TEFL Samarinda

I have just begun one of the most challenging endeavors of my life in the last two weeks. While completing my online tefl course, I was offered, and consequently accepted, a teaching position at an International Kindergarten in hong kong. Starting this week, I have been teaching Nursery Level children (3-4) english along side a Cantonese partner. Although I have now completed a tefl course, and have so much information and knowledge regarding teaching, nothing in this 100 hour course could have prepared me for exactly what it is like to teach 20 children for 4 hours, two times a day (morning and afternoon session). I wish I would have had time to do more observed teaching practice, and if I could go back and start all over again I would. Last week, before I started teaching my own classes, I was sent to a sister campus of my school to observe for one session the way the classroom works at the level I am teaching. Being in the classroom and seeing how the english teacher and Cantonese teacher interacted, the way the specific schedule for our school works, the flow of different activities, what to expect, etc. was invaluable. I was scribbling things down and taking mental notes incessantly throughout the lesson. Even though I took in as much as I could, and learned so much, it just wasn’t enough to make me feel comfortable to step right away into my own classroom. Unfortunately, I didn’t really have a choice (well unfortunately, and fortunately because I am very fortunate to have a job). If I was on less of a time constraint, I would have wanted to observe lessons every day for at least a month, with hopefully some small exposures via reading a story here and there, or teaching something in another teacher’s classroom for practice before having my own students. The skills I would hope to pick up from observed teaching experience before teaching my own classroom are numerous. As far as level of learning goes, I would have loved to know more specifics of what kind of language level you can use with three year olds, and what kinds of activities interest them and captivate them, good tips to get them to stop crying, ways to make them behave without being too harsh, etc. (the list could go on forever). How exactly, do you read a story to a group of 3 year olds? Well I learned in my 4-hour observation lesson, that you use a book with pictures, obviously, but you don’t necessarily read at all. When the teacher I was observing read a story, she was more describing the pictures to the students, and asking them questions, and getting them to participate and guess what might happen next. I’ve been told since then that you don’t read a story to 3 year olds, you make it up as you go according to the pictures, and entertain them as much as you can while you are speaking english. This is just an example of a thousand different skills I would have liked to have observed, then practiced myself before teaching on my own. I think that in all honesty, if I personally did not have the experience I gained by taking this course, and a huge family where I’ve always been involved with playing with the children, then I might be failing miserably at my new job. I cannot imagine how it must be for new teachers who have neither, as I am slightly terrified in the state I am in. Observed teaching hours would have provided me with a smooth transition, and peace of mind that I am doing the right things for the children (or any learner, for that matter) in my classroom environment. I don’t think that it is impossible to become a good teacher without observed teaching hours, but I do think that they allow you to be the best that you can be by the time you begin teaching your own class. For my situation, I am just trying to improve every day, and learn with the children, and hope they are learning as much from me as I am learning from them everyday.