Being a student again at Kilchzimmer

On Friday, I and 11 others will complete the 2-week IOT1 (Instructor of Teachers level 1) for teaching a 30-hour course called TCE1 (Teaching Children Effectively). It has been a great learning experience and the fellowship at the course has been both warm and uplifting.
I should actually be leading this course but I decided to take it as a student first. That meant attending all the classes and doing all the home-works and practical assignments. I realised that I had forgotten how stressful it is for a student to prepare for a practical and then to demonstrate their skills in front of an experienced group of instructors who are evaluating you. Tough as it was, I believe it helped sharpen my skills as a teacher and it give me more empathy for those I will teach in the future. Another advantage was that by attending as a student, I could get a better knowledge of the content of the course and could witness first hand how it was taught by a very capable and experienced CEF team.