Ready or Not...

James here.  It's time to write about my experience being thrown in the deep end of the pool, er, school.  And sorry, no pictures this time  ;-)

Last week (June 10 - 14) I was scheduled to observe classes at my and another school, to see how the teacher(s) go through there lesson, how they keep class fun, etc.  I sat in on Dom's class at my school on Monday and Tuesday.  Wednesday was going to be a day off as it was the Dragon Boat Festival in Taiwan.

After class on Tuesday Rachel and I were having dinner at our favorite vegan restaurant when my phone rang.  It was my manager.  She was calling to let me know Dom had a medical emergency and would not be able to teach his classes on Thursday and Friday (he is the only teacher at my school and the person I was going to be replacing) and she was asking if I could cover his classes.  My only reply was "I don't know that I am capable of doing that yet".  I say this because the standard procedure is to 1) observe classes, 2) go through a week of training, 3) slowly ease in to teaching classes on your own.  At this point I had only observed two classes and training was scheduled for the next week.  I was really looking for some way to say "no" but there really wasn't any good way to do that.  My manager assured me she would have me ready to teach the classes and I felt I had no other option than to say "ok".  The phone call ended and I experienced a brief moment of terror.  I will have 2 classes on Thursday and 3 classes on Friday, each being 1.5 - 2.0 hours each.  Yikes!  Luckily tomorrow (Wednesday) was a national holiday so I didn't have to panic just yet.  That could wait till Thursday.

Thursday came quickly.  The first class was 5:00 - 6:30 pm and the second was 6:30 - 8:00 pm.  A manager from a different school met me at my school at 3:00 to help prepare.  I was nervous.  The manager from the other school is a native Taiwanese and although her English is good, the communication was difficult.  Her trying to teach me what to do, like specifically what to do, was not easy.  I don't know what happened from 3:00 - 4:00 but that hour went extremely quick and I still had no idea what to do for the class.  Panic was setting in.  Just after 4:00pm I started gaining some understanding about what I was to do for the first class.  But only some.  My eyes kept seeing the minutes keep clicking away on the clock, getting me ever closer to 5:00pm go time.  I felt sick.

Around 4:15 I realized everything was going to be fine.  I thought what a worst-case scenario would look like and it dawned on me that it wouldn't be too bad.  There was no risk of death, no risk of limb-loss, no risk of financial ruin.  So why was I being so nervous?  The worst-case scenario would be extremely bored or extremely naughty children for an hour and a half.  And by this time I can at least keep them busy for 45 minutes, so the worst-case scenario isn't all that bad.  I felt much better after realizing all this.  Back to class preparation!  Also, I was lucky enough to be teaching the same class for both the 5:00pm and the 6:30 so really only needed to plan for one.

5:00pm came and everything went fine.  I was able to go through my choppy lesson plan without looking too disheveled.  I don't think the lesson was all that great, but the kids seemed to be ok with it.  Oh - and the children are all 8-10 years old FYI.  The class went by way faster than I anticipated as did the 6:30-8:00 class.  I survived!!!  I stayed after with my manager to discuss what just happened (she said I did ok!) and talk about the next day.  I will be teaching 3 classes on Friday, from 1:00 - 6:30 pm.  She will be meeting me to make lesson plans at 11:00 am that day.

I changed my clothes and headed home.  Oh yeah, I live about a 40 minute walk from my school.  The bus system is super lame-o and walking is the best option if you don't have a scooter.  I will have a scooter soon.  But anyways, I ran home this day.  I was feeling very elated and looked forward to sharing my story with RayRay.  It took me 18:30 to run home carrying a bag (will get faster when I have a backpack...).  I figure it to be about a 4k route.  Ray was excited I survived the day.

Friday wasn't as fun or exciting as Thursday, but I did make it through all 3 classes.  I was now really looking forward to going through the training next week in Taipei as I have real classroom experience to learn from.  I know getting thrown in the deep end is not the most fun way to begin, but it will most likely help to make me a better teacher more quickly.  I will be able to relate everything in training to my personal experience, focusing on areas I already know I need to improve.  We will write more about the training and Taipei in the next posting.  That's all for now!