As I hope you are well aware, I have re-located to Vancouver for a month, and am officially a CELTA Student. The homework tonight is not heavy, and I feel really excited and like sharing, so, well, that’s what I am going to do! This might be a little jumbled, I have so many thoughts that they flow when they want! Hopefully it still makes sense though! I think I have my train situation figured out, but for the most part, Sean is driving us all to Vancouver since we have to be there within an hour of each other. Today, I took the skytrain part way home on my own, purposely missing one train so that I could meet Erin on the next one. Since it wasn’t time for the train home, we had Sean (who was off today) meet us at the skytrain station instead of the train station we could walk home from. I will have to do this ride alone a fair bit I think. There will be days when I need to stay late at school.
There are seven students in my class. We have a wide range of experience with ESL in our group. We have two students who have taught overseas with no qualifications of any sort. We have a guy who has dappled into teaching ESL in Vancouver area. We have a man with an Education Masters who has never taught in his life (he did more administrative work). We have a teacher who is not qualified in Canada to teach because his school does not transfer. We have me, who has played in Africa, needing to be able to work with ESL students, but not necessarily teach them, and we have a girl who has just finished her Bachelor’s but wants to go overseas. I think the variety of our experiences will really enhance our class! I am happy to have a chance to work with each of them!
We have been broken into two teaching practice groups. The Education Master and a man who has taught in Korea make up my group. The groups were evenly divided and are very compatible. The three of us start with the intermediate class. The other 4 start with the beginner class. The classes we teach are free afternoon classes offered to anyone. Many of the students are repeat students taking the course each month. For a lot of them, these courses are their main opportunity to speak English. We only had three intermediate students show up today, but we are promised it was only because it was raining so hard all day. Of these students, most of them live with other people of their culture and find themselves reversing back when they get home. One girl who is living with her extended family told me that her cousin would talk to her other cousins in English, but would speak to her in Cantonese. She said she has asked her cousin to speak to her in English as well, but the cousin always reverts to the native language. Chris, Richard and I will teach this intermediate class for the next two weeks while our counterparts teach the beginners class. At two weeks, we will switch classes. CELTA requires that we become proficient at teaching two distinct levels of ESL learners. Each week we will also have a different one of the tutors watching our classwork so that we get a varied response on our skills. I think I have tomorrow’s lesson figured out. However, I am still thinking about what I would like to put on the flag about Jenna that I have to make to compliment Richard’s lesson before mine.
Essentially, Chris, Richard and I will be a “three-headed teacher” for the next month. Our lessons have to complement each other and to work together. We will be given a topic and have to carry it through. Currently, we were given exactly what our lesson is supposed to look like, but we still had to do the prep work for it. I am responsible for an icebreaker game (which we did in our own class today). I had to change the questions from our game to suite my learners and I have to present it clearly to the class tomorrow afternoon. However, they walk me through exactly the steps I should take, I merely have to do it and do it well enough! By week four, we will be given a topic, and the three of us will each plan our own lesson, but we will have to plan it together so that we can essentially pick up where the previous teacher had to leave off. Obviously, we are required to finish our own lesson and not just leave it hanging, but still, as a three-headed teacher, we need to collaborate!
Our marks are based on a holistic look at everything we do. We will teach 2-3 times a week (there are no teaching lessons on Fridays, but we still have school). We do a written assignment every weekend. It doesn’t matter if you fail one assignment, you can still pass the course. And, they mark you on improvement. Obviously, they know that not all of their students have prior teaching experience (it is not a requirement to take the course), and that we are not all going to be perfect coming out! In fact, they don’t expect us to be perfect at all, not even at the end! But improvement and up to speed is a necessity.
For a girl who has felt incredibly nervous about it all, day one has left me calm and collected. We didn’t do too much during class today, but it was still a full day. We did ice breakers and talked about the program. We met our students. We ended an hour early (and it’s still 930 when I am writing this). The homework load was light – mainly to read the paperwork they gave us today, and to do the planning of tomorrow’s lesson (as described above!). Although I am not quite done my homework, it was light enough. I know it will get heavier, but you know that you only have to make a lesson plan for a maximum of three days. We are only required to teach for 6 hours in the next month, and to watch 6 hours of a professional teacher of ESL students. Our first observation time is Wednesday morning. It looks like we start and end early on Observation Day, which is a different day each week. I also know that we are not yet at the part that I might struggle with, but I am still thinking confidently.
I do this “mood test” online, supposedly every day. The test is pretty lame – it asks if I am scared, afraid, distressed, nervous among 16 others, but it is the ones that seem to cover themselves multiple times that bother me. It doesn’t care how tired you are, or anything else, but it makes sure you know how afraid you are! Anyways, I haven’t done it since I moved to Vancouver, but I did it today. I got one of my highest scores today. It is because although I am still nervous, I am feeling more confident about being here and that I really can do this! (I know, we have all been telling me that for weeks).
Anyways. I wanted to let you know that I survived day one and have full plans of surviving the next 27 days! I don’t think I will get a Pass-A, but I am aiming for a Pass-B. Something I read today said that only 3-4% receive a Pass-A, 6-7% get a Pass-B and 20-25% get a Pass (which still gets you jobs everywhere). I know that doesn’t add up to enough, but that is what it said! It also said that 6-7% voluntarily drop out, and about the same number fail. I won’t fail and I won’t drop out, so that leaves me above that 14%!!
Thanks for supporting me! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!
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