Adventures In ESL: Student Teaching Weeks 12-13

The sixth and final edition of Adventures In ESL! Again, I hope you all enjoyed all of these posts, and if you are a teacher or are learning how to teach (like me), please share some helpful tips on teaching methods, fun class activities, etc. They are appreciated. 🙂

*Note: This is an intermediate adult ESL (English as a Second Language Class). The course lasts over a period of 13 weeks and are held 2 days a week and are roughly 2 hours long each.

Week 12: The Final Countdown

Only one class this week since Thursday’s class was canceled because of Thanksgiving. This lesson was laid back and my students and I discussed how we were going to celebrate Thanksgiving, what foods we were going to cook/eat, and if we were going to do some holiday shopping that weekend.  I had them work on acrostic Thanksgiving poem in which they were able to express what they were thankful for. The poems were really nice and heartwarming.

While they worked on their poems I started my end of semester conferencing. I discussed with them one on one how they’ve improved and what they still needed help with. One student told me how much they would miss me next semester and I was really touched to see how thankful they were and how I have made an impact on my students. One more week left!

Week 13: It’s Hard To Say Goodbye

For my last official lesson, I decided to talk about travel. I challenged my students to think of as many countries as they could in two minutes. The highest number of countries one student had was 16! Then I asked them to think of landmarks, food, clothing, traditions, etc. that was specific to each country they listed. They came up with a variety of things to discuss. I then asked them to write some sentences to answer the question “If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?” They wrote some really interesting answers. While they practiced conversation, I finished conferencing.

On the very last day, me and the other student teachers decided to have a party with our students. Before we had the party we each met up with all of our classes. I decided to ask my students to complete a feedback sheet on how they felt about the class. Most students enjoyed a lot of the activities, and they expressed that they wished I could have corrected them more. They also stated that they felt that they improved in one or more of the four skills, but still needed help with other skills as well. Majority thought the class was okay/good, and that it was too difficult. I felt like it was a goo way to see what I helped students with and how I could improve my teaching. Then I gave a goodbye/thank you speech to students expressing my gratitude.

We then had a large party with a huge array of food including tamales, salsa, chips & dip, sushi rolls, cake, cookies, pop, buennelos, and much more! (I should have taken a picture to show you how much food there really was). Then me and the other student teachers got our TESL certificates! Yay! Eventually the party ended and we said our goodbyes. 🙁

Final Reflections:

This entire practicum was a challenging, new, and exciting experience I will never forget. Though I taught my students, they ended up teaching me as well. I will miss learning, laughing, and having fun with my students. Even thought I wasn’t always sure of what I was doing since teaching was so new to me, I did the best I possibly could and that’s what matters.

Teaching definitely gave me a new point of view when it comes to giving the classroom an in-depth look. I knew that being a teacher isn’t an easy job, but this experience gave me the chance to step in their shoes and start to learn how they do everything. I truly realize all the hard work and effort my teachers from all my school years did in order to help me grow as a person and expand my knowledge. I hope I have helped my students improve and start their journey to learning and becoming confident in teaching English.

I really hope you have enjoyed reading the events of my teaching journey and I thank you for all you warm and kind comments and insight. I look forward to teaching even more and possibly blogging about future experiences. Thank you! 🙂