teaching practice - week 2

somehow it seems like i had SO much to do last week... SO much teaching.... SO much preparation... SO much observing. but now that i'm in week two that doesn't really seem like the case. last week i taught a variety of classes. my first class was a group of mixed beginners at a local hair salon. they were a fun group and i think i was able to teach them *something*, though it was tough to know what kind of material to cover with a level like "mixed beginners". they actually turned out to be a little lower than i had anticipated.

my next two classes were both team teaching classes. there were things i liked about team teaching (sharing the workload, poster preparation, worksheets, etc) and things i didn't like so much (counting on someone to show up when you expect them to, not sharing the same vision of the class - plus i have some control freak tendencies). but i did work with two people that i actually like - instead of someone who *really* annoyed me, so that's something.

one class was a hi beginner class in which we had to teach - the present perfect tense. what????!!!!! how many of you reading this can explain to me the present perfect tense? now how many can explain that to people who don't speak english? we went for a grammer free approach, basically telling them the structure to use but not really explaining why. to be fair all of our "training" in the course has been about using there simple dialogue system and teaching beginners. never did we discuss the best way to get grammar points across. kind of annoying. but we got through it.

my second team teaching class was more fun. we taught present tense (a much easier concept) - like i'm running, i'm going to work, etc. we had lots of games and a really fun group of adults. it's the class i've probably felt the most confident about so far.

for the remainder of this week i'm teaching low beginners. and i observed another teacher teaching the class last night and they are VERY low beginners. so i've got to adjust my lesson plan a little - but i suppose it's unlikely that i'll run out of things to do.

can hardly believe this course is almost over.... on friday we have our graduation dinner and then saturday i'm off exploring. i'll most likely be traveling with some people i met on the course and doing whatever as opposed to trying to see the things i'm interested in. anyhow - will try to write at least once more before i'm off traveling and maybe a little more often when i'm on the road (no lessons to plan or teach).