Why I'm Here

This Tuesday, I had 5 hours of classes. Every two weeks, I will have SIX hours of classes on Tuesdays. It's a bit long, but also cool, because when I'm actually teaching in Canada I'll have to be at school all day, so it's good to get used to it beforehand. I taught secondes, premieres and BTS. Each group is completely different- the secondes are 14 or 15, and some of them have trouble understanding me when I speak because they're really not used to hearing English. As for the premieres, they're a bit more experienced, but they were really hesitant to speak, even though I knew that some of them are quite good at English (having taught them in a different class). It was a bit frustrating, especially since I was really tired and not in the best mood. I hope that they couldn't tell, because it was the first time I'd taught most of them and I want them to feel comfortable with me, and making a bad first impression really isn't the best way to go about it.... As for the BTS, they're my age, mostly guys, and the majority of them have about the same English skills as the secondes, or even less. I could tell that some of them were embarrassed when asking me to repeat myself, but at least they still asked. I hope that I will manage to make them feel like they shouldn't be embarrassed soon, because really, we're all learning together. Sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing, but I just have to keep going, fumbling along and hopefully getting it right most of the time. Yesterday wasn't perfect. There were silent moments. I had to let my BTS students out early because one of the websites I wanted to show them wasn't working. The lesson I planned for my secondes took longer than I thought, so I had to give them a small amount of homework. I was totally drained by the end of the day, but also really satisfied, because I tried, because I was challenging myself. The more I teach, the more I learn about my students and about teaching and planning, the better I'll be. That's why I'm here.