Getting teaching experience is essential — but for new teachers, it can feel like a catch-22: you need experience to get a job, but you need a job to get experience.
Fortunately, there are ways to gain that experience without being formally employed, such as doing a language exchange. You can volunteer your time with no expectation of receiving anything in return — not even learning another language — but a language exchange can offer both. It not only gives you valuable teaching practice, but you might also learn the language of the students you plan to teach in the future.
Knowing your students’ native language can help you teach them more effectively. You’ll better understand the differences in grammar, pronunciation, and other aspects between English and their language, which can make your lessons clearer and more relatable.
Personally, I use ConversationExchange.com to connect with language partners. Learning Mandarin Chinese and Thai has helped me teach my students far more effectively.
Happy learning!