Day two: lesson planning and group's first teaching practice

A lot goes into planning a lesson. Even a 30 minute slot seems to need a lot of thought put into it -- overall aims, language/vocab/grammar to present, and a stage-by-stage plan for what the teacher will do and say, and what the students might do or say.

In the afternoon four of our group of six taught. They all gave excellent lessons I thought. Of course they all had som areas to work on such as using Concept Checking Questions, increasing Student time over Teacher Time, and other CELTAisms, but this was starting from a basis of being competent teachers, able to hold their own in front of 20 students.

I feel very nervous about my own 30 minutes tomorrow, because for me 90% of the battle is actually the 'public speaking' side of it. Will my nerves get the better of me and make a fool of me in front of everyone?

I got quite a lot of detailed help from the tutor on how I should run my 30 mins, and I have sat and thought it out carefully (even writing out a 'script' to get it straight in my head, although of course I won't be referring to that during the lesson!), but whether I'll be able to present any sort of coherent approximation to that great, relaxed lesson in my head in front of 20 pairs of eyes remains to be seen.

Reading the Teaching Practice Handbook this evening has cheered me up a bit by reminding me that TP (Teaching Practice) is just that -- like a dry run of actual teaching. It even says that making mistakes and things going wrong is sometimes more useful that a smooth-running lesson. More useful for the trainee teachers that is -- both myself and my fellow trainees. From the students point of view, they do expect to get taught, and be kept engaged, and have some fun, and al the other expectations they would have of any teacher (even though they're getting these lessons free). I really have to remember to concentrate on the frame that its a game, a test, a closed world, an opportunity to screw up and try out different things. Rather than thinking its the real world and that it really matters what those people think of me.

It's interesting because teaching language is different than teaching another subject, because communication is not just the means of teaching, it is the teaching. You need to develop a social rapport with your students, chat to them, be interested in their lives, respond appropriately to their interest in yours, and so on. A bit like a cocktail party. Of course going on behind that you are scheming away Machiavellianly making sure they get practise in certain vocabulary or grammatical structures, but really that should almost be concealed from them. There are tricks of teaching people language, but that stuff has to live on a firm foundation of basic establishment of a social rapport.

It's curious that I am doing this course when I have never (in 29 years) really managed to develop good social skills. Why do I think that I will be able to now? Well, for one, I think I might be able to fake it. It is a closed world, even in a 'real' teaching environment. It is artificial. It is limited in time and scope. You can just pretend. Maybe all social interaction is about pretending, but pretending/acting in a classroom seems much more manageable than trying or having to do it 24/7 in your daily life.

The other thought I have is that someone once said to me that you only get good at public speaking when you get relaxed, and that only comes with practise. Do a challenging thing enough and it just becomes routine. I hope that's true. I guess I'll find out.

Also, there are the technical aspects of teaching to distract from the social element. At a cocktail party there is only the social element: if you meet someone with a common interest in politics or motorcycle maintenance and end up in a corner having a great discussion for 3 hours until everyone else has left, you have failed. That knowledge, that you must be 100% aware of your social performance, and not let any technical considerations come into play at any time, is responsible for a lot of anxiety. In teaching, there are valid technical considerations too, and you can use those as a comfort blanket when the social side is going less well or seems hard.