Job Discussion Forums

[denise]

A year ago at this time, I was a bit of a nervous wreck. Fresh out of grad school, in a new country and vastly different living environment (small rice farming town), in a far more academic teaching environment than I had experienced before, and faced with students who, according to the stereotype, are incredibly shy in class. I was so worried about getting everything just right that I turned down a birthday party invitation during my first week because I was too stressed out to relax.

I guess I must have learned something over the course of the year, though, because today was the first day of our new academic year, and it was a breeze. I guess last year I established enough rapport with the students that I was able to get them to speak today. Even some of the students I hadn't taught before came up to me in the hallways or called my name just to say hi. Whoah! I no longer stress out about things not being perfect--even the typos in my syllabus & hand-out didn't phase me! And, instead of spending my evening fiddling with my week's lesson plans, I'm going to go out and enjoy the sun.

What is my point? No point. Just wanted to share. And maybe offer some evidence that things do get better/easier. Just wait.

d

[4nic8r]

Good for you Denise.. I know what you mean.. once you get established in the school for awhile, everything seems to fly and developing lessons and curriculums becomes a lot easier. And onve the rapport with the students is not a problem anymore, the shyness goes away, and it makes it worthwhile. I've always thought it's better to teach in a school system where you see the students for a year, better than them changing every month. Nothing worse than getting a class established and building a rapport with students, and then not have them come the next month!

Enjoy your night~~

[Teacher Lindsay]

Denise

You never did explain exactly what you have had with me (did you take advantage of me while I was drunk?).

..... and don't complain too strongly; I just brought your thread back up to the top of the list!

Cheers

[denise]

Uh, thank you, TL, for... ??? making me feel important???

d

[struelle]

An encouraging post. Yes, things change a lot over a year, and once rapport is developed it is much smoother to carry out the teaching.

In a way I'm sad to be leaving my current school in a couple weeks. The contract got rough at times, but the biggest plus was rapport with students and colleagues. Another benefit is that enduring difficulties helped me lighten up and not take setbacks as seriously as when the contract started.

Now as I type, the entire network in the school is down and won't be repaired until the summer. My bike has a flat tire as I ran over a nail yesterday. So, I need to walk outside for a couple kilometres in the pouring rain and find an internet cafe to satisfy my Dave's addiction. A year ago this would bother me, but I can find humor in this stuff now

Steve

[ntropy]

Congratulations, Denise. I'm really glad you seem to be finding your feet in Japan.