As you can see, it has been quite some time since I have added anything to my blog. It has been a strange moment of my life since leaving Teacher's College. I had a rough time psychologically for some time. I found myself in tears often, acted more than strange towards friends and family members, and I nearly felt as though I was heading in the wrong direction for teaching. However, I triumphed despite the worry and the silliness of trying to perfect each lesson. After reflecting on my lessons, I recall my best ones were the most messy, randomly inspired, and included the most improvisation as the class unfolded. I thank the students, my lovely boyfriend and family for the encouragement and the enthusiasm that I have it in me to be potentially a great teacher some day!!! Let's hope it comes to fruition.
So where have I been, and what am I juggling now? Well, I was lucky enough to be hired by Columbia International College (CIC) this summer as a ESL summer camp teacher for just under two months. This job was a joy, and much more casual than your typical classroom. CIC asked the summer camp teachers to facilitate conversation in all of the activities and lessons which we prepared for our students. Unlike a typical class, we indulged in more games, did not have dreadful homework to assign, and we did not have any numerical assessment to correlate with our student's learning. Although we did have progress reports and observations to document on each student's oral communication and participation during their stint at CIC, our focus was speaking and listening in an environment which connoted learning English in a fun, yet practical landscape. During these classes, I met many brilliant little minds from Venezuela, China, Brazil, Russia, and Japan. Unlike my practice teaching for Western, I was with students much younger in age, and they held an "immediate" level of English language skills. Again, this was a wonderful experience, and brought back some sunshine in my teaching enthusiasm stride! Not only do I find (speaking from teaching in an international context, and instructing ESL students in a domestic context) that most international students are much more respectful of the learning space, their students, and myself as a teacher, they do not come to class with angst,
