Teaching Thus Far

The first week has come to an end. This job isn't particularly hard but it can be a challenge. Most classes fall into one of two categories: quiet or out of control. The quiet classes are nice because by offering incentives to participate some dialogue will usually progress. They can be challenging though, especially when the only way to create the dialogue is to call on random kids or just teach to those who actually want to be there. Usually there will be a couple that are interested in learning English, but don't want to be singled out. My policy on those students is: too bad. The other kind of class, the out of control ones, are usually led by one or two bastard kids. I haven't yet figured out the trick to managing these kinds of classes, aside from relentlessly picking on the problem kids--which works okay. Both of my terrible classes are at the end of the block, meaning that I have them for their last class of the day and they want nothing more than to just go home.

Some of my classes are fun, most I'm indifferent towards, and only a few are stressful. Mondays and Fridays suck the most, the students are the same for both days and the classes are the student's last class of the day; it also doesn't help that classes are 70 minutes long. Tuesday's and Thursday's classes are only 45 minutes long, if the class sucks I don't have to be there that long. But on M and F I find myself counting down the clock along with the students. I have found an excellent way to deal with the stresses of teaching, smoking.

I've taken up a new hobby, cigarettes.