Practice teaching is…
This September, I went to the junior high school attached to Mie University to do my practice teaching. I enjoyed the work but found it very, very exhausting.
Fellow students who went to junior high included Masami, Chie, Yukiko, Yukari, Kazuaki, Daijiro and me. I taught English to first-year students, and the other girls (Masami, Chie, Yukiko and Yukari) taught it to second-year students. The boys (Kazuaki and Daijiro) taught third-year students. We helped each other with preparing classes.
We had to go to the school at 8:15 in the morning. I went there at eight because I wanted to prepare classes and I didn’t want to hurry. At 8:30, there is the time to read books. Students start reading and I also read a book. By noon, students have four classes. Lunchtime begins at 12:40. By 13:40 the students play! What surprised me was that some students go to the tennis court to play soft tennis! I sometimes taught them and we had a good time.
I have a lot of things to say… so if you have questions, please comment.
Comments
Welcome back, Ayumi and other junior guys.
How was teaching? Were you exhausted? Had fun? Enjoyed teaching? Don’t want it anymore? Anyway, I hope you had a good experience.
When I did my practice teaching some years ago at an attached junior high school, I found many difficult things: the atomosphere in the teacher’s room was not so nice, relationship between teachers and students seemed odd to me… So, in the beginning I wondered whether I should be a teacher or not but I gradually came to enjoy teaching.
Well, let me tell you something as a teacher or sempai. You have to notice that attached schools are totally different from other public schools. Those who felt tired in an attached school don’t have to give up their dream to be a teacher. That’s what I think.
pketh :: October 9, 2003
My first and only teaching experience came in the form of a volunteer position I took when I was grade 12 (when I was 16ish I think), the reason I took it was I was looking for a paying job and having volunteer experience was supposed to help with that..
anyways, I tutored much younger students (about grades 2 to 6) in stuff like math and whatever else they would be having problems on. Contrary to my original expectations, I actually enjoyed working with young children (maybe ‘cause there was little expectation of maturity from me :D) and so now in the back of my head I’ll always keep teacher as a possible career for me in the future.
Have you ever thought about/tried teaching young students? If so, how did it compare to you?
Well, I’m now teaching 15-18 year-old students. When I was a student, I thought it was nice to teach young kids. As a practice teaching, I taught math to children aged 8. They were so good. But I was studying English teaching and there were not many elementary schools where English was taught. That’s why I didn’t choose an elementary school to work for.
Then there are two choices left for me: a junior high school or a senior high school. Well, in Japan it is our duty to go to elementary and junior high schools. Almost all the schools have same rules, discipline, and students don’t have right to choose a school they want to attend.
On the other hand, students choose a high school (though there are little varieties of discipline between schools too). And if they want to quit school, they can leave. If they don’t follow the rules, we can make them leave.
Now do you understand why I chose a high school?
p.s. Pketh, I think a little immaturity is important for teachers.
Thanks for the comments!
>How did the experience compare with your expectations?
I thought that junior high school students wanted to be treated as adults, and that they would be relatively mature. But they are very young and childlike! I think they still acted like elementary school students.
>How did you get along with the students?
They were friendlier than I expected. One of the students came to ask for advice and I helped her. Her talk was serious, so I was very glad she asked me.
>What did you learn about teaching?
Umm… teaching… I think this occupation is very difficult. Teaching subjects is a matter of course, and the further work is necessary. It is educational guidance.
>Did you get along with the teachers who supervised your work?
Ha-Ha! I did not get along with the person in charge of my practice teaching. I could not understand the person, who told me to go home by seven. When I wanted to prepare for classes, I was forced to go home, so I couldn’t go to the soft tennis club.
>You have to notice that attached schools are totally different from other public schools.
Yes, I understood that very well. Students are too cooperative and they are used to trainee teachers.
Through this practice teaching, I got a lot of things.
Commenting on this entry is closed.
Hi Ayumi-san: welcome back!
Well, yes: the obvious questions: How did the experience compare with your expectations? How did you get along with the students? What did you learn about teaching?
Then, the school itself: a recent semi-official document conceded that students who teach there often have “difficulties” with the “conservative” style of that school. How did that play out? Did you get along with the teachers who supervised your work? Did you learn anything from their assessment of your work?
In a way, they were giving you an extra-hard time: teaching is hard enough, but it’s a relatively straightforward thing, a single activity. In contrast, teaching under supervision is far more complicated since instead of doing one thing and trying to do it well, it forces you to do two things simultaneously: in addition to teaching your students, you’re also playing up to an audience. How did you cope with that?
My own first teaching experience, by the way, was a complete disaster. As a part-time job, I was teaching a group of housewives aged 45 to 86, and we simply never clicked. They were a very tight-knit group that used to be held together by a female teacher somewhere in their own age range, and in their view I never measured up to the previous teacher. Oh well. The whole thing fell apart after the first term: the class was cancelled because an insufficient number of participants enrolled for a second term. I later learned that the group simply went to another language school where, I hope, they found a teacher more to their liking.
I’m sure you did a lot better than I did.