Job Discussion Forums

[jimi1999uk]

Hi all.

I was hoping I could vent, gain some perspective on my troubles and maybe get some advice from you old dogs

Less than a week ago I accepted a job offer to work with teens in E. Europe.

A bit of background.

I gained my Trinity CertTESOL qualification some months ago and rather enjoyed the teaching aspect FAR more than I thought I would. Fair enough, my technical teaching skills were poor and abit simple but the classes themselves felt pleasant, had good engagement, rapport, etc, even if I had a tendency to be a bit hedging and nervous occasionaly.

So I know I can get up in front of a class and not flounder too badly with adult learners.

This knowledge hasn't helped in the past 5/6 days though when I'm trying to prepare a few lesson plans, figure out the type of discussion I might have...

I've been unable to do any of this. I keep opening my cookbooks and I've so anxious that my brain can't function enough to A (decide what I'm going to choose/do) and B (do the neccessary prep for my choosen lesson).
It's as if my eyes are looking at these ideas for activities but the brain in otherwise occupied with thoughts like "you're going to crash and burn", "teens are *beep*, this is going to be the most painful thing in...", "just cancel..."

It's ludicrous! If I can't calm down and prep a bit I'm going to have to cancel due to the fact that I will have NO clue what to do for lessons in the first few days.

I REALLY want to go into ESL, I've a good knowledge of English (almost finished an Eng degree), I ENJOYED all my teaching practice lessons pretty much. It's just that my anxiety has turned off my brain.

Do any of you have any advice, help or your own prework nerves stories? Thanks

[uh huh]

Good on you for reaching out. I just PMed you.

[spiral78]

Tell us a bit more about your students and the goals of the class and we can offer some specific ideas for lessons

Everyone gets nerves. Most of us survive the experience

[Glenski]

You need to get into a rhythm of how you present your lessons. Then you can feel secure knowing what should come after each step.

Step back and ask yourself whether the lesson plan itself was clear. Ask another teacher to check. Ask yourself if it was too hard. Instructions that cause a native speaker to pause and think about will be too hard for students. Are you trying to cover too much at once? Do you review lessons to check whether students actually learned them?

I also suspect that you might be doing too much talking yourself in the classroom. Students need the time to practice speaking, you don't. Give them the opportunity to make mistakes so they can learn from them. If you ever learned a foreign language yourself, you will appreciate that.

[spiral78]

Glenski, I don't think he's got started yet.

OK, checked with your other post and now I can assume you are teaching 'conversational' skills to Central European teenagers - correct?

I'd start with introductions - begin by asking what information the students need to know about each other for class. Possible items:
how long have studied English?
ever travelled abroad to an English speaking country? Which one/how long?
what are his/her goals for English
(NOT NEEDED: ages!!no need to set up an age hierarchy)
Tell them they will introduce another student to the class (not themselves - too easy!) Give them a few minutes to get the info they need.
If they are lower level, you can also put standard intro phrases on the board in advance: 'This is (name). He/she has studied English for.....
etc.
When intros are finished, invite them to ask questions about you as a teacher. Tell them that this gives you a good opportunity to assess their question-formation skills - asking questions is sometimes difficult and always important!!
Depending on class size, you now have a relatively small chunk of time left to tackle something else. If they are higher-level, this could be something along the lines of small team discussion of future goals, followed by a report to the class. Lower level, could do the same small-team followed by report regarding places students have/would like to visit. They could also come up with questions regarding those countries that they would like to know the answers to, perhaps.

[Glenski]

spiral,
Yes, I see/saw that he has not started teaching yet. I think the advice still holds, though:

* establish a comfortable routine (rhythm)
* don't talk more than your students
* always try to be sure they understand what you presented (asking them is not always the way)

[spiral78]

Sorry - this language led me to believe that you thought the OP was having a problem being unsuccessful in his current lessons, rather than asking for advice in planning his first real-life lessons with a new group of students: