Teaching English after my Tutor training.
May. 4th, 2004 02:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icarusThis was a very different experience from my first week teaching.
On the one hand, I'm an experienced English tutor. I've learned the Laubach's system (which is designed for very beginning students), taught English in India and again in the US. But there was so much in the weekend tutor training that I already knew, or was not applicable to my situation, and there were so many options and teaching techniques presented that I find myself intimidated, snowed under and overwhelmed. This is not good, because time-wise I was already climbing a steep hill by taking 17 credits. Only one of my three other classes is easy.
I haven't had time to sift through it all. It's completely undermined my confidence that I can do a good job teaching my new student. I'd already set up a structure:
1 - First, 15-20 minutes: conversational practice. Talk about familiar subjects pertaining to her goal of 'wanting a life' (so to speak). Throughout this I model back correct forms, blending it into the conversation (without any extra stresses or strange inflections your teacher used to correct your grammar in first grade, just say it normally. I learned that from Laubach's):
"Where did you first learn English?"
"I learn English when Japan."
"No kidding? You learned English when you were in Japan?"
2 - Second, 30 minutes: review homework from her English class. Bridge that to conversation, using real world examples (based on our conversation).
3 - Third, 10-15 minutes: ask her if there's anything she needs. This makes sure the class is relevant because students' needs change. This is the moment for the 'burning question.' If something comes up, "I don't know how to talk on the telephone..." this is where I invent an assignment.
I felt rather smug that I hit on much of what was taught in the tutor training, all on my own out of experience (more out of my experience of trying to learn a language than teaching, especially part three). But there's so much more and I feel completely inadequate.
My session with my student didn't go well. I didn't follow my structure, thinking I was 'doing it wrong,' and she hadn't done some of her homework from last week (which according to the tutor training wasn't going to be helpful and was too much to ask anyway). But worst of all, my frustration and overwhelm from the weekend came across in class and I know that whatever she learned from me, my non-verbal communication -- so much a part of language, especially when you're so keyed in to pick up a new world -- was not helpful. The frustration in my voice. The anxious way I leaned forward. I could feel the whole thing going south, and what's more, I knew that I didn't have time to review the tutor training and make a coherent plan out of it or figure out what I need.
I'm so flyingly busy I barely have time to think and I'm sliding behind on three subjects. I have an essay due tomorrow. I have another due Friday. I have an essay exam due Monday. My group project for HIS 210 meets on Sunday. My group for HUM 105 hasn't met yet. And I haven't even started my research for ENG 102, and I'm an essay and a research proposal behind on that already.
And there's another tutoring class this Saturday.
Excuse me a moment while I run screaming into the streets: Auuuuuuugh!
On the one hand, I'm an experienced English tutor. I've learned the Laubach's system (which is designed for very beginning students), taught English in India and again in the US. But there was so much in the weekend tutor training that I already knew, or was not applicable to my situation, and there were so many options and teaching techniques presented that I find myself intimidated, snowed under and overwhelmed. This is not good, because time-wise I was already climbing a steep hill by taking 17 credits. Only one of my three other classes is easy.
I haven't had time to sift through it all. It's completely undermined my confidence that I can do a good job teaching my new student. I'd already set up a structure:
1 - First, 15-20 minutes: conversational practice. Talk about familiar subjects pertaining to her goal of 'wanting a life' (so to speak). Throughout this I model back correct forms, blending it into the conversation (without any extra stresses or strange inflections your teacher used to correct your grammar in first grade, just say it normally. I learned that from Laubach's):
"Where did you first learn English?"
"I learn English when Japan."
"No kidding? You learned English when you were in Japan?"
2 - Second, 30 minutes: review homework from her English class. Bridge that to conversation, using real world examples (based on our conversation).
3 - Third, 10-15 minutes: ask her if there's anything she needs. This makes sure the class is relevant because students' needs change. This is the moment for the 'burning question.' If something comes up, "I don't know how to talk on the telephone..." this is where I invent an assignment.
I felt rather smug that I hit on much of what was taught in the tutor training, all on my own out of experience (more out of my experience of trying to learn a language than teaching, especially part three). But there's so much more and I feel completely inadequate.
My session with my student didn't go well. I didn't follow my structure, thinking I was 'doing it wrong,' and she hadn't done some of her homework from last week (which according to the tutor training wasn't going to be helpful and was too much to ask anyway). But worst of all, my frustration and overwhelm from the weekend came across in class and I know that whatever she learned from me, my non-verbal communication -- so much a part of language, especially when you're so keyed in to pick up a new world -- was not helpful. The frustration in my voice. The anxious way I leaned forward. I could feel the whole thing going south, and what's more, I knew that I didn't have time to review the tutor training and make a coherent plan out of it or figure out what I need.
I'm so flyingly busy I barely have time to think and I'm sliding behind on three subjects. I have an essay due tomorrow. I have another due Friday. I have an essay exam due Monday. My group project for HIS 210 meets on Sunday. My group for HUM 105 hasn't met yet. And I haven't even started my research for ENG 102, and I'm an essay and a research proposal behind on that already.
And there's another tutoring class this Saturday.
Excuse me a moment while I run screaming into the streets: Auuuuuuugh!
