Teaching Here 'n There, Part II

Today I'm fortunate enough to begin two new classes with students that I had already taught during the last session. I feel very lucky, first because I didn't wake-up with those first day jitters from having to walk into a classroom of people that you don't know, and second because these students requested to have me continue as their teacher into the next course. I think that the level of comfort that students feel in a classroom is really relevant in their learning process, and what I enjoy most about these two classes is how much the students like and respect one another. The group dynamic is positive and fun, and I am just lucky enough to have been assigned to them in the first place.

Teaching adults is something that I'd never done before, so it's been nice not only to have adult classes, but to also to have the experience of teaching classes away from a school or from the institute. For example, I just started teaching a new class of 3 students that meets in the corporate office of a business here in Santiago. One of the negatives that I had sometimes felt about teaching in a high school was the monotony. I envied my friends who had different schedules everyday or meetings that would take them out of the office. Although commuting at the height of the day isn't my favorite thing to do, the positive side is that it gets me out and about in my new city and puts me in contact with new adults in different occupations and job settings.

Another big difference to note is the amount of class time that I spend here with my teen students. At home I was teaching them for 50 minutes a day for 180 days. Here my teen classes only meet once a week for 3 hours for about 4 months. Although I started with them in mid-August, it seems like we really only got to know one another within the last several weeks. It's a lot more difficult to establish that rapport with kids that you only see one day a  week instead of 5. It's also very challenging to plan a lesson for that long of a time period. I was accustomed to doing at least 3 activities with my teenagers at home during a 50 minute time period, so having a successful 3 hour class here requires a really tight lesson plan with an even greater variety of activities. I've already become so used to teaching classes of 80-240 minutes that I think going back to the 50 minute schedule will seem way too short!