Teaching for me is completely different from what I expected. Over time I have learned a lot from teaching. I’ve learned about how my students learn, and how to teach them more effectively. I’ve learned how to keep my cool in front of an expectant crowd of faces, and how to keep the class flowing even when the students can understand one word out of every five that I say. Here’s a short list of some of the things I’ve learned.
It’s going better than you think.
While you are teaching your mind is running over what you are saying, making sure that it is appropriate for the students’ skill level, and maybe you are also thinking ahead to the next activity, thinking about how much time is left and if everything will fit nicely, and possibly even thinking about a way to get those two boys near the back of the class to quiet down a little. Your students, however, cannot see all this mental activity, and even though maybe it seems like a very stressful time, to them it is just a smooth, organized presentation. What may seem like inordinately long pauses to you are merely short welcome breaks to the students.
Once you realize that you are doing just fine, you can take a moment to joke with the students and other teachers, you can pause and smile and breathe. Maybe you can savor the moment of all the students hanging on your every word. Most of all, you can start to relax and enjoy teaching.
Make friends
Students tend to listen more when they know you. If there is a connection there, no matter how thin, they will give more effort in class. I spend a lot of time walking around school and greeting students, smiling and saying hello. This always pays off in the classroom – they don’t want to disappoint me, and usually this wins out over any temptation to goof off. On top of that, some students will work to help other students understand and “get it”, as a favor to me. Compare this with the lecture style favored by most Japanese teachers and you’ll see very few relationships inside the classroom.
Your energy is their energy is your energy
The students in my classes feed off the energy I bring to the classroom. If I am not active and sharp and smiling and engaged with the class, they usually aren’t either. But, this works both ways. If the class is excited about something, or is generally full of energy, that can help me get excited about the class, too. I love the feeling of being there when the class first arrives, and they walk by and say “hello” and find a seat. There is some kind of feeling that builds, because soon the spotlight will be on me. The energy of a lesson is something I never really noticed being on the student side, but it feels like something I can control and use now.
I came into this job with almost no teaching experience, so almost everything I’ve learned is learned the hard way. I want to learn more, and I hope that I’ll be able to continue teaching in the future after my contract with Takasago Minami expires. I also want to explore some more training, to try to do what I am doing better. How can I better evaluate my teaching? How can I evaluate my students? What are some realistic goals for a one year English course?
Over the next year or two I’ll be moving towards a more permanent teaching position, but the details are still fuzzy. I do know that I want to keep teaching, and I want to be able to do it better.
