Friday was my first day of teaching! I found out on Thursday that I'm teaching 4th grade and have 8 sections, which is about 300 students. I was told that since I'm teaching 4th grade my students would've already studied English for a couple of years. So I put together this awesome introductory lesson plan, created all of my materials, and was so incredibly excited to teach my 1st class! Then I walked into my classroom on Friday.
My Chinese co-operating teacher was nowhere to be found (they help translate and handle discipline in the traditional Chinese way) The Chinese homeroom teacher was there, but she didn't speak any English whatsoever; she started trying to tell me something that seemed kind of important, but because of the language barrier we were completely unable to communicate. I had no idea what she was saying, and when the bell sounded I began to teach... blank stares and confused looks from everyone, including the teacher: none of them spoke any English at all. So since my entire lesson was dependent on my students already having basic English knowledge, and my translator wasn't there, the whole thing turned into an awkward charade-type lesson that was rather painful.
Here's the funny part: when I got back to the office I found out that I actually wasn't supposed to teach that class and the homeroom teacher was trying to tell me I wasn't supposed to be there... so... that was a bit of a fail (at least it was a really funny one). BUT my 2nd class on Friday was awesome! The students were so great and really enjoyed my lesson, and they could actually speak English (whoop-whoop)!
Tomorrow starts my first full week of teaching, so hopefully all of the other classes will be as great as my 2nd class was! I can't wait to meet the rest of my students- I already love them!!!
this is pretty much hilarious :)
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