TeachingEnglish
my first day
Submitted by aknan on 11 November, 2009 - 18:26
Hi, I would like to ask you this question I have recently graduated from English Department and now I am an English teacher I am eager to teach English but Iam afraid from my first day at school, so may you advise me what I have to do , and how should I prepare my self.
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Hi there!
You know, I had the same problem : I graduated this year and was send to the college to teach English :D
I was so nervous ,that I can't even describe what I felt! The most difficult moment was that I am young,like most of my students ( I work with teenagers 18-19),so I was really worried about that fact : how they will meet me?
But you know, my first advice will be : don't panic, feel free to just enter the audience and say big hi to everyone with a smile on your face, I think you don't need my help with that. Then you may ask each of them some questions in English,just to see how well they speak English,( "how are you?" "do you like sports?" " which country...?") you get me,and after that when you know the names of all of them ,you can just make some activity with them (kind of brainstorming!).
As I understood from my first lecture- the most important is to make them feel that their ideas are special to you and you really want to know them better :) that works!
Hope everything will be ok :))) good luck!!!
Hello, Aknan,
Congratulations on becoming a teacher!
One thing you should be aware as a novice, though, is that although you're on the other side now, you will never stop being a 'student', i.e. a learner - you will not know things, you will make mistakes, you will have to do research, you will have to do homework, etc. Once you realise that, things will be much easier for you in class and out of it and the occasional fluffs will not make you lose heart.
Anyway, i suggest that you do a little bit of searching on the site where fresh teachers, like you, had the same problem and got a lot of support and advice.
I just found an interesting link worth checking:
Introductory classroom activities
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/search/node/first%20class
Since you are a new teacher, you will have to introduce yourself to your students and get to know them before you start real work. Once you break the ice, you'll be able to swim ... (hope you don't freeze in the cold water :) )
Good luck!!! :)
I want to make just one point. Since you are going to start your career, it is very critical for you to create a reputation for yourself. I would even go to the extent of saying, that your first day, will make or break your career, in terms of how the students percieve you.
You have to mean business. You can use the technique of auto suggestion, wherein you feed your subconscious mind with powerful thoughts and clearly visualize yourself having the whole class under your control and also make students look at you in awe.
The moment you enter the class, irrespective of the age group, you need to be ruthless and unconventional in the way you deliver the modules. You can take a deviation from the customary style of introducing yourself. You can randomly pick up students and ask them questions, taking their age into consideration.
To give you an example, you can pick up a student and ask him to give an impromptu speech on the topic of Holidays. You then pick up another student and ask him to go backward from alphabet Z till A. While doing this, see that you keep on moving round and maintain continuous eye contact . You need to stamp your authority. Your nervous energy will be used to your advantage and gradually you will get your confidence going.
Once you do this, believe me, your career is taken care of.
Hi
thanks alot to you all for all your advice and I will do my best to pass this nightmare and I will break the ice
good luck iiiiii