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Published: December 3rd 2009
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The week of my in-class TESOL course was fantastic. I learnt so much and met some wonderful, inspiring people.
On
Tuesday 13th of October, I met my class at Hoabinh Palace Hotel, on Hang Be Street. I sat with, and chatted to, Roslyn and Di and Dean. Di and Dean are a couple who live in WA - Dean is originally from New Zealand - really lovely people. It was so nice that they were doing the course together, and were able to help each other through it.
The course trainers were Jackie and Tobi - who I liked, initially, just cause he had the name Tobias; like Tobias Funke out of Arrested Development. Jackie went through the course timetable, which had changed from the email we had all received; she was interrupted a few times by the Hotel Manager - what a connoisseur - talking up his Hotel, trying to get us all to change from our current accommodation to Hoabinh Palace Hotel - funny to start with, then a little too much. The food there was amazing, I love Vietnamese cuisine!
The first day,
Wednesday 14th of October was full on - really set the standard for
Hanoi
The view from my Course Venue
- 'Hoabinh Palace Hotel' the course as a whole. I was so eager to learn, and do well - it was great to be in that kind of learning environment; where everyone is so enthusiastic and willing to be taught. There were about 20 students in my class - a good small number. The second and third day of our course was taught by only Tobi, as poor Jackie got food poisoning Wednesday night. She was in hospital off and on over the next two days.
I made friends with Sophie, from the Bay!!! Who works in Newcastle! Luke would come and have lunch with us throughout the week. We got along great! Us being the two young girls, I think we were automatically drawn to each other, but when we had so much in common and so much to talk about - it made every day at my course so much more fun!
I loved sitting with Di and Dean, Sophie, and another couple who were in the course - Kris and Olivia - New Zealanders - who had spent the past 2 years living in Byron Bay. They were both Chefs.
There were a lot of other lovely people in
my class, but these were the few that I was able to spend more time with and get to know.
We were split up a lot of the time in class - for group activities, which were really challenging, but I learnt a lot. I was excited that I was able to be confident in my class, that no one knew me, and, I set a really high standard for the effort I put in, and the activities I participated in.
It was great to have Jackie back in the class as a Trainer on day 4,
Saturday 17th October. She did so well to teach us after 2 days in hospital!
I loved hearing about our trainers, and their experience teaching English in other countries. Both Jackie and Tobi had taught in Japan, and their stories were really encouraging to hear.
On the second last day,
Saturday 17th of October, of our course, we were put into teams of 3 to deliver a full lesson to the other members of our class - for the last day, Sunday 18th October. We were all so nervous. My team was Tess, and Paul, our grammatical objective was difficult;
Elementary School
56 nine year olds! Second Conditional. We were the last group to present our lesson in front of the class and our trainers - which was good and bad…it meant we were nervous longer, and that we sat through all the other lessons before ours! It was great to see our class mates deliver lessons though, they all did so well; and we did also - what a relief it was after we finished! We all received our Statement of Attainment Certificate for our in-class modules that afternoon - very exciting! Also, we were given our timetable for our Prac. Teaching classes.
There were two different schools to teach at - Elementary and Secondary, and also to University Students wanting to learn English to become Tour Guides, they call themselves Hanoi Kids. For the schools, we were given the syllabus from their Teachers, at a meet and greet Monday 19th October. I had Tuesday to prepare for my lessons; I then taught at the secondary school - my first class of year 8 students Wednesday afternoon, straight after I had a class of year 9 students. On Thursday 22nd October I taught Hanoi Kids - which was amazing. For each lesson I prepared,
I was so nervous, I made sure I had extra activities, just in case, and I spent so much time perfecting my lesson plans. The time I spent preparing really paid off, and my lessons were very successful. I was so excited and happy that all my lessons went so smoothly.
The two lessons I taught at the Secondary School, on
Wednesday 21st October were with student’s age 14-15yrs. I was so nervous about going to this first school, as I had to do it all on my own. I was supposed to go with another student in my TESOL Course, but she was sick. So I hopped in the Taxi for a 160,000VND Taxi ride alone. I was a bit put-out once I got to the school, when the teacher of my first class told me she had taught the lesson, I’d spent hours preparing for, this morning - she asked me to teach another lesson! I sucked my disappointment and nervousness up, and thought, well this might happen in real life, and I need to just go with it - so I read through the lesson she was now asking me to teach - but was interrupted
by another Vietnamese Teacher, who told me that, no - I was to teach the lesson I had prepared, and the students would benefit from pronunciation - bless this Teacher!
Thursday 22nd October 2009 - The Hanoi Kids lesson was great - this was the class I was most nervous about teaching, as I had to create the whole lesson - the topic was up to me - while this sounds fun, it’s very time consuming to think of a good topic to teach a 45 minute lesson to University Students on! It was very rewarding though, that the students loved the class, and this was the class I was monitored on by my Trainer, Tobi. I received great feedback and felt more confident than ever.
I was lucky, and unlucky to have all of my Prac. Teaching over and done with 3 days after my in-class course - while this was challenging and stressful to create the 5 different lesson plans over 3 days, at the end, I was so grateful to have it over and done with before our Graduation dinner (Saturday 24th October). Most members of my class taught the week after our Graduation and weren’t
able to fully relax until everything was over and done with.
The last day,
Friday 23rd of October, of my Prac. Teaching was at an Elementary School, teaching Year 4 students - 8-9yrs old. Very cute! There were 56 students in each class! There are so many children in Hanoi! I taught the same lesson 4 times that morning, to a different 56 students each time. They loved my lessons, and the teachers did also. The Principal came in at one point to take pictures of me teaching.
One of the Teachers had her daughter, Ha, come in, who is a University Student, to talk to me about University in Australia. It’s very flattering that the Vietnamese are so respectful and appreciative of the time you spend with them. Ha invited Luke and I to her family’s house for dinner - in appreciation of me helping her - we haven’t been yet, for reasons of being too busy / sick - but can’t wait to have the opportunity to experience the true Vietnamese at home.
I learnt a lot from my Prac. Teaching. I loved that I was confident to go to each school by myself - for the Elementary School, I did everything without Luke-e. I started teaching early that Friday morning, so I walked out our Alley, to the main street by myself, and caught a ‘Xe Om’ (Motorbike-Taxi) there, and then another one home. I loved riding on the back of the Motorbike all dressed up in my Teaching Clothes. I had to ride side-saddle, with my butchers paper in one hand - Haha! 😊
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