First Week Jitters: the beginning of my TEFL journey
- Mikaela Graf
- Oct 23, 2023
- 3 min read
As a chronic overthinker and perfectionist, my first time trying something new will always be a nerve-wracking experience. I tend to avoid the new thing for as long as possible, then when I finally take the first step, it's accompanied by a flood of worries about everything I could get wrong. I'm working on this, but it's going to be a long, tedious process.
So, naturally, when I began the observation process for my TEFL certification this week, I grew increasingly nervous with each step. Drafting a message to request shadowing times? I'm pretty sure I reread it at least 50 times before pressing send. Got a Zoom meeting at noon? I will be set up and ready to go by 11:50.
There's nothing wrong with being well-prepared, but overthinking every detail can often make you feel like you're the opposite. Despite my worries, though, my first week wasn't bad at all.
I had my first shadowing opportunity on Wednesday, and within the first few minutes, I knew I had made the whole thing out to be a lot bigger in my head. I joined the class perfectly on time with no issues and was warmly welcomed by the teacher, learner, and other observers. We got right into introductions, and I got to see just how friendly and, for lack of better words, "chill" the classroom setting was.
As we walked through the first topic, I got a good sense of the structure of one-on-one teaching and the ways you can incorporate real conversation and materials in a lesson. I took a turn guiding the learner through a section of text pulled from the New York Times, reading it aloud for her to repeat. Then, when we moved on to a brief news clip, we were all given space to participate in conversation. By the end of my first class, my confidence in teaching had at least doubled, and I was looking forward to my next couple of scheduled classes. The next day ended up being a big weirder, though.
To kick things off, my first class of the day was canceled without my knowledge, so I sat in an empty meeting for about ten minutes waiting to see if I would hear anything before moving on. Because of this, I was a bit more antsy for my second scheduled lesson. My aforementioned fear of being late or underprepared led me to join the call just a minute early. Luckily, someone joined a few moments later, so I wasn't left hanging like earlier that afternoon. Unluckily, it was only the learner who joined at that time, and for a good, awkward five minutes we waited. We exchanged some quick introductions, but other than that, we sat in weird silence trying to keep ourselves busy while we waited.
Eventually, the teacher was able to join after working through some technical issues, and we could push through the weirdness. This class ended up being redeemed by not only some more exemplary teaching but also a good discussion about the teacher's own journey overcoming the self-doubt and fear from when she first started. I got to hear how she, too, was nervous to even begin her observations and practice teaching, and, now, she was getting ready to move across the world for her first teaching job. I left that experience feeling encouraged and ready to continue moving forward.
Unfortunately, after another canceled class the following day, that ended up being the extent of my first-week experience. I'm more excited coming into this next week, though, and I can't wait to continue sharing my journey here. Soon, I'll be ready to start working with my own learners, and, before I know it, I'll be on my to another country with my first teaching job, too.
If you want to hear a more extensive description of how this week went, check out the podcast at any of the links listed below.
Also, as you may have noticed, the posting schedule will be moved to Mondays as of today. Instead of ending your week with PGP, you can start with it! (Or you can just continue catching up with it whenever you like.)
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