Since I started blogging about my
experiences of living in Jakarta; I realized I have not done a single
post about the job itself. Apart from the post about my first lesson;
I have not really talked about how teaching English is going. It has
now been eleven weeks since
I switched countries leaving the cold and frankly horrible British winter for the hot
and humid concrete jungle that is Jakarta. I have now adjusted to
Jakarta and have been very fortunate to meet as many like-minded
and interesting people not just Indonesians but of course all the other teachers within my group. I can almost call myself a teacher of
English.
But I
digress, what I really want to talk about is how teaching and I fit
together. The truth is, I kind of enjoy it and rather like
it! However, there have been
times when my mind goes blank
in the middle of a class when I am explaining the use of a grammar
point, or miss out a word in a written sentence that I wrote on the
board showing an example of the grammar point or new piece of
vocabulary or write down the wrong form of a grammar point and then
loudly chastise myself in front of the class (that happened only
once). The mind literally goes 'Fuck this, I'm out of here' and I
look like a fool. On reflection, I tend to just forget about it and
move on hoping to God it doesn't happen again EVER!
I
teach three classes a day Monday to Thursday and one on Saturday.
These classes are of different levels (Elementary to High
Intermediate) and of course different age groups (6 - 38). I have to plan
different lessons each week bearing in mind those factors and
choosing appropriate and fun activities to keep them engaged with
language and the lesson. My lesson plans are never fool-proof but I
like to think my students do understand what I am teaching; after
all, they do produce the language or grammar point thereafter.
I
gained a certain amount of confidence when my lessons were observed by Big J
(soon-to-be ex DOS*) and T (soon-to-be new DOS) back in February and
March. They observed my best and worst classes respectively, I was
feeling apprehensive about being observed but they gave me some good
tips that I have since taken on. I still feel there is room for
improvement on my end to get students to talk more throughout the
lesson (I know ramble on and increase TTT*), correct their own and
each other's mistakes and all other things that should make a lesson
go smoothly and effectively.
I am
going to be observed again but this time by a new teacher at my
school. She's called E and is from New Zealand via South Africa.
Thankfully, she has taught before so this just the adjusting
fortnight for her like I had,he he! She has been in Jakarta for just
72 hours and had a taste of Jakarta night life last night. She was
carted off from Ladies Night to a Karaoke bar by yours truly and the
rest of the crew. I'm sure she's still sleeping with jet lag kicking
in and a wicked hangover,lol!
But
to come back to topic, I like being a teacher of English and I am
enjoying the variety of teaching as well. Who would have thought it eh?!
*DOS – Director of Studies
*TTT – Teacher Talking Time
(something to be kept low,oops!)
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