You only get to teach your first lesson once! Make sure to make it count. Read below on how to ace your first class and make a wonderful impression on your students.
Know your students and your classroom
Before you step foot into the classroom, try to learn as much as you can about your students. How many of them will there be? What are their approximate ages? Are they mostly male, female, or an equal mix? Is the class one nationality or a mix of different nationalities? Finally, what are their expectations? What do they expect of you as a teacher?
Got that? Good! Now find out about your classroom.
Each classroom is going to have some unique qualities. The last thing you want
to do is walk into a classroom blind without knowing what to expect. Get the
details beforehand and give it a look. Once you see the classroom, think a bit
about the arrangement and what you can do to personalize the space. Obviously,
this might be impossible for some situations (you are sharing the room with
another teacher), but whatever you can do to make the space more
personalized/unique, do it!
Plan an engaging lesson
It’s easy to botch your first lesson and make it dull. Don’t
fall into the trap of creating a boring hour of you lecturing your students to
sleep while you all pray for it to end as fast as possible. Instead, plan out
what you want to do in advance and incorporate a variety of activities that
include group/pair work.
Give yourself enough time to get all of your materials prepared. Also, use
materials that serve no other purpose but to make the lesson fun. If you have
media, props, and pictures that you can bring in, great. The idea is to make
your first lesson memorable.
In terms of content, stick to material/language points that you are comfortable
with. It is usually better to underestimate your class than to overestimate
them. This being said, don’t go into your class without some solid materials
that you can teach and they can learn from.
Now practice… and then practice again
New teachers will spend hours just looking at their lesson
plans. This. Doesn’t. Help. It will only stress you out and make you second
guess everything you have prepared. Instead, get up (preferably in a classroom)
and practice your lesson. Practice all of the different parts and skills you’ll
need to be successful.
OMG, you’re teaching! Watch out for these things
Now you are in the thick of it all and you’ve got a whole
bunch of eyes on you. This is a surreal experience for all new teachers, and
that’s really easy to understand. Most of our lives, we spend our time as
students. Now, you’re the one up in front of the class.
A few points to look out for are the following.
- Greet
students when they come in
- Pass
out name tags (they are easy to make)
- Have
all of your materials organized
- Keep
your TTT low
- Work
on your volume
- Use
big gestures
- Monitor
and error correct
- Avoid
long stretches of lecturing (use a lot of group/pair work)
- Have a
glass of water or something to drink
- Elicit
and concept check as much as possible
- Keep
track of time
- Exit
gracefully (end your lesson at a specific point that is planned with a
‘have a nice day’ or something like that)
As mentioned earlier, it’s a great idea to run through your
lesson a few times with a friend or colleague. There is so much you can learn
by actually practicing your content (from start to finish) in advance.
Lastly… HAVE FUN! Teaching your first lesson is exciting. You’ll do great. If
for whatever reason things don’t go exactly as planned, you always have the
next lesson to learn and improve.