Teacher Discussion Forums

Hello,
I recently arrived in Taiwan and will start teaching English in an elementary school in a couple of weeks. Although I have received my TEFL certificate through an accredited institution, I have little classroom teaching experience and would appreciate any ideas you might have for the first day.

I will be teaching grades 1 through 6.

Should I do some assessment testing to try to discern their level?
Or, should I simply start my introducing myself and by asking questions try to discern their level?

What activities/lesson plans/methods have you found effective for the first day?

Thank you!

Christy

Don't do a test on the very first day. Do some fun icebreaker games, get them talking, do some name-games. In the higher level grades, you should be able to do some team games with different categories ... like animals, colors, countries, etc. Divide the class into teams, and give them a category. Then they have 1 or 2 minutes (whatever you decide) to come up with as many words in english as they can think of. Then, each team goes around and says one word they got. if two teams got the same word, they cross it off their list. Whichever team has the most words at the end, gets a point. And then, after all the rounds, whichever team has the most points, wins. It's kind of like a twisted version of scattegories.

With the younger kids, take in a ball ... have them throw it around to each other and say their name. Do spoken activities, sing some songs, teach them "My Name is ... " if they dont know that. See how much of the alphabet they know in order. If they know that, you can see if they know the months/days of the week. Just get a feel for what they know/understand/can say.

Just have fun the first day! That's my advice!

Thank you! That I can do, and as I interact with the children in a "fun" setting I can discern the general English level.

Any other good "first day" games?

As a new teacher, I think it will be important to make clear that I am the authority in class and not allow my class to go wild. Any tips from more seasoned teachers?

Thanks!
Christy

You could have a simple survey about what the class did over summer vacation. Just questions like- Who went swimming? Who took a trip to ___?

The first day of class should be more of a getting to know you scenero. Especally with children. Tell them about yourself and then ask them to go around the classroom, say their name, their favorite food, and their favorite tv show. I'm sure there are certian itemized things your employers have for you to prepare for the upcoming weeks. For that just get to know your fellow staff.
Sounds like you just have a case of the first day jitters.

Thanks everyone!! Despite "first day jitters" my first day(s) of class went very well, thanks to your advice to simply work on "getting to know you" type of stuff.

Christy