Thread: Hello everybody!

Hey everybody. I'm a student of English as a second language. I will graduate as an English Teacher this year. If there's a teacher that could help me by telling me his/her personal experience, it would be really nice! thank you!

Welcome and congratulations on your upcoming graduation.

Felicidades...
(Cuando tengas oportunidad, te recomiendo tomar el TKT...)

Hi Carolina!
I agree with Hebe... Just make it fun!
Congrats!!

Welcome Carolita!!!

Originally Posted by Carolita123

Hey everybody. I'm a student of English as a second language. I will graduate as an English Teacher this year. If there's a teacher that could help me by telling me his/her personal experience, it would be really nice! thank you!

Hi and Congratulations, Carolita. As a retired American teacher now teaching in China, I will try to offer some suggestions. The first days of class are important for you to let the studnets know what you are going to teach (as in a syllabus), and what your expectations are of them. Some simple but clear classroom rules will let them know that your class is to be taken seriously. They will generally be very interested in knowing how you are going to grade them, e.g. what percentage of the grade will be for attendance, participation, quizzes, final examination, etc.
The advice given to keep it fun and meaningful is certainly good. I would recommend that you use the vast ESL resources online suh as http://eslmaniac.web-log.nl/ to help you generate ideas.
A good activity on the first day is to do an "icebreaker". I tell the students that each must say four things about themselves, and one of them must be false. Then the class tries to guess which is false. I begin by stating four things about myslef. This relaxes the class, and equallly important, gives you an indication of the general English level of each student.
Your English appears to be excellent and you are researching new ideas, so my best guess is that you will make an excelellent teacher. Good luck, Rich

Welcome Carolina, hope you graduate with good grades and some teaching practice.

I've been an ESL teacher for over 30 years. I don't want to repeat what others have said so I'll give you other info. Most institutes or schools have specific material (books,.video, audio, ...) that you have to use and varies from one institute or school to another and based on the level taught. It's wise to look into the different material on the market to familiarize yourself with it. It's very important to come prepared to class and know well what you're teaching.

Another issue is to stick to your rules. Once you set them, all of you, students and teacher alike have to abide by them. This way your students will believe you, see you're fair, and will react accordingly.

Good luck