Have you ever taught before?

If you thought our morning classes were enough brain activity for one day, then you will be boggled to learn that our afternoons are spent lesson planning and teaching an actual class. 

Every day after lunch, our trainers help us get started on a lesson plan for that evening's English class with the guinea pigs. When we first started, they gave us a lot of help-- they pointed out things we should definitely do, what sort of exercise would work well for the lesson, etc. But as we gained more experience, they began to ease off, and basically pointed at a page in the book and said, "That's your lesson. Now plan it." This was a bit unnerving at first, but with patience and plenty of planning, I got the hang of it.  

I have now taught four 45 minute lessons. The first one I have already told you all about. If you are curious about the inspiring details of my other lessons, please continue to read....


My second lesson was a level 4 class (the highest or most advanced level) with 8 students total. The topic was crime and punishment (talk about a heavy lesson). The grammar points were vocabulary for words describing 'crime' and different pronunciations of the letter 'u' (enter phonemic script). To start the class, we had a lively conversation about crime in Barcelona which centered of course on the problem of pickpockets in the city. Then we moved into some standard vocabulary exercises (fill in the blank, match the definition to the word, etc) and a fabulous pronunciation activity (if I do say so myself). The goal of the activity was to match various vocabulary words to the correct pronunciation or sound of the letter 'u.' For a nice visual, I wrote the phonemic symbols on the board for the different sounds of 'u' and gave the students cards with the vocabulary words on them. (For example, some of the words were 'punishment', 'burglar', 'manslaughter'--see how they all are spelled with a 'u' but sound different?) They then had to stick their card on the board under the correct pronunciation symbol. This proved to be a great visual and a more engaging way to drill pronunciations. And made for a great overall class! 
Side note:

Manslaughter? Really? Do they seriously need to know that word? Also, a cunning student in my class asked me if that word meant "a man's laughter?" I looked at him for a minute like, "Say what?" And then realized: that's exactly how it's spelled. Oh, English.

My third lesson was a level 3 class with 8 students total again. The topic was describing towns and cities. For this lesson, my trainer suggested that I do my first live listening activity (the teacher reads a text aloud and students answer questions/ complete exercises about what they heard). I was feeling pretty nervous at this bold suggestion, but it turned out to be my favorite lesson yet. Why? Because I got to talk about Madison, Wisconsin. Awww yeahhh. So, for the listening activity, I read aloud the following text:

I am from the great state of Wisconsin. It is located in the north of the United States, and it´s near the border with Canada. It´s famous for cheese and lots of snow. Madison is the capital of Wisconsin and is my favorite city. It´s the second largest city in the state, but is much smaller than Barcelona. It does not even have an underground system! Madison has beautiful scenery with lots of trees and lakes nearby. During the summer, I like to go sailing on Lake Mendota. I also like to go to the street market every Saturday to buy groceries. It is the largest one in the country! Madison has great food, cheap beer and many sporting events. It is peaceful, fun and has romantic sunsets on the water. If only it wasn´t cold eight months out of the year!

The students then completed various True/False exercises about Madison, Wisconsin and then talked about their own favorite cities. Sweet, huh? They really got a kick out of it (and so did I!). I even brought in some photos to show them (they were actually fairly frightened to see the amount of snow we get). And at the end of the class I asked them if they would like to live there. Although they said no, they did say that I should organize a class field trip for a visit. So who knows? Perhaps soon you will see me walking into Union South with a bunch of curious Spaniards. All in all, a great lesson!


My fourth lesson was less exciting but still just as successful. It was another level 3 with 8 students. The topic was learning to describe the plot of a story. The grammar points were basic vocabulary (plot, character, genre, setting, etc) and -ed and -ing clauses (There was a man called Jon and he was sailing his boat when...). The lesson was pretty straightforward and moved along smoothly. The students did just a few typical grammar exercises, and spent the last half of the class telling each other their favorite stories. Although this lesson was a tad boring, the topic still engaged the students quite well. Another good lesson!




Each class is observed by one of our trainers (a different one each time), and after each class we sit down with them to hear feedback. And every single one of my feedback sessions began with the same question: "Have you ever taught before?" Each time I stammered out a response about teaching dance class years ago and volunteering in a Spanish classroom. But apparently none of that was relevant. Each one of my trainers continued to look at me in disbelief. And so I had to say, "No, for real man, I've never lesson planned before." And so by the time I had my fourth feedback session and heard the same question again, I had to find out, "Why do you ask?" My trainer told me that the word on the street was that I was a fantastic teacher, and moreover that she was excited to observe my class, and furthermore that I did not disappoint. 


"Oh my goodness," I said.


And so apparently, I have found something that I am quite good at. I mean, to be fair, although I have never taught in front of a formal classroom before, I have done lots of teacher-related things. When I was Chair of the College Democrats of Madison, I had to manage an Executive Board and talk in front of a group of people on a regular basis. During my two fabulous years at Visitor and Information Programs, I trained my fellow Information Guides and also taught visitors every day that UW-Madison rules (and, you know, gave them directions and other useful information). So, no, I had never drafted a formal lesson plan or taught grammatical points, but I really have been doing some form of teaching for a long time now. 


So yes, friends and family, my new teaching career seems to be getting along quite smoothly. And, by the way, did I mention that I love doing it?


=)