Focus Week

I spent the last week observing and teaching at Cleveland Street Intensive English High School in the City. This school is one of a hand full of IECs (Intensitve English Centres) spread around Sydney. Their role is to take in new, non-English speaking arrivals to the city and prepare them for entry into the school system. Students study a range of high school subjects, each taught with a focus on helping students to acquire English language skills rapidly whilst trying to make sure they keep abreast of appropriate subject knowledge.

IECs are generally considered a great place to get into ESL teaching, nd my experiences confirms this. It is fantastic to be in a place whose almost exclusive focus is one of my chosen subject areas. There are plenty of experience teachers to talk to and observer, and the school sets the structure which students are to follow, making it easy to get started. On the downside, students change streams most terms, in order for them to move through the system as rapidly as possible, and so teachers do not get to know their students as well.

The majority of students are exceptionally friendly, but it is hard to comprehend how difficult their circumstances are, with many away from home and family in a land they do not fully understand. Teaching in IECs seems to require plenty of patience and empathy, and I suspect those without these qualities do not last that long.