Advanced Adult English Class

I just realized that tomorrow will be the first Wednesday night that I will have free because the Advanced Adult English Class I was teaching is now finished. 

For the past 10 weeks (keeping in mind the students and I had a 2 week break for Christmas/New Years) I have been teaching an advanced English class for 10-15 adult students who live in Tarui.  Each class began at 7:00 and ended at 8:30…or 8:35/8:40 (I always lose track of time).  

I spent a lot of time typing up materials (there were no resources provided for me to use…which is bad because I had to make everything but it’s great because I can teach with a lot of freedom) and creating power-point presentations.  When I finally taught about two classes, I realized I had to go back to the drawing board because my students were more interested in conversational English and listening skills than simply getting a packet of information every week.  I didn’t plan for that and I wasn’t sure how I was going to teach "conversational English". 

But after about the 4^th class in, I felt really comfortable and happy.  Here is a picture of my students:

Now I spent a lot of extra spare time for this course.  I was always worried that I wasn't doing a good enough job for these wonderful people.  Since I spent a lot of time prepping, planning, and stressing over this course, part of me wanted it to be over.  I hate to admit that, but I was really worrying and stressing about whether I was going to do a good enough job…so a very small part of me wanted it to be over.  The other previous ALTs had written about how much they enjoyed teaching the course and how they were sad when it was over.  But part of me was tired of worrying about the class.  Again, I need to stress that the students were great...I was tired of stressing-out about the course and that's the only reason I wanted it to be over.  But, as you know, be very careful for what you wish for.

Like I said, after about 4 classes in, I finally hit my stride.  At class 6 or 7, I was really getting into the classes and enjoying my students and I wasn’t even stressed in the slightest bit anymore.  And then it happened.  Last Wednesday was my final class.  And I was terribly sad that night when we said our goodbyes and I walked home alone.

The class had a wide range of people, who differed from age and personality.  But everyone was very supportive of each other and had a great sense of humor.  In my opinion, there English skills were amazing (even if they doubted their abilities) and perhaps that is why I also struggled with my planning: I wanted to challenge them while keeping them interested in English.  They are all very kind, warm, intelligent and fun people.  I miss their smiles and their laughter already.

But before I continue gushing on and curse the free time I will have every Wednesday night, I will have one more day with my lovely class.  One of my students has organized a field trip for the group this Sunday.  We are to meet at the station at 9:30.  I am so happy that we have this time together once again.  So be prepared to see a new posting next week about my field trip with my students, and be prepared to see pictures of me smiling from ear to ear!!

BONUS MATERIAL:

As some of you may know, I'm currently taking a Japanese class Thursday evenings.  I thought I'd show a couple of pictures of the students and the teachers/organizers.  Can you guess who are the teachers and who are the students?  Hint: the students are sitting down;-)

The man in the purple/blue dress shirt has been my sensei for the past few months.  He's being goofy in the picture, but don't let that persuade you into thinking he's not a very good teacher.  He's very kind and patient...and keep in mind that the students in his class are learning beginner Japanese and we all speak very different languages.  Some of us speak Chinese, others Portuguese, and me, English.  Yet he is still able to teach us various words, sentences, and grammatical points.  Simply astounding!