Back to school

My wish to be back at the school teaching finally came true! Even though it was just for 3 days of relief teaching over the last 2 weeks, I was very happy to go back. I met my ex-colleagues & ex-students who were both surprised and happy to see me. I felt a sense of belonging there but know that I can't go back there for good.

I realised relief teaching is quite different from teaching as a permanent teacher coz (1) I don't know the kids & don't have to try hard to know them since that's probably the one & only time I'd see them. (2) I could just let them play games or go through the textbooks briefly coz my boss also doesn't expect much from a relief teacher. They just want someone to sit in class to "take care of the monkeys" for that period. (3) I can scold or ignore them coz I won't be back! hahaha

One other thing I've learnt from this experience is my ability or lack of ability to handle kids with almost zero knowledge of English. The classes I relieved were the C-class, most of whom have little or no basic English background. All the while I've had B-class students with an intermediate grasp of the English language, so it was easy to get my message across by speaking slowly.

This round when it came to kids w/o basic English, I realised speaking slowly doesn't work! It had to be combined with pictures, actions & hoping that someone in that class knows enough to translate correctly. Now I understand why those Jap speaking teachers use Jap to teach English. Coz it's so much more convenient & easier to put a message across! However I still believe that's not beneficial to the kids in the long run. They will end up waiting for translations all the time and will not have the motivation to learn English.

I think I didn't do very well in teaching them (the C-class). Many looked lost. Maybe I spoke too fast. Maybe they didn't understand my intonation or use of words. Haiz....I wonder if I'm able to handle C-class students on that little island.