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I arrived in China for the first time, to teach for the first time in a new and foreign land. With this in mind you can understand my situation and why my confidence level was so low at the time. I believe that true confidence in the classroom can be acquired with some time and experience in the classroom when dealing with five to ten year old students at a kindergarten/training school. Many teaching skills need to be learned in order for you to gain confidence in a classroom The first thing that needs to be learned in order to gain confidence in the classroom is classroom management. You have to be able to control your students to a certain degree in order for you to teach effectively in a classroom. You cannot let your students control you as this will not build your confidence. You can gain this skill by observing other experienced teacher’s lessons and asking their advice. You may also speak to the previous teacher of that class in order to get some insight on the students but use this only as a guideline because you must never have a negative view on any student based on other teachers comments. Once this is achieved, you move on to creating a rapport with your students. This helps in achieving their trust in the classroom. It becomes easier to teach once they trust you and this builds on your confidence to teach. After these two skills have been achieved, you can move on to your lesson plan. It is vital to have a lesson plan as it gives you structure in the classroom. This helps with your confidence as you will know what to do for the time you are in the classroom. It is important to have objectives and outcomes in your lesson plan as this will indicate to you if your students have learned hat you have intended to teach them. After each lesson this will help build your confidence to know that your students are effectively learning in your classroom. Lastly, if you want to improve your confidence in the classroom, you must be fully prepared to teach. This means that you must prepare all your materials in advance. You must memorize all your materials and lesson plan. You must have all your equipment ready and functional. You must have extra activities planned just in case you finish your lesson early. You must have your classroom in order by labeling and designating spaces. No one can be fully prepared and confident in a classroom if its their first time teaching. No amount of studies and courses can prepare you for what you may experience in an ESL Kindergarten/training school. You may only be confident in a classroom after gaining these skills and having some teaching experience from being in a classroom. Trust me when I say that once you have gained the confidences in a classroom, your teaching becomes much easier and you start to really see the advantages and joy of being a teacher.
