I was so nervous for my first lesson tonight! Every classroom doesn't have it's own overhead projector and so we're supposed to set them up in advance to make sure there isn't a conflict of demand--and I accidentally grabbed one that another teacher needed, so that was a little awkward.
The worst moment by far was entering the classroom and facing that feeling of expectation and anxiety from the students--"Who is this new teacher?" But I smiled and muddled through my introduction (I did fib--to my students, I am 25 and have three years of prior experience teaching at language schools in San Francisco and Montreal). I only have five students, even though eleven are enrolled. Between Ramadan and the endless changes of teachers, we've probably lost a bunch along the way. Hopefully they will come on a regular basis, though. It's easier to teach more students than fewer because there is more energy and they can work with more partners and get more practice speaking.
But by the end of our two 45 minute lessons, they seemed to be having a good enough time. I announced that it was 9 o'clock and they looked at their watches like, "Oh--so it is!" I think one of them even said that the class had gone by quickly. Could I ask for more?!?! :-) It was a great note to start on. Hopefully tomorrow is half as good.
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2 comments:
I'm so glad your first time went so well! I knew you'd be fine. Did you have to prepare much for it? It seems like you've done so many lectures that it would come easily by now, but maybe not. Doing a presentation is such a let down for me personally because I prepare so much for it that I'm bored with what I'm saying by the time it happens in front of a real audience.
Do you have any time to talk to your students before or after lectures?
Why did you lie about your teaching experience?
The ratio of prep time to lesson time for my first lesson was probably 3:1--because I had waaay too much time to think about it. My prep time for my second lesson today was probably about 2:1. So two hours prepping for every hour spent teaching.
I do have time to get to talk to my students during a 10 minute break between 45 minute lessons. I also assigned them homework to write an introduction about themselves. Harsh lady!
I lied about my teaching experience because Turkish students want teachers with about 500 years of experience under their belts. Since I have none, it's best to fib. It was agreed at work that I could probably pass for 25--a bit of a stretch if you ask me, but none of my students have questioned it. Yet.
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