I survived my first week of teaching! Yes, really!
To celebrate the end of my first week, Andra took me to a karaoke bar which was great fun and, after some dutch courage, I actually sang. Too bad the people there weren't wearing earplugs. I think they enjoyed my air guitar solo though. Who wouldn't?! Then this morning while we watched TV, Gilmore Girls came on and I bonded with her mum over a shared love of the show :D
I think the last couple of days have gone a lot better - mainly because we played games! But the kids were still using English so it was educational...or at least that's my reasoning! Our version of 'Countdown' worked wonders and got everyone pretty competitive, which can only be a good thing. The funniest game was 'Darling, if you love me please just smile' which is where you all stand in a circle with someone in the middle, then that someone has to say to each person 'Darling, if you love me please just smile!' to which they reply 'I love you, but I can't smile'. If they smile or laugh, they swap places and so on. It was hilariously awkward and definitely broke the ice! We also talked as a group about some wacky British traditions like cheese-rolling contests, London and where we'd travelled. I much prefer that to being at the front of the class with all eyes on me - I want to get to know them and talk
with them rather than
at them; be on their level.
Let's face it, my lessons this week were a bit of a shambles as all the stuff I had planned either didn't go down well or lasted about 5 minutes. So next week, I'll learn from this and try to include more variety and active learning in the lessons, like debates, roleplays, presentations. Maybe even show them a clip of 'The Only Way Is Essex' so they can see an 'accurate' portrayal of where I come from ;) Apparently last year they had a mock Dragon's Den session and loved it, so might give that a go too.
They're great kids, really interesting to talk to and have so much potential :) Just hope that they come back next week...
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