Hello,
I am going to be teaching in Indonesia very soon. I am very excited at the prospect of teaching however have grown more and more nervous about it . . . purely because a good friend of mine has had four years training on lesson plans, classroom management and, well, pretty much everything. I actually feel like I may fall on my face when I get there. The biggest issue for me, ironically, is the language barrier. I want to be able to do an effective job. I was employed with having only 20 hours TEFL training under my belt.
Has anyone else been in the same boat, or is there anyone else actually in the same boat who may be preparing for a similar thing? I feel I need some reassurance and some advice! I also opened this to a forum as I wanted to find out how others felt when they embarked on the same journey! Any takers?
My main points for consideration are:
- Lesson Plans: What to put into 1 hour and 20 minutes.
- Language Barrier: How do I get the best results out of the class if I have difficulty asking them important questions?
- Testing/Assessment: What are the best tools to use or ways to do this?
Thanks for reading! I may sound a bit like a fish out of water, I guess I am to some degree . . . I have worked with young people in an education setting for some time however this is proving a bit more difficult, I am enjoying the challenge already though!
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Hello, lynzythesinger, and everybody,
Hope I could help you, lynzythesinger, and all newcomers to this fantastic job. It is so.
Experience. Necessarily you have to pass through it. Each class-period is one step forward though. For sure!
If you are done with your students after a class, wait for the next day when you'll be calmer.
Then, you will be able to focus on the real problems that may arise. Usually the actual problems are few and specific, albeit we might thing all is pulling down.
Preparing every class-period I think is paramount. You'll little by little learn what turns out fine or the other way round.
Get to learn their names, everyone's, as soon as possible. If you have real affection and interest for everyone, things will go smooth sooner.
Address every student, look at everyone's face, with a real concern about his her process of learning/acquiring.
Gently smile when Sara responds something right, yet maybe a small thing.
Stop the class when the first misbehavior arises. Get silent. And stare at the disruptive kid.
I could tell you more, but I think not that much by now.
Hope this would make something helpful.
Best wishes
Fernando Diez Gallego
Granada (Spain)
Perhaps you can find extra help at
http://fernandoexperiences.blogspot.com
I suppose if you click on my name at this comment there up you will go to my blog.
Be optimistic. Nothing you do in the classroom spoils away: every seed gives fruit. From experience.
First of all a big welcome to the teaching fraternity. Let us understand that neither experience nor qualification is the decisive factor for determining whether you are going to be a success or failure. Each trainer has got his own methodology and style of delivery and your self belief needs to be unshakeable.
When I started training students, I had a discussion with some chosen ELT trainers with vast experience. I initiated this discussion purely for understanding their way of handling diverse age groups with different objectives and their experience in toto.
If you start feeding your subconscious mind with negative thoughts, then obviously you will turn out to be a failure. As of today teenagers get lot of exposure and are well informed. Some of them also turn out to be arrogant or cocky. Your first priority as a teacher is to impose yourself on your target crowd by way of your speech and body language. This has not got anything to do with the English Language, but the way your students see you. You should send out a very powerful message to your students on the first day itself that no one can mess around with you.
One of the methods would be to just come into the class and straightaway pick up students randomly. Do not use the formal route. Dare to be different. Ask them for a self introduction or put any questions of general nature. Keep on moving round the class for the first few minutes by talking to them, countering them and ultimately dominating them. By domination, I mean assertiveness.
The respect for you from your students has to come on the very first day. If they even sense that you are unsure, believe me it's your funeral. This is just like speech making wherein the first few seconds are very critical for the speaker. Moreover the students cannot see your nervousness. When you keep moving round you get a feel of the batch and your nervous energy is used powerfully. Within a few minutes you will feel on top of the world.
Coming to lesson plans, it has to be a combination of individual and group activities, games, role plays, quiz and energizers. You need to make every session dynamic.The language barrier and assessment methodology will get handled during the training process. These things happen naturally and you need not bother about this.
The critical thing is to get started. All your apprehensions will get taken care of.
All the best.
Hi,
I know you said you've got a TEFL qualification, but I remember when I did my Cert. I understood everything in class and the things we discussed, but it was so much information, I wondered how on earth I would remember everything when faced with actually making decisions about teaching my own class. I found this book very helpful, as it goes through step by step the things that you should consider. I think it's only really an introduction, and the more experience you get, the more detailed books you might like to look at to expand your own teaching repertoire. But regarding planning lessons, structuring them, assessing students, and how to deal with language barriers and other barriers in the classroom, I think you'll find a lot of what you're looking for and will feel reassured after reading it. Good Luck:
Harmer, J. The Practice of English Language Teaching (Longman, 2003)
CMF
Hi there everyone,
Thank you so much for your swift replies, they have been very helpful and also, apologies for not replying sooner, it has been a hectic three months. The English Teaching is amazing! I completed my Trinity Cert.TESOL and it opened my eyes so much!
There have been some problems, perhaps if you have the time, you could have a look at my other forum topic 'Teaching English: How To Combat Unprofessional Schools'.
Thanks again guys.