English T-e-e-e-a-c-h-e-r

I began practice teaching this week to prepare for the university I will be working at in Manta. Wednesday, 7:00am my team and I prepared a simple lesson for a basic English level class. We taught things such as the rules and how to greet one another. We were very impressed with the amount of vocabulary they knew. Thursday & Friday was my turn to teach solo. I was not nervous, but I was cautious of teaching adults. In the past, I  only experienced working with children so this was a big change for me. I have to admit-I absolutely loved it and had a great time.

I started with introducing how to use their vocabulary knowledge in the correct context. For example, I went over subjects such as I, my, you, he, she and possessive words such as his, her, and your. I played a fun tic-tac-toe game where the students had to come up with sentences using their vocabulary knowledge and the words they had just learned. I played music in the background and we all had a blast! My students called me teacher, but it sounds more like t-e-e-e-e-a-c-h-e-r-r.

SECAP 

The next lesson I taught corresponded with the previous lesson and how to speak about location (next to, in front of, behind, on, & under). We played "kick-ball" in the classroom. I had prepared a ball with layers of paper that had short sentences where the students had to fill in the blank. I played some Adele in the background, and when the music stopped, whomever had the paper ball in front of them had to complete the problem. They loved it! I think with the music, me dancing, and showing how much I was excited to be there-made all the difference in the world. My students felt comfortable and were excited to learn!

For location, I came up with drawings. With partners the students had to talk about where objects were in the picture. For example, the girl is next to the boy OR the apple is on the table. They got the hang of it and eventually got to create their own pictures to share with the class. See some examples below!

After de-briefing with our Field Director, I feel that I am on the right path to becoming an English teacher here in Ecuador. Only teaching for three days so far has opened my eyes for my future. One of my reasonings for coming to Ecuador was not only to learn more about myself but to recognize whether or not teaching is right for me. Teaching comes natural, I love it, and I know it is something I will continue to do in the near future!