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Published: February 11th 2007
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My SAT Class
Back row: Chaucer, me, Allen
Front row: Michelle, Jessica, Mavis, and Kerry The Chinese New Year is February 18th, which means all the schools in Shenzhen are on holiday until the end of the month, which means I have little to do for my job because all the teachers are traveling in SE Asia or various parts of China. So, to fill up my time (well, really to make some extra money) I accepted a 6-day job teaching the writing portion of an SAT Prep class.
Now, keep in mind that I haven't actually taught English inside a classroom for six years. I've done a bit of tutoring, but really I've kept my teaching activities to a minimum because my job keeps me busy enough and because I'm too selfish with my free time to give it up to a regular tutoring job. Last month I accepted a short-term tutoring stint helping a young Chinese woman, Cherry, prepare for the essay section of the IELTS (International English Language Testing System), a test similar to the TOEFL but taken by students wishing to go to England or Australia to study. Cherry had already taken the IELTS three times, but always scored a 5 on the essay section, which brought her total score down below 6.5, her desired score. So, I briefly helped her prepare for her fourth attempt which was scheduled for the end of January. After working with her, I was worried that I wasn't any help at all and that she'd regret paying me when she didn't score higher on the test. I was even more worried about this after she took the test and sent me a text message saying how awful the essay section was. Unfortunately, it would take three weeks to get her score.
So, on the first day of the SAT class, I was still toting around fears and insecurities about my teaching ability. Basically, I was certain that someone would realize I'm just a big English teaching fraud. Never mind that I took a 3-credit TESL course at the University of Memphis prior to coming to teach in Shenzhen seven years ago. Never mind that I've sat through and assisted five TEFL trainings for work over the past three years. Never mind that I have one year of teaching experience at a public school here in Shenzhen. Never mind that I'm the National Coordinator of an English teaching organization with over 100 teachers in China. I just knew that the company hosting the SAT class was going to decide that I didn't know what I was doing and they would fire me. Or worse, they would unleash the parents of the students on me. (The parents who were paying a pretty penny for their son or daughters to attend this foreign-teacher-led SAT Prep class.) My fears seemed confirmed when the students gave only luke-warm reception to my first class.
After the first class I went home and decided that I needed to develop a super-duper lesson plan for Day 2 if I was going to convince everyone that I could, indeed, teach. I planned and planned and planned. Then I asked Sen to suggest some activities for the class. (He's my most valuable resource. He's taken so many English classes in his life that he always has suggestions about what activities are both interesting and useful.)
Thankfully, the second class went much better than the first class. The students were interested, they seemed to be learning something and making progress, and afterwards the company told me that they were very pleased with my teaching. And, when I checked my phone after class, I had a message from Cherry saying that she had received a 6 on the IELTS essay and she was very happy because her overall score was 6.5.
I spent the rest of the day walking on air! I felt such pride for my students who were making improvements in their writing and I was so excited to be part of the reason for the improvement. I had attained the Teaching High. Nothing could bring me down for the rest of the day and I'm sure that all my friends got tired of hearing about my wonderful teaching day at dinner that night. But I didn't care about them, I was euphoric!
The last four days of the SAT class went very well and one of the students even asked me to tutor her privately after the holiday. The company hosting the class told me they would call me again next time they have a short-term writing course (and I think they meant it). I think I'm still on a little bit of a teaching high and every time someone asks me what I've been doing this month, I can't help but tell them all about my teaching experience. And, I think I've finally realized that I'm not a teaching fraud - I'm a teacher! (Well, not all the time, obviously, as I have another job; but I can be one when I want to be one!)
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non-member comment
Great.
Congrats Dawn. I am proud of you.