Hello teachers

I �m sorry i �ll have to write alot here .. hope you don �t mind ..

do you guys remember what i mentioned earlier about today ? (wed 27th ) ??

if you read my messages in the teachers � cafe you would probably remember lol

but let me tell you everything

I asked for help a week ago

I was going to teach my FIRST lesson ever

I mentioned earlier that this course i �m taking is not even a teaching practice course

it �s called "Methods Of Teaching English"

so now its almost the end of the course

and my teacher told us that we have to perform teaching in front of our collegues

half of a lesson, not even a full-time lesson (for like 20 - 25 mins)

i was chosen with 2 other girls to go and try teaching in a REAL SCHOOL !!!

under supervision for sure

our teacher said that she believes we �re good enough and that we should be involoved a little bit sooner in schools than the rest of the class

the 2 girls who were chosen with me .. they presented on Monday ..

and, OH MY GOD, they made many mistakes !

even grammatical and spelling mistakes !

I was surprised .. but scared at the same time ..

there was no time for me to give  my lesson so i had to give my lesson TODAY

and I went .. exactly at 08:05 am

my period was supposed to be at 09:00 but i decided to arrive alot earlier

my college teacher arrived around 08:35 am

she sat with me in the teachers � room where we met the other teachers, and she said she was surprised when she saw me dicussing many things related to teaching while having breakfast with them

when it was 09:00 i rushed to the class , and I was sooooo nervous

I remembered evey single advice you gave me here

I was totally prepared .. I told my self "no need to be nervous girl !!"

I kept smiling so I can show confidence .. even if i was scared at the beginning

I spoke with a loud voice ..

I used vocabulary suitable for the age and level of the students

I never kept looking at one or two sts .. I followed you advice and practiced to look at all my sts equally

I used many aids and they were very very very helpful

not just for me but for the kids as well ..

i don �t believe how lively my lesson was .. even my teacher and the original teacher of the class were smiling at the back of the classroom

I also managed to create an excellent shift between introduction, tasks, voc, grammar... etc

the tasks that I used were very creative too and thanks to you, you helped me to become creative

just being in this forum helped me to get ideas in my head

the kids had such a great time but i was surprised about something

one of my lesson objectives was to have my students discussing related questions and stuff ..

I was worried about having them discussing things because they were looking at me as a stranger at first, and because their teacher told me that they don �t talk at all or participate unless you choose one of them to answer by force LOL

but i used one technique that you guys taught me ..

to use helping phrases like ( this reminds me of ... i would argue about that because .. this is funny because .. )

I �ve prepared them on a tranparency and I was surprised that the kids actually used them and started discussing things with me :)

I was very happy .. we even had few laughs about their opinions

they all were very very excited, and their teacher was looking at me with surprised but delighted eyes

and what was mostly important is that the head teacher told me she would like to have me in the same school for the teaching practice :)

and i was told that i am going to be a very rare teacher

she said that it looked like teaching means something to me

I replied : "No, it means everything to me"

thank you guys for helping me to get many many doors opened to my future

love you all

hugs and kisses all the way from Kuwait

Dalya  

Thanks for sharing this touching and inspiring experience.  It was indeed a great start.