First day of school

Today I taught my first class. Part of the reason I'm taking the TEFL class is that it gives me time in front of students in a more or less controlled environment. For most of my training sessions there will be an instructor in the room with me. For our first teaching practice we worked in pairs.

I was incredibly nervous going in. I didn't know how well I would remember the lesson. I didn't know how smart or well-behaved the students would be. I didn't know if I'd like it. I didn't know if I'd be good at it.

The verdict is in.

It was a blast.

It was so much fun. I felt comfortable and relaxed. We taught a group of 30 generally well-behaved sixth-graders for 90 minutes. Our observer said he struggled with his evaluation because he couldn't think of many areas where there was room for improvement.

I found out that my fellow students thought I already was a teacher, which has to be a good sign. One of them said she thought I seemed "teacher-y", which probably isn't a word, but it's a nice compliment all the same!

Tomorrow I teach a lesson by myself. I'm happy to report that I'm really looking forward to it.