My Day
Every morning I wake up around 6:15 shower and leave for work by 6:45. I take the Subway which puts me at a 20 minute walk from work. I get into the office at around 7:55 which leaves me with 30 minutes before class starts to get my stuff together, including my flashcards, cds, and lesson plan. Then my day actually begins.
My first class starts at 8:25 and is a group of 2-3 year olds. Because it’s the first day of class the kids usually haven’t settled in yet and some will cry for their mothers. This usually will last through my lesson plan. I try to comfort them but usually they get more upset because some random guy is trying to comfort them.
My first two classes I have been teaching the same material, and this week the classes have gone like this: I say good morning to each student and they say good morning teacher. Next come the flashcards. I review the words with the class as a whole. Then I will do a warm up activity like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. And finally I finish up with a game like pass the ball and test them with that week’s vocabulary.
Next is my older class. It’s usually a very similar format just with more difficult words. This is another 25 minute class so by the time I’m done with that it’s 9:40 and time for my more advanced class.
International 4 is the name of the class, and I like them the most. Probably because not only do they know more English, but also because it’s a 90 minute class, and I’m more familiar with the kids. In this class I try to teach the words in the first half of the class, then the students drink water and use the bathroom and we play a game during the second part. I’ve been in the habit of picking up the kids and playing with them which has been a great joy.
Then comes my 3 hour and 20 minute lunch. I try to help bring food to at least one of the classes for the kids in order to build rapport with the teachers and the students. After that I eat the free food that they provide which has seemed to get worse everyday I’ve been there but I can’t turn down a free lunch, I can save a ton of money with it.
During my lunch break I’ll usually do some Rosetta Stone lessons, listen to podcasts and read. I have 3 hours why not? This is a pretty good time to just relax and get ready for my last two classes.
My 230 class goes pretty much the same as the other morning classes, but my last class is very different.
My international 4 class is my last class of the day. It’s 2 and 3 year olds that I need to teach for an hour. At first it was really boring but that was mostly because I had no idea what i was doing, but now I’ve realized that they are 2 and 3 and just want to have fun. This has allowed me to open up the class a little more for playing around, and playing more songs. This has made this class a lot of fun and I’ve actually been in the habit of picking up the kids and flying them around the room.
So this all usually ends around 4 and I head home, taking me about and hour, and I veg out and get ready for the next day.
So that is my day. It’s a lot of hard work, but I can’t really complain. I get to play around with a ton of kids. They really are awesome, and I have a lot of fun playing around with them. They give me a lot of room to do what I want, and I hope that I won’t disappoint. For now though I am really loving my job and glad that it’s my first one out of college.
