Transitions to Teaching

I have neglected this blog. Are we surprised, given my nature of procrastination, simple laziness, and feeling slightly overwhelmed when using the internet café in my market town? No. Thus, I shall try to make up for it nowwww.

Swearing in as a volunteer for a second time was a somewhat surreal experience.  But it still felt INCREDIBLE. Stage this time around was challenging in new and extraordinary ways. The emotional strain at first, seeing volunteers who’d been here for a year left me feeling bitter sadness. “That could’ve been me!” was all I could think. I wanted to greet new volunteers with warm bottles of water and even warmer smiles. Swallowing those bitter pills got a whole lot easier as I got absorbed in the people and activities around me. Particularly model school and team TEFL! Model school kicked my Ms. Fat booty into gear! It was one of the most helpful teacher training experiences I’ve undergone. It involved teaching English summer school classes from 8-10, snack pause (read: vent with fellow trainees about trouble students pause), and classes again 10-11, followed by a feedback session. It was great to plan lessons together, feed off each others ideas, strengths, and weaknesses, etc. What’s more, at all times there were at least 2 people observing the class, so I got personal advice from trained teachers, and fellow trainees. I learned so much from observing others, noting their techniques, and experimenting with my own classroom activities.

One notable example is my dear friend Thomas who I’m sure is marveling his students in the Bariba far north. He would hop around the classroom, clapping his hands, yelling “Energy, energy, energy!” At the beginning of each class he would say “Are you ready?!!” to which students would reply “YES, we’re READY!” Although I don’t think I am quite as hoppy as dear Thomas, I adopted his “Are you ready?” technique. Many days, I also need to get pumped up for class and this little chant get’s ME READY to teach.

Another activity I’ve enjoyed is incorporating pictures and drawing. In Porto Novo, I did a listening exercise where I described a scene and the students drew what described. I reversed this idea in Magoumi and drew five pictures of a boy during his day, while students worked in groups to write sentences in the simple past about my beautiful drawings (ha!) My favorite student created sentence described a drawing where a boy sat in class while the teacher taught at the blackboard. This one group wrote, the teacher danced at school! Haha. Perhaps they were referencing my own dramatic theatrics during class!

Teaching in general has been filled with the ups and downs of life. Frequently, on my walk to school while wading through the seasonal stream (bah) I think, “Oy. Here we go. Teaching.” But as soon as I start interacting with my students, a rush of energy rolls through my body. Yes, there are frustrating moments. Particularly when students will copy grammar activities, but won’t DO them. It’s frustrating at times when students won’t put the effort in. When this happens, I assess, what can I do to make them understand the activity or grammar rule? But the other issue is that these students are new too critical thinking and applying rules. A lot of primary school is rote memorization versus creating and applying. I tell myself I need to be patient with my 7^th and 8^th graders. I’m not only teaching English, but how to perform as successful students. And it’s amazing how after a couple weeks of applying a formula or rule, many will start to pick it up. I shall go into teaching more later. For now, I try to stay creative, motivated, and optimistic!