I’ve been waiting for ages to write this post. The truth is, I hadn’t had a single free 30 minutes in the last two weeks. So, teaching practice it is…
I decided to go to my hometown and teach at the school I used to attend. I made this decision not only because I wanted to spend more time with my family but also because I was eager to make a difference. Studying in a small town with barely any prospects, I always wished somebody would come and tell me that there actually was life out there. My main goal was to breathe life into these kids and inspire them to study English (like, hey, English can take you places). All the plans I’d been building crashed the first day I came there.
In the first two minutes of my first-ever lesson, which I was supposed to observe, my teacher came up to me and said something that honestly left me dumbfounded for a couple of minutes. “I’m leaving soon, so you’ll have to be my substitute.” Not as an apprentice, not as a student doing my little share of lessons for the uni practice, no. Up until today, I was a full-on teacher, teaching grades 2–9 two shifts a day, six days a week. So, before I started teaching, I had only managed to observe a total of 3 classes. Each time I did, I felt like I was disrupting the lesson. My presence (and the fact that I was actively taking notes) was a major distraction for kids, especially the youngest ones. They spent half the class looking over their shoulder, eyeing me, and whispering with each other. I think this was why my teacher said there was no point in looking at her lessons soon after. Frankly speaking, there was not much I picked up from those 3 lessons.
Since I had to start impromptu, I had no idea what level everyone was at, what homework they had, and not even what kind of books they were using. And let me tell you, that was an experience and a half, to put it mildly. So, in this post, I would love to share my biggest takeaways and observations from those two weeks.
What I learned from working 9–5 as a public-school English teacher:
1. You have to live through your first day before things will fall into place. Just power through somehow. You will be judged no matter how great you are. I had students pointing fingers at me, whispering about me while staring me dead in the eyes, rolling their eyes, etc. However, as soon as you start the lesson, they change their mind (hopefully…) :) Every next class gets easier. Now all those groups I’ve been teaching are begging me to stay full-time (and I politely refuse).
2. Very few English teachers actually have any idea about the methodology of teaching. During the first lesson I observed, I wrote down only the negative things I noticed about the lesson — don’t get me wrong, I used to love my English classes with that teacher years ago. But boy are they bad in terms of methodology. As a communicative approach enthusiast, I was shocked that the teacher barely talked with students. And the little communication that is going on usually takes place in their first language. I was so shocked until I started teaching myself and realized — the fact is, these kids simply don’t know how to speak, and the teacher just gave up. I started my lesson with a simple “How are you, guys?”, and the silence that followed was deafening. As they later explained, their teacher had never asked them that question before and they only got used to hearing “Good morning/afternoon, boys and girls. I’m glad to see you. Sit down please.” Even though I am usually able to make all my students speak within the first few lessons, it didn’t happen in this case, and it honestly made me question my competence. So, the biggest takeaway here: you have to start speaking early, and it’s extremely difficult to make your lessons methodologically correct when nobody knows anything or doesn’t want to work — which leads me to the next point.
3. It’s okay for students to hate your class, don’t take it personally. Kids just dislike feeling stupid and lost. Not going to lie, I was slightly heartbroken when I played Two Truths and a Lie with my students, and half of the group gave “I hate English lessons” as one of the facts about them. I’m still trying to make peace with the fact that my class is not a priority for many students. I’m just another 40 minutes of their day. But I do hope that I will make them care about my subject more over time. Even if it’s just one student, it’ll be worth it.
4. Teenagers are cruel. I had to teach English to the worst group in my school. After the lesson I just felt like crying because they straight-up disrespected me: they talked back at me, refused to answer my questions, simply ignoring me, and one of them even took photos of me on the sly (which actually might be illegal, methinks…). It’s important to remind yourself that in most cases it’s not you, it’s them. As much as I try to engage everyone in the classwork, sometimes it’s easier to leave the bullies alone just for the sake of your mental health.
5. Master public speaking and general persuasiveness, they will come in handy. When I was younger, I used to be insecure and was shaking like a leaf every time I had to speak in public. I remember that I was dreading the day I would have to stand in front of 15ish kids and teach them English. However, I stopped having stage fright, and it’s such a relief that I don’t blush and tremble anymore when I have to do public speaking. I also learned how to sound more persuasive and more likable, which is of great help when it comes to explaining new material. I somehow manage to give new information to the kids without making them think they’re stupid. My personal win so far is that I’ve managed to explain Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous to 4 different groups, and even the weakest and laziest students were engaged in the lesson and understood the material! Some of them even came up to me after the class and asked me to do that again so that they would have a better grasp of the material.
6. Every teacher is a hero. I think this point doesn’t require an explanation.
Overall, I’m glad I made it out alive. The last week was absolutely devastating. After working two shifts at school, I had to come back home and teach my online students, which often resulted in voice loss. This is my most important instrument, so I have to be really careful with it! Apart from that, it’s really hard to teach offline once you’re used to the online mode. Moreover, since my room doesn’t have a projector, my lessons are more boring than they could’ve been, and there’s nothing I can do about that.
There are good sides to this practice, too. Students seem to love me, they give me food and presents, which is super cute! Some of them even ask for a hug after every class, haha.
During these two weeks, I grew even firmer in my belief that teaching in school is not my thing. At the same time, I started appreciating teachers even more now. And, honestly, I already can’t wait to be a student again.
By the way, here are some of the photos :)
