School time

Fancy teaching? It's really hard to say... I prefer building educational skills through one-on-one mentoring. It would be a breeze if all students studied individually with their tutors. Or maybe not. Anyway, I didn't like the idea of teaching students in schools. It's not just presenting new vocabulary, afterwards arts and games and you're in business. I was aware of problems with discipline, the necessity of having interesting ideas for lessons, the importance of being competent. I knew it, teaching isn't easy-peasy. Before first lessons I was struggling with my emotional state.

Probably every veteran teacher remembers their first time teaching. These first trials could be either illuminating or upsetting. It's good to keep them in mind no matter how terrible these classes were. Last year I was an exchange student in Finland and I had my first classes there. It wasn't a big deal, just a few classes as there were many other teacher trainees. I decided to have art classes for kids aged 7 and English classes for students aged 11 and 12. I was looking for diverse ways of teaching new vocab or grammar, how to make it fun for students etc. I discussed everything with my mentor teacher and eventually I was ready to have a class. Those first classes were mostly about new vocabulary and me talking about Poland - kids were truly interested in it! It turned out that teaching isn't so terrible as I had expected before. Kids in Finland are excellent at English and then it helped me a lot. Their willingness to learn new things is awesome! They asked many questions, were eager to take part in a lesson. Maybe it's like that because they don't treat teacher as supervisor. Simultaneously having fun and learning new things. To be honest, those classes changed my attitude towards teaching in schools. It's also important for me that they asked me questions about Polish phrases like "thank you" or "hello". And they were using them when seeing me around. It's nice.

So now what? A rosy future? Well... Sometimes teaching is pretty cool, sometimes it's terribly awful. I had good lessons as well as such ones that I would like to erase from my memory quickly! I know, I should make errors work for me. I'll do my best next time. The point is to be always prepared and to have a good lesson plan. It's great to have an ace up your sleeve. Ask for feedback. Stay strong and keep cool. Everything's gonna be alright. Well said, wouldn't you say? I like pacifying myself.

I really like the subject of teaching experience. It reminds me of some films touching the teacher-student bonding: Dead Poets Society, funny Teachers, Music of the Heart, The Children's Hour or Louis Malle's Au Revoir les Enfants. Needless to say that it's something special to be a teacher... or at least the world of cinema has paid tribute to teachers.