My day starts late because I don't usually get up until about 11 a.m. I work at night from 3 p.m. to about 9 p.m. so I can afford to sleep in. When I finally do decide to greet the day, I start to think about my classes and what fun activities I will do that day with them. I teach 12-16 year old teens, so they love activities and games. I have 3-4 different classes each day so i need 3-4 different lesson plans. I really enjoy it though and I am getting more comfortable with winging it and not having everything so planned out. I have found that the lessons are much more enjoyable if they happen organically.
I have become fond of my students even though I really wanted to kill most of them upon our first meeting. During the first week of teaching, I was determined to be the cool teacher that all the kids liked and we would be best friends forever:)....hahahahaha....I was so naive back then (only 4 weeks ago!). Well as soon as I experienced a little dose of teenage attitude and sass, I knew that dream was doomed. The whole first week I was overwhelmed by all my new classes and the kids broke me. I had the weekend to recuperate, however, and I decided to come back with a vengeance and to show them that Shayla Gibbens has a bit of attitude and sass to throw back at them!
I disciplined the crap out of them and all my little trouble-makers learned real quick not to mess with me. I was kicking them out of class right and left and employed a few unconventional tactics such as throwing balled up sheets of paper at them (I would have a basket of paper balls ready to fire if need be) and clapping loudly in their faces. I was used to teaching adults in the training program so when I was situated with teenagers I had to find my footing. The amazing thing is that the kids love me! They think when I throw stuff at them that it is hilarious and we all laugh together about it.....but they also know when I mean business. My boss told me that kids love a fascist and I took it to heart.
Now I can't imagine teaching adults again because I am so used to teenagers. Even the trouble-makers, I love to pieces and we all have a great time. I have found that music is the bridge I needed to link the generational gap. They love doing fill-in-the-blank activities with song lyrics. So I play a song and they fill in the lyrics and then we all sing along. I do this once a week in all my classes. We have been told to keep it down quite a few times and I take it as a good sign that we are all so rowdy:)
My favorite classes that I teach are my Cambridge Exam classes. The students are advanced level and are trying to pass one of the Cambridge Exams so that they can get into university or get a better paying job. I love playing word games and doing word morphology because I really get to use my classical background (they told me that is why they gave me these classes). And unlike the majority of my other classes (whose parents make them go to English school), these students want to be there and they are intrinsically motivated to learn English. We all have such a great time and I treat them by teaching them phrases such as, "It's all good in the hood" and "Don't get all up in my grill!". They reciprocate and teach me some funny Russian phrases like, "Shashleek Mashleek". Shashleek is the American equivalent of a barbecue in the woods, and they just make up a rhyming word such as "mashleek" to make it sound funny. It is like in English when we are indifferent about something such as a camera and we would say, "camera schmamera, who cares?".
I am elated that I have found a passion in teaching and that I enjoy it so much. I love the cultural interaction and working with these kids. No day is boring or lackluster. I have always wanted to work with people and now I really feel like I am in the people business:)
I have become fond of my students even though I really wanted to kill most of them upon our first meeting. During the first week of teaching, I was determined to be the cool teacher that all the kids liked and we would be best friends forever:)....hahahahaha....I was so naive back then (only 4 weeks ago!). Well as soon as I experienced a little dose of teenage attitude and sass, I knew that dream was doomed. The whole first week I was overwhelmed by all my new classes and the kids broke me. I had the weekend to recuperate, however, and I decided to come back with a vengeance and to show them that Shayla Gibbens has a bit of attitude and sass to throw back at them!
I disciplined the crap out of them and all my little trouble-makers learned real quick not to mess with me. I was kicking them out of class right and left and employed a few unconventional tactics such as throwing balled up sheets of paper at them (I would have a basket of paper balls ready to fire if need be) and clapping loudly in their faces. I was used to teaching adults in the training program so when I was situated with teenagers I had to find my footing. The amazing thing is that the kids love me! They think when I throw stuff at them that it is hilarious and we all laugh together about it.....but they also know when I mean business. My boss told me that kids love a fascist and I took it to heart.
Now I can't imagine teaching adults again because I am so used to teenagers. Even the trouble-makers, I love to pieces and we all have a great time. I have found that music is the bridge I needed to link the generational gap. They love doing fill-in-the-blank activities with song lyrics. So I play a song and they fill in the lyrics and then we all sing along. I do this once a week in all my classes. We have been told to keep it down quite a few times and I take it as a good sign that we are all so rowdy:)
My favorite classes that I teach are my Cambridge Exam classes. The students are advanced level and are trying to pass one of the Cambridge Exams so that they can get into university or get a better paying job. I love playing word games and doing word morphology because I really get to use my classical background (they told me that is why they gave me these classes). And unlike the majority of my other classes (whose parents make them go to English school), these students want to be there and they are intrinsically motivated to learn English. We all have such a great time and I treat them by teaching them phrases such as, "It's all good in the hood" and "Don't get all up in my grill!". They reciprocate and teach me some funny Russian phrases like, "Shashleek Mashleek". Shashleek is the American equivalent of a barbecue in the woods, and they just make up a rhyming word such as "mashleek" to make it sound funny. It is like in English when we are indifferent about something such as a camera and we would say, "camera schmamera, who cares?".
I am elated that I have found a passion in teaching and that I enjoy it so much. I love the cultural interaction and working with these kids. No day is boring or lackluster. I have always wanted to work with people and now I really feel like I am in the people business:)
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