I made it! I have officially completed my first week of teaching. And I am happy to report that I enjoyed the work! I liked the rhythm of the lesson planning, the breaks between classes for resting and prepping, and the wonderful interactions I had with my students.
This past week flew by like a whirlwind, but it was full of learning curves and good lessons.
The Classes
So I’m a busy little bee at our school. I teach a total of 16 classes throughout the week, from Tuesday through Saturday. My first class of the day begins at 10:00 am, and my last class ends at 9:00 pm. I have a guaranteed two-hour break for lunch, and then another break during the day between classes. Depending on the day, this break can be anywhere from 3.5 hours to 6 hours long. I have three classes a day, save for Thursday where I have four.
I primarily teach adult classes; these are an hour and a half long each. I teach basic beginner level through late-intermediate/early-advanced levels for my adult classes. However, I also teach two kindergarten classes and one 4th grade class. These are one hour and one hour ten minutes long each, respectively.
I know what you’re thinking…it’s a lot. I won’t deny it. I think I practically live at church with this schedule. But there’s a steady rhythm to this job, I’m finding. We’re busy, but I don’t feel stressed. It’s a consistent flow of activity. I like being busy at work. I don’t mind working steadily, or for long days. I just want to enjoy the work itself, and have a solid rhythm.
Plus, I love my students! The adults are all wonderful middle-aged and older ladies and businessmen, and the children are adorable! Most of my kindergartners are actually church kids, so I see them on Sundays as well as in class. I love those kids.
The Teaching
I am happy to report that I do, in fact, enjoy teaching. And I seem to be kind of good at it! To my knowledge, I have not had any complaints from my students so far. (And trust me when I say that the students here are not afraid to tell the office if they don’t like a teacher.)
I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from my students this week:
- I speak with a clear, easy-to-understand voice
- I explain vocabulary, grammar, and difficult concepts well
- I talk about phonetics, pronunciation, and intonation (and was requested to continue focusing on this by a few students)
I also have been told multiple times that I’m apparently very pretty, which makes the entire class experience more enjoyable. What can I say? Japanese people like pretty foreigners. -shrugs-
My linguistics background has helped immensely in explaining English grammar, vocabulary, and phonetics to my students. Plus, my Japanese knowledge has definitely given me a leg up in understanding what my students are trying to say and then providing the correct English word.
The Learning Curve
While it would seem that I am relatively successful as a first-time teacher, this past week was not without its mistakes. Oh-ho! Screw-ups, galore!
My children’s classes, in particular, had the biggest learning curve. I was terribly unprepared for my first kindergarten class and my 4th grade class.
The thing with kids is that they require more entertainment than adult students. By extension, this means that their classes need more preparation than adult classes. My poor little kindergartners didn’t have any extra worksheets or activities to do, so I was scrambling in the middle of class. And the games in my 4th grade class ran long, so I didn’t have enough time to finish teaching the lesson before we did our Bible time.
I learned firsthand this week how important it is to properly prepare for class. I want to serve my students well, so I will continue to improve my lesson planning and prep so my students can get the most out of their time with me.
My second kindergarten class went much more smoothly than the first one did, thanks to all the mistakes I made (and learned from!) from the first class. While my pride is hurt a bit, these are lessons that I think were essential to learn, and will only help me become a better teacher in the long run. And I need to have a little grace towards myself, as well. I have no prior teaching experience, so it’s completely understandable if I don’t teach perfectly the first try.
But overall, I’d say this first week was encouraging. I made some mistakes, but I also had many successes. If anything, I feel like this week confirmed that I am on the right track with this vocation.