Lesson 1 Basic English

I decided to become a supply teacher for 1 lesson at an adult learning centre - I received a phone call the night before asking if I wanted to stand in.  I was reluctant at first as I have never taught English before and the fact that the original teacher just left with no mention of what the students were learning and how far they were into their learning made me very nervous...

All I knew was the students are foreigners hoping to speak everyday English and they are foundation level.  There were no lesson plans to view what has been taught and no scheme of work.

I searched extensively on the Internet for resources and decided to teach something simple as I didn't know their level of English.  I found a worksheet on the Internet for Vocabulary which was simple and didn't require any prior knowledge and I found a simple worksheet for family vocabulary.

On the day, I arrived 1 hour early and that was due to the head telling me the wrong time!  The positive thing is I arrived in good time which gave me a chance to get used to the classroom.  The classroom was small and there are only about 7 students in this class which makes the size of the room sufficient.

The students were in their 40s plus and they were all quite friendly.  I taught them the vocab and asked them to complete the worksheet.  I did have other materials prepared but 2 hours went by very quick and I couldn't get through the other worksheets.

Feedback is essential in teaching as it tells the teacher whether the teaching has been well received.  A couple students mentioned that their teacher taught the same as me but she uses the board as well which I did not as I was only teaching them vocabulary from a worksheet.  They also mentioned that although vocabulary is useful, they need to know how to use it in a sentence.  1 student mentioned that she can hear my English more clearly than their own teacher as their teacher is a foreigner so sometimes her accent is quite hard to hear.

I decided after the lesson that I would continue teaching this class until the students have had enough of me!  

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