My first teaching lesson
Yesterday, I had my first "teaching" lesson. It came all of a sudden. My teacher - Hanka - called me half an hour before the beginning of the lesson and told me she was in trouble. She wasn't feeling well and the other teacher - Glenn - was sick, too. There were two possibilites: either to call the lesson off or find someone else to step in. Hanka asked me to do her a favour and organize the lesson for her. Even though I felt honored, I wasn't sure whether I should take it or not - it was at such a short notice. And how did I do? Well, at least it wasn't fiasco, I hope.
Luckily, it was completely up to me to decide what the lesson would be about. It was a crisis scenario. First, we played a board game called Lingua Ludica. The game is basically intended for 4 - 6 people, but there were twelve of us. After too rounds I wasn't sure if everybody was enjoying it, so we switched to talking. I think it was more fun.
I felt very nervous standing there in front of twelve pairs of eyes looking at me, scrutinizing my every move. I stuttered and stammered several times, my voice trembled every now and then. I've never realised how difficult it is to control you body in situations like these. I guess, I even made some unconscious or perhaps subconscious movements that might have looked funny. Anyway, I belive that it is quite normal that you act like this when you do something for the first time. I hadn't been trained for that, I hadn't been prepared for that, I wasn't ready for that. It was just an emergency scheme.
Funnily, about half ot the fellow students were approximately at the same level of English as me, that's why I didn't want to be called a teacher. Almost everybody of the FCE students could have easily fill in my position. I was rather kind of a leader of the group who organised the activities.
To sum up, it was a great opportunity to experience what it is like to manage a lesson as a substitite for a teacher. I hope, I didn't spoil anything and I gratefully take it as a good lesson for the future.
