The Learning Curve

Every dog has his day, and every teacher has theirs. This is one of the many things that I have learned in my first month as an English as a second language teacher. I work with girls from 7th to 11th grades, so the maturity levels vary greatly as do the enthusiasm levels. In other words, I can't get the 7th graders to shut up and I can't get the Jrs. to stop being "cool" for long enough to finish an entire activity without giving me the "this is so boring and you're so lame just let me do my make-up and text boys on Whatsapp" look.

Ok ok, so maybe not all classes go quite like that. Some classes are actually really good. Some days the 7th graders decide to pay attention for longer than their gold fish like attention spans usually allow and they are really enthusiastic about the games, activities, and so on. And some days, even the Jrs. take off their cool coats long enough to act as ridiculous as I do and have some fun. On those days, we take class GoPro selfies.

Silly faces obviously encouraged. 

As for the bad classes, well, my post class notes about my lesson plan look like this…

No caption needed.

And as for my favorite class, well they look like this.

This is course 7A. 

And no, there's no picture. 

I haven't actually had class with them yet.

And that's exactly why they're my favorite.

Juuuusssttttt kidding. Well, I actually haven't had class with them yet, but the whole "they're my favorite because I haven't had them yet" was just for kicks. While bad classes do suck, I think I learn the most from them. The moment when I realize that what I planned isn't going to work like I planned, well thats an "oh shit" moment. But often "oh shit" moments are closely followed by "ah ha" moments. These are the times when I have to improvise on the spot, and come up with something interesting and fun so I can put the train back on the tracks. And these are the moments that I think I learn more than the girls.

They have taught me that no matter what goes wrong, no matter what doesn't work, and no matter what doesn't go like I planned, as long as I smile, act silly, and make the most of the situation, everything will be just fine. Teaching has a funny way of teaching me all those lessons I never learned when I was the student. Its wonderfully ironic, and has given the phrase "life lessons" a whole new meaning.

Planning classes is becoming easier, and I'm starting to learn what works for certain courses and how to motivate them all in their own way. Some of the pressure is alleviated every time I realize that my sole purpose as a teacher is to make English fun, and that as long as fun is at the core of every lesson, its all going to be alright. And as for my metaphorical German car of a lesson, well its a 1976 VW bug that wouldn't pass a Florida smog check, but it runs and gets me where I need to go, even when this bumpy road of mine gets rough. For now, we'll just call it a work in progress.