Do you have tips to get me through my first day?

Help, tips and advice in teaching English

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alanlawrence
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Joined: 12 Jun 2005, 00:07

Do you have tips to get me through my first day?

Unread post by alanlawrence »

Hi Lucy,

I have qualified, I have got my job and now my next step is to walk into the classroom befoe my little Thai students. I am sure I can get lesson plans but my first problem is nerves and just getting over that first hurdle of walking into my first classrooms.

How can I be a fun dynamic new teacher and kick off the day with a good lesson? Do I pull out letters of the alphabet and say A for Apple etc or is there a better approach?

Any tips to get me through my first day would be greatly appreciated.
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Lucy
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Joined: 13 Jan 2004, 15:09
Status: Teacher Trainer

Help for first lessons

Unread post by Lucy »

Dear Alan,

Congratulations on qualifying and on getting your new job. This is a great achievement.

I think this is what you need to remember. If you have passed and got a new job, you already have the necessary skills to be a good teacher.

For your first lessons, you could look at what the students have been studying recently and teach something related that builds on that subject area. Think about what the students consider a good lesson to be. Most of them would say a lesson where they have learnt something in a pleasant and helpful environment. It’s not necessary for you to be fun and dynamic; just be yourself.

You also need to consider whether the students know each other already or whether this is the first time they see each other. If they know each other, you can give them time to get to know you and then go ahead with your lesson plan. If they don’t know each other, you can do an activity that helps them get to know each other. You’ll find this sort of activity on the internet. Don’t spend too much time on getting to know each other, the students need to come away feeling they have done some serious studying and learnt something.

It’s a good idea to do a speaking activity because it gives you time to listen to them and ascertain their level. It’s probably not a good idea to do reading in a first lesson as that can be a silent, solitary activity. Listening can be stressful if the level of the text is high; so I’d advise you to avoid a lengthy listening on the first day. You could do a speaking activity and some input of vocabulary, structure or pronunciation.

I hope this will help you. I can’t be more precise because I don’t know the level or age of your students.
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