country I plan to get to on my teaching tour, so any work there was sure to be a bonus CV tick for the future.

What an experience it was. I love living in a Spanish city, and we had a good crew around us to make the most of it. The locals of Elche were top draw, too. But all that’s another story… What we’re here for now (before the tangent takes over) is what the project gave me.

Various elements of the course proved very useful, not just as CV bump but also for thinking deeper into conduits not as sufficiently tapped by the CELTA course itself (it’s a tight schedule, to be fair, and they can’t diverge too much from the syllabus).

Sports Leadership: now when was I ever gonna get offered that otherwise? You can’t see me now, but the words ‘sporty’ and ‘fit’ do not describe me or my lifestyle. Well, maybe ‘fit’ in the ‘handsome’ sense of the word, but not health-wise. Nope. Not so much.

The Young Learners extended course was indispensible. That taught me ever so much. So much can be termed as common sense, but that’s easy to say with hindsight. Even if you did know it before, it’s a good thing to have reiterated to give your confidence a boost and satisfy your peace of mind. Plus materials. Yummy materials to gobble up and throw up in class when you can (d’oh; another metaphor got a little the best of me there. Just to make it clear I am not suggesting vomit as adequate teaching material. Even justifying it as realia is unlikely to sit well with students, parents or fellow faculty).

Since this bad boy got plopped on my CV the whole EFL teacher job search thing has got so much easier. I’ve only had one rejection so far, and that was because I was in Elche as they needed the teacher to start straight away. We landed back in ol’ Blighty (too soon) in April and by the end of the month my 2011-12 academic year was…Sorted.

As I write this now, I am sat in one of two teaching sites belonging to the school I’m working for in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Not bad. It’s between lessons right now, and it’s all planned so I finally got ’round to writing this for poor Laura. I’m sure the next job is going to be even easier to come by.

Abigail: I had completed my TESOL Course in October 2010, and half heartedly applied for some teaching jobs in London, most of which requiring one or two years prior experience. I had no idea how to get my foot in the door, or whether I even enjoyed teaching. I wasn’t certain of what I wanted for a career or where I was headed, and I was making depressing weekly visits to the Job Centre. Then I saw an advertisement on TEFL.com for the Leonardo project with MJA languages. It sounded perfect for me, promising a months teaching experience to newly qualified TEFL teachers on an all expenses paid trip to Spain! The course included additional training in first aid, sports leadership and teaching young learners. They also provided references for new jobs and instruction on how to create a clear and professional CV. I finished the project about four months ago, and it has really given me confidence and given my teaching career direction. Since the project I have taught adults at a language school in Ilford, worked in a summer school teaching Spanish teenagers, and now I’m making plans to move to China. A teaching company in Hong Kong saw my updated CV on TEFL.com and contacted me about the prospect of working for them. I’ll be out there next week. I honestly could never have achieved this without the catalyst of the Leonardo project.  I now enjoy teaching so much that I’m looking into applying for a PGCE.

Ollie: I really enjoyed the experience of living in a different country and the camaraderie that was fostered between us inexperienced teachers. Whatever grammatical conundrums you might find yourself in are subject for enlightening debate over a caña and tapas. I would have been quite reticent to live and work abroad previously but this experience gave me a welcome break from the English climate, a great insight into the Spanish way of life and a hunger to travel more – not to mention a welcome addition to my CV, which I believe has proved invaluable in finding a job post-CELTA.

I have found that I am constantly learning how to be better in this profession and this project was the stepping-stone I needed to ease the transition from CELTA to the real world.

I have fond memories of my time in Spain and am grateful to all those involved in the project.

To read more case studies click here >