From Corporate Law to Teaching English
Raghav Venkatesh was looking for a career change. In India he had completed his undergraduate degree in law and was working as a corporate lawyer there too.
He had always dreamed of becoming a teacher and UWS came to his attention due to our high ratings for our Education programmes in some national rankings. Our BA (Hons) Education programme, for example, continues to be rated amongst the best in the country and in 2020 was top in the UK in the Times Good University Guide and Guardian University Guide.
After an interview with staff at UWS, Raghav was offered a place on the MEd Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) programme. “I had no teaching experience but it was always my ultimate goal,” says Raghav. “The University told me that I would be well suited to this programme. I couldn’t be happier with the decision and will forever be grateful for the opportunity.”
Although many of Raghav’s fellow students either had a background in English language or in teaching, he says he never really felt at a disadvantage. “Lessons were structured with a range of backgrounds and experience in mind, and care was taken to ensure that all students were able to understand and keep pace with the content.”
And what was the best thing about studying at UWS? “The opportunity to reinvent myself,” says Raghav. “I have successfully transitioned into an emergent academic and educator and I have to thank the academic staff on the programme, all of whom were hugely positive influences on my own development.”
Raghav is now putting everything he learned at UWS into practice back in India, working for an online teaching platform that offers one-to-one classes to students. As an English language teacher I get to interact with students from a variety of backgrounds and put into practice the theoretical knowledge that I attained on the MEd TESOL course, with a particular emphasis on task-based and communicative language teaching.
Not content to have realised his dream, his time at UWS also led to another career revelation. “Studying at UWS helped me realise that apart from teaching, I also want to make a contribution to the development of knowledge in my field, and to that end, I will shortly be commencing my PhD study in Applied Linguistics at the University of Auckland.”
“This would not have been possible without the ongoing support and guidance of my professors at UWS.”
You can hear more from Raghav discussing his experience on the programme at https://youtu.be/aN1hAnvS5hI
You can find out more about our MEd TESOL programme at www.uws.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/postgraduate-course-search/teaching-english-to-speakers-of-other-languages-tesol/
Last updated: 13/02/2024