My first teaching English lesson
Posted by Joe Hallwood - 18:21 on 08 November 2008
I always tell the trainees on the course about my first lesson, usually with some reservation since it is not the most inspiring anecdote.
When I first went out to Greece, I was shy and a little nervous about starting teaching. But, the lure of Greece and living and working in Hull, tipped the balance. I arrived in Greece and was met by the school owner and taken to my flat. All was well, until I was in school in a short while later to look around and get to know how things worked.
There were lessons going on, someone else's lessons, that was fine. The bell went for the end of lessons and the school owner asked me to go into the next lesson. I didn't believe her at first, I mean, I hadn't prepared anything, I needed some time, I...
I was standing in front of 8 teenage girls, proficiency students, the best class in school. I can't remember too much about it. Just the words, "Go in Joe, just tell them about yourself." I had 55 minutes. I hadn't lived long enough yet. What kind of detail was I to go into? It all started the day I was born?
I can't remember quite what I said, I can remember not being able to talk properly, my mouth being as dry as a bear's behind. I recall my palms sweating and my voice shaking like a willow in a storm. I must have looked a real state.
I vowed there and then that I would not walk into a lesson without preparation ever again. I didn't. By my next lesson, the next day, I was so well prepared you could have seen your face in the lesson plan.
I guess I talk about this on the course to show that anyone can be a teacher if they put their mind to it. I did.
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