Wow! Where do I begin? When I first found out I was teaching the 0420 Advanced Grammar lab, I was terrified! I said, ‘I can’t teach grammar!’. I was so nervous and was unsure how I was going to proceed. I was thankful that I had an awesome partner to work with. My partner and I met a few times during the past week to ensure we had a lesson plan that met all the objectives of the course content as well as we made activities and practice worksheets that could be used during the grammar lab.
When we began teaching, I was nervous. I didn’t know what the students were thinking, I didn’t know if they liked me or if they could even understand me. My partner and I made it clear to the students from the very beginning that we are all learning together. The students were very welcoming, polite, fun, and very supportive of us.
Today’s class had a total of eight students. Four students were missing, as the class total is twelve. My partner, Kaitlin, took attendance and asked students where they were from and how their week has been. Students were shy at first, but it was great to be able to put a name to the face. After the attendance, Kaitlin and I provided a brief introduction of ourselves, playing 3 truths and 1 lie. Students had to guess which statement was the lie. From my point of view, the students had a ton of fun with this activity. They were very fascinated by where we were living, where we had travelled, and all the accomplishments we have done thus far. This is a great way for the students and the teacher to break the ice, I would recommend this activity to any new teacher.
Most students were very engaged throughout the lesson, some students were shy, so we had to make sure we made each student feel comfortable with either speaking into the microphone or by writing in the chatbox. Students were able to understand most activities provided throughout the lesson, however, there was one activity a lot of students struggled with. This was the fault of the teachers, for not explaining the task very well as well as not providing enough time to do the activity.
In the future, I would make this activity first to ensure the teacher has enough time to go through the instructions, to provide a demonstration, and to answer any questions students may have. For the next grammar lab, I would like to bring in a similar activity to have the students try again, but this time, more time will be provided.
My supervisor instructor said Kaitlin and I did an awesome job for the lesson planning and giving instructions throughout the lab. For my first teaching class ever, I would like to highlight some of the things I think I did well on. That being, strong communication skills, active engagement with the class, providing a fun learning environment, responding to student’s questions with detailed explanations, and always having a positive outlook with a big smile on my face. For future teaching, the things I can improve on are being able to resolve technology issues, such as video errors or frozen screens, as well as make sure there are enough details and time allotted for each activity.
Overall, this was my first teaching experience at an academic level. I am so proud of myself; I had an absolute blast teaching the 0420 Advanced Grammar class and I am looking forward to many more sessions with these students!