Job Discussion Forums

[seamonkey]

Hi, i'm considering taking a job in Taiwan teaching kid from 3 years old to 12 years old
I've never taught kids before, so im not to sure what im letting myself in for. It would be my first teaching job, having recently passed a CELTA course.
Can anyone offer me any acdvice on teaching kids?

[Serious_Fun]

Considering a job working with youth? You will have a great experience, albeit a bit testing at times. (education pun not intended).

In my experience working with children of most ages, a few points stand out as being paramount:

Stay flexible. Your lesson plan(s) may not go as well as you had hoped. Stay flexible.

Start to gather and collect shorter ESL/EFL activities in case your lesson(s) go faster than planned. These are invaluable for filling in that 7-10 minutes at the end of a class. There are lots of these online...some here on Dave's site.

Stay healthy. Children are notorious for passing along colds, flus, pink-eye, etc. Get your sleep! Eat well!

Be positive~ above and beyond the obvious reinforcement of appropriate behavior(s) with your positive feedback. This is self-perpetuating: you will be a better educator, in my opinion, if you are positive about things. (for more on this subject please refer to my new tome "Educators Overseas: Mental Health Stories") ha ha just joking about the book. BUT stay positive.

Good luck!

BTW: please read the posts on this site, and other sites such as Buxiban, re: the legality of teaching these age groups.