How I Survived My First Attempt at Teaching!

Dear Everyone!

Look, two blogs in two days! Aren’t you proud of me?

Anyway, today was a pivotal part of my time in Taiwan, it was my first day of actually teaching English!  Who knew it could be so intimidating?

So this all started last Friday when my LETs, Jessie and Ellen, sat down with me and planned a lesson for 1st-3rd graders around the idea of colors.  We decided to use Shel Silverstein’s “Colors” poem after adapting it a bit for the children as a way to show the students how they could utilize the color vocabulary that they had learned.  However, we were rushed that afternoon and so we didn’t get a chance to practice or run through the demo.  That was particularly bad because I had signed my group up to go first today, so we literally had no chance to practice.

My stomach was in knots all morning today.  I woke up and, after killing a dying cockroach on our kitchen floor (before my morning coffee, mind you), I ate a bit of breakfast but I was so worried about the lesson that I didn’t particularly enjoy it.  I was so scared that I would get up in front of all those little kids and completely forget what we were going to do.  And alas, when I did stand up in front of them, my whole lesson plan disappeared from memory!  Thankfully, though, I had thought to put a typed up version of the lesson plan on the side, so I had a crutch which was nice.  I needed it to get through the first half of my 30 minute lesson.

Ellen picked Gabrielle and I up at our apartment to go to the school where we would be teaching and she was so sweet because she picked up coffee for both of us.  It was so nice!  I had dressed up in one of my favorite dresses for the teaching demo but when we got there, we had to take our shoes off and walk around the classroom barefoot!  So even though I was dressed us, you’ll see in my pictures that I’m walking around barefoot!  It was weird to think of my professors and teachers back home standing up and teaching without shoes on!  It was kind of fun though getting to run around all day without my shoes on (though I’ll be sure to have a pair of slippers in my school).

Look Mom! No shoes!

The students were really great!  At first, they weren’t really sure what to do and they weren’t very confident in speaking, but slowly they opened up.  They really liked some of the interactive activities we had.  For instance, I gave each group 2 or 3 of the flashcards and then had the students hold them up when I called that color.  They also really enjoyed the box of crayons that each group was given in which they had to be the first to grab the correct color crayon from the box!

We even had a four legged student!  A black dog waltzed into the classroom about 5 or 10 minutes into my class and at first I really didn’t know what to do. It had a collar and seemed friendly enough, but the students were all paying attention to the dog and not me! Ellen was really thinking on her feet when she turned and said, “Black dog, can you (the students) say ‘black’?”  Not only did Ellen acknowledge the dog’s presence, she used it as a way to bring the students back to what we were trying to learn.  It was awesome!  And yes, after the class was over, I did pet the dog!

Me not pet a dog? That's crazy talk!!!!!

Overall, the lesson went well.  Both Jessie and Ellen were both there to support me and take over the class from time to time.  We all worked really well together which makes me think that this coming year will be a good one!  I really like both Jessie’s and Ellen’s approaches to teaching and so I’m really excited to get more comfortable up in front of the class!  I also am posting a video of me leading the class through the poem on my Facebook page so you should definitely go and check it out!

Jessie and I running the kids through the vocabulary for the class. We were talking about our favorite colors which made me actually have to pick one! I chose blue!

Ellen being awesome!!!!

Flashcard activity!

Some hands on work. It was nice having the ability to focus on a particular group of students, knowing my LETs were taking care of the others.

During one of the breaks between half hour classes, I was on my way to the bathroom when I was mauled by not one but SIX students all grabbing at my arms and wanting to play.  Since they were really excited, I got to play with them for a bit which was nice because I got to act like them for a little bit!  Gabrielle and everyone else thought it was really funny because all the students had ganged up on me but after I had grown tired of running after them and running away from them and dragging them around, I told them it was time to go back to class and they dropped my arms and went back without a problem.  It was so nice!  And I even got to go to the bathroom before the next class started!

After lunch, the students also decided that it would be a good time to play with the teachers, so a bunch of us went out to the playground and pushed them on the swings, slid down the elephant shaped sliding board, played on the teeter-totter, and hung on the monkey bars with the kids!  I was not dressed to do such activities but since I had shorts on under my dress I was ok! It was so much fun and it helped tire out the kids before the afternoon sessions started.  It may have tired them out too much though because they got really rowdy by the end since they were so tired.  I know I was exhausted from chasing the little gremlins all across the playground!

I can't remember the last time I was on a seesaw!

One of my best playground buddies! She was so smart in the classroom too! Such a sweetie!

What was really funny though, was that the principal of the school, Principal Lin, told the students to come in from the playground early so that they didn’t tire out too much but then they got bored.  So, after one of the students dragged me to the third floor, where Principal Lin was making them stay (the ETAs and LETs were down on the first floor), I asked one of the remaining LETs for a shoelace and occupied them with some of my cat’s cradle knowledge.  They especially liked the one where I trap their wrist with the string and then, by doing the same motions again, am able to release their wrist.  It’s funny how such a little, simple thing can entertain so well!

Overall, I think I will be a good teacher, especially since I’ll be allowed to play with my students on the playground every day!  And with the support of my LETs, I know I at least won’t fail!

All of the children, ETAs, and LETs that participated today in my group. The other half of the ETAs were in the other room teaching 4th-6th graders. We got the better batch I think! Aren't these kids adorable?

I think that’s all for now, I’m sure I’ll post again soon, I have some other awesome tales to tell!

Take care everyone!

~~Christine