A Pakistani teacher has helped thousands of UAE teachers obtain professional licences by providing them with tips and guidance through her YouTube channel.
Suneela Bukhari, who works at Islamiya English School, Abu Dhabi, as an English language teacher for Edexcel O-Level students, has dedicated her life to teaching pupils in the UAE for the past 18 years.
And over the past two years, the expat began helping fellow teachers across the country through question-and-answer tips on her YouTube channel ‘Epic English Tutorials’, which she created two years ago.
These videos have helped thousands of UAE teachers pass their TLS pedagogy exam — a prerequisite to get a teaching licence.
Bukhari said the exam for teachers’ licensing is quite challenging and needs a lot of preparation.
Bukhari said she got the idea for a YouTube channel when she was going through an identity crisis and felt the need to do something to prove herself.
“I started a YouTube channel and initially I made videos about IELTS,” she told Khaleej Times. “Then a colleague of mine requested me to make a video about the TLS pedagogy exam. When I made the video, I never imagined it would evoke so much interest from teachers across the UAE.”
She has helped thousands of teachers with her videos, and their feedback has inspired her to continue with her channel.
“When they pass the exam and send me feedback in the form of comments on my channel, it makes me feel proud that I have made a positive contribution in my profession in the UAE,” Bukhari said.
Now, teachers from across the UAE have started asking her for help. “I never imagined I would get such tremendous appreciation from the teachers for help rendered to them. Sometimes they ask me to explain a specific topic, for which they can’t find ample information,” she said.
Bukhari added: “The teachers also ask me for notes and I have also helped teachers of English for the subject specialisation exam. They also ask me to upload videos about CEFR Knowledge and Language Transfer. It feels so satisfying when a teacher compliments me on my efforts to help them.”
As a teacher, too, Bukhari accomplished a lot. One of her students obtained 100 per cent in the IGCSE Edexcel exam, which she said was a record-breaking achievement.
Many students have also won several inter-school competitions under her supervision as the coordinator of extracurricular activities at her school.
The most memorable of these was her students bagging the first position in a competition by the Emirates Environment Agency, and in the inter-school debate competition, where they won a Dh2,000 cash prize.
© Khaleej Times
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