Slice Of Life: Getting Ready To Teach ESL

Hello everyone, back for another Slice of Life post here on my blog. This week I’ll slowly be transitioning back into school mode. Just one more class left and then…graduation!!!

I’m incredibly excited to get my bachelor’s degree, but I’m also scared of what the future will hold. Nevertheless, I know it will all fall into place.

For my final class, I’ll be taking an ALS (Applied Language Studies) course that is a teaching practicum for ESL (English As A Second Language). I’ll be teaching an adult class at an intermediate level with occasional help from my advisor. I’m excited, but at the same time I’m really nervous for this class. It’s my first shot at teaching ever. Thousands of questions run through my mind as the first day of class approaches. “What if I run out of things to do?” “What if my students don’t understand me?” “What if they don’t like my lessons?” Then I had to sit down and breathe because I was (and still am) stressing out.

Last year/semester I took a class on how to teach ESL. I learned a lot of effective teaching methods/styles as well as some really helpful resources for students and teachers. So I can say I’m not completely unprepared, but it’s just matter of putting what I’ve learned to the test.

When did I decide to teach ESL? Believe or not, it was on a Girl Scouts field trip. I listened to a female speaker who worked at one of the major newspapers in my local area talk about how much she enjoyed teaching ESL and meeting so many interesting people from different cultures. I had a great epiphany! This is something I could do! I always had an interest in world cultures, plus I loved learning about literature and the English language.

I also was required to tutor an ESL student for my previous class. Though it was one-on-one tutoring I slowly started to learn what worked, what my student needed help with, and what activities seemed unnecessary or unhelpful. I had to put together a curriculum from my previous class together, so that makes things a little easier. The four units/themes I’ll be focusing on for this course are: Family, American Culture, Shopping, and Jobs. I want to cover some essentials, but I also want to make these themes interesting to learn.

I don’t know how big my class will be, what obstacles it will throw my way, but I know if I can put my mind to it, I CAN do it.

 Before I officially end my post, I would like to reach out to all my fellow bloggers/teachers in the blogosphere and beyond (you don’t’ have to be involved with the field ESL specifically). If you could please send me some encouraging words, tips for lessons, or suggestions of things I could use in my class, I would appreciate it! 🙂

Let’s do this!

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