The research end of my trip to Melbourne also worked out well. I observed 5 courses, as was standard for the other schools, and I met some amazing students and instructors along the way.
– Like in Kuala Lumpur, a large population of the students at the school in Australia were not citizens of the country. In that sense, the schools who rely on tourism and immigration laws to operate were impacted differently by travel restrictions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
– If the teachers I observed were not native to Australia, they had lived in Australia for over 10 years. The committment level of ESL instructors and the retention rate was amazing to see, especially in contrast to Peru and Malaysia.
– Discover English offers pronunciation courses, unlike any of the other schools on my list. I enjoyed contrasting the pronunciation course with the other courses on the list.
– Again, I also observed a variety of courses from very basic to advanced. I learned more about how important class discipline is to how the course operates. From my other observations, I thought that beginning courses struggled more with discipline (and they may), but it was enlightening to see more advanced courses struggle with it as well. Note: Discipline is not necessarily an issue of the school or teacher; I also speak very generally about my overall experience in all ESL classrooms for this comment.
Cheers,
Mackenzie