If you thought your first day at school as a student was tough, imagine your first day as a teacher.
Then imagine being a teacher in a new school, in a new country.
It’s quite an experience, and it’s one that ESL teachers go through all the time. As well as dealing with culture shock, you’ve got to adjust to new students, new staff and new methods.
In 2004, I began life as an ESL teacher. And my first day was one I’ll never forget. Here’s an extract about what happened, taken from Teaching English, which is now available in paperback from Amazon.
“The best way to be confident is to be prepared. Have a broad idea of how your first few lessons are going to go. If you can get hold of a lesson plan or course book beforehand, then wonderful. If not, at least have a ‘getting to know you’ type of lesson up your sleeve.
My first lesson wasn’t one to remember for several reasons. I hadn’t been told what year group I’d be teaching, I hadn’t been given a course book and I only had a vague idea of how my first lesson would proceed. Within 20 minutes of arriving, the head of department greeted me, said ‘Good luck, I hope you enjoy’ and vanished.
With that, my first lesson as an English teacher began. I was left alone outside a classroom packed with 55 teenage boys. A lady named Tai from classroom 2/9 emerged and invited me to step inside. The 55 faces had already turned to scrutinise the latest recruit.
So there I stood before a den of baying students. No course book, no direction, absolutely no bloody idea. There can be few things as terrifying as a virgin teacher entering a classroom for the first time, let alone one entering without a plan. I walked in and smiled faintly. The head boy sprang up, barked an order, and the rest rose as one and chorused ‘Gooood mor-ning tea-cher’. I stood there for a few seconds smiling at their friendly nature when it dawned on me I was supposed to respond.
‘Erm, hi, good morning, how are you?’ I managed.
‘I’m-fine-thank-you. And you?’
‘Very well thanks,’ I replied, and with that they all sat down again.
What followed will be forever etched upon the memory of each child present, as I stumbled, crawled and tripped my way through my first lesson.
I knew that the ability to relate to things is helpful, so I started by asking if anyone had seen the previous night’s football match, which had seen France beat England 2-1 in the European Championships. Given that it hadn’t kicked off until 1.45am, it was unlikely many were going to admit to viewing the game, but a few knew the score, so we had an impromptu question and answer session about the match. This seemed to go down reasonably well, so I followed it up with a football quiz. The dozens of faces looking back at me seemed a little dazed by these spontaneous questions.
If teaching were actually a game of football then at this point I would have been the defender hauling down the striker for a last-minute penalty while simultaneously steering the ball into my own net.”
For more, you can read the full extract on Ajarn.com. To get a copy of the ebook, head here.
