So I finally had to start my job…Damnation! I just want to play and eat and explore and learn Arabic all day… life is hard.
But anyway I can sum up my first class like this- Bah….what?
I spent a lot of time preparing for my first class, I had to teach simple past tense- specifically the verb “to be”. Fine, I can do that. Classes are two hours long which I find woefully daunting, I don’t have the capacity or focus to talk about anything for two hours let alone boring grammar. So my first class went like this- Me talking about class rules, Amideast policy, what we are trying to get out of this class, course-wide project ideas, etc, etc. This is what they heard- lalalalalalalalalala Amideast lalalalalalalalalalalala tests lalalalalalalalalala my name is Taryn lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalallalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalal....
After talking for a few minutes(in a way that I felt was slowly, articulately, enthusiastically, and simply) I looked around and was met with blank stares, OH MY GOODNESS THEY HAVEN’T UNDERSTOOD A WORD I JUST SAID. And Then I had to keep teaching for another hour and 57 minutes. And then another two hours after that.
My first day was really just discouraging. I was met with a much lower proficiency level than I expected and it didn’t help when Matt kept roaming around my apartment, in my face boasting “I’M THE MAN! I ROCKED THE SHIT OUT OF THAT LESSON! WHY HAVEN’T I BEEN DOING THIS MY WHOLE LIFE?! WOW, I’M SO GOOD AT THIS! ALL MY STUDENTS WANT ME. HELL YEAAHHHH!”
I probably deserved it after a week of bragging about my superior living situation, in-apartment internet, and beautiful terrace…
Today was much, much better. I simplified, changed my preparation strategy(still just a jumble of notebooks on my bed though..) and did lots of vocal, full-class, work.
Also at break one of my students brought a friend into class and introduced me, I said “oh is he going to be joining class?” “Oh no teacher, he just wanted to come look at you, okay bye.”
Also in my other class yesterday for the briefest of seconds someone mentioned movie stars and Brad Pitt was mentioned- I said “I love Brad Pitt, he’s great” and then we moved on. Today one of the guys downloaded a MILLION different pictures of Brad Pitt to his phone and brought them to show me after class. It was really quite sweet.
I’m feeling quite anxious about class tomorrow.. the problem with being a teacher is that you actually have to teach them things. You know what I say about grammar? Eff grammar. I just want to talk about cultural differences, food, hobbies, and things that interest me. And I want them to teach me Arabic in class. Is that too much to ask for?
But anyway I can sum up my first class like this- Bah….what?
I spent a lot of time preparing for my first class, I had to teach simple past tense- specifically the verb “to be”. Fine, I can do that. Classes are two hours long which I find woefully daunting, I don’t have the capacity or focus to talk about anything for two hours let alone boring grammar. So my first class went like this- Me talking about class rules, Amideast policy, what we are trying to get out of this class, course-wide project ideas, etc, etc. This is what they heard- lalalalalalalalalala Amideast lalalalalalalalalalalala tests lalalalalalalalalala my name is Taryn lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalallalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalal....
After talking for a few minutes(in a way that I felt was slowly, articulately, enthusiastically, and simply) I looked around and was met with blank stares, OH MY GOODNESS THEY HAVEN’T UNDERSTOOD A WORD I JUST SAID. And Then I had to keep teaching for another hour and 57 minutes. And then another two hours after that.
My first day was really just discouraging. I was met with a much lower proficiency level than I expected and it didn’t help when Matt kept roaming around my apartment, in my face boasting “I’M THE MAN! I ROCKED THE SHIT OUT OF THAT LESSON! WHY HAVEN’T I BEEN DOING THIS MY WHOLE LIFE?! WOW, I’M SO GOOD AT THIS! ALL MY STUDENTS WANT ME. HELL YEAAHHHH!”
I probably deserved it after a week of bragging about my superior living situation, in-apartment internet, and beautiful terrace…
Today was much, much better. I simplified, changed my preparation strategy(still just a jumble of notebooks on my bed though..) and did lots of vocal, full-class, work.
Also at break one of my students brought a friend into class and introduced me, I said “oh is he going to be joining class?” “Oh no teacher, he just wanted to come look at you, okay bye.”
Also in my other class yesterday for the briefest of seconds someone mentioned movie stars and Brad Pitt was mentioned- I said “I love Brad Pitt, he’s great” and then we moved on. Today one of the guys downloaded a MILLION different pictures of Brad Pitt to his phone and brought them to show me after class. It was really quite sweet.
I’m feeling quite anxious about class tomorrow.. the problem with being a teacher is that you actually have to teach them things. You know what I say about grammar? Eff grammar. I just want to talk about cultural differences, food, hobbies, and things that interest me. And I want them to teach me Arabic in class. Is that too much to ask for?
And also I will at no point, ever, ever, be able to remember their names- perhaps partly because I can only see the eyes of the girls in my class...
Basically you are wonderful and I miss you. Keep writing because you are clearly thriving in your world of Arabic, adventure, and tutelage.
ReplyDeleteLove!