Teaching, Eating, Reading, Drinking

I’ve been training to be a teacher (CELTA) for exactly one week.
During that time I’ve reflected a lot.

I’ve thought about; why I choose to re-train, what I was like as a student, what I’d like to get out of my time here, how much planning goes into a 45 minute lesson, how bad my grammar is, how I know the correct English most of the time but can’t explain to somebody why one word works and another doesn’t. I’ve realised how disorganised I am, always have been and always will be. I think disorganisation is the catalyst for creativity, and above all I think creativity is one of the most uniquely human things.

My weekdays here now follow a pattern:

Time	Activity
7am.	Wake up, shower etc, get dressed, strawberry yoghurt (they’re class).
7:40am	Leave my apartment, walk along the alleys past street-vendors – nod at woman at the end of my street.
7:45am	Order a ‘Grab-bike’, jump on the back and travel 35 minutes to school (don’t ask).
8:25am	Jump off bike, head into school, travel to 4th floor, sit down in class for the day.
9am-11:30am	(a) If I’m teaching that day I’ll teach a 45 minute class & then observe two other 45 minute classes. (b) If I’m not teaching I’ll observe three 45 minute classes.
11:30am – 13:15pm	Feedback on lessons from tutors & observers, speak about how it went etc (apparently I don’t walk like a teacher).
13:15pm – 14:15pm	LUNCH – usually to a local Bahn Mi (Vietnamese Baguette) place – cost £1.
14:15pm – 3:15pm	LESSON PLANNING – This is where I talk about my next lesson with my tutor, discussing content etc. Lesson planning is the thing that has shocked me the most – it takes about 5 hrs to plan a 45 minute lesson.
3:15pm – 4:15pm	Skills development – Learn about some sort of teaching technique. This changes daily. Embarrassingly I can’t actually remember any of them at the moment, but its 3am just now so I wont be too harsh on myself.
4:15pm -5:15pm	Observe a lesson – here our tutors either give a demo lesson so that we can pick up best practice OR we watch a video of a lesson. Feedback and comment on what we see. Good traits, bad traits that sorta thing.

Although ‘class’ finishes at 5:15pm the work doesn’t. Remember how I said it takes around 5hrs to plan a 45 minute lesson? Well those 5 hours can’t be used 9-5 as you’re busy (see above). That means when you’re finished learning you have to start working. I’ve been in the school until 9pm more days than not this week & it’s only week one. On top of that there are assignments (4) that are due, the first being due tomorrow. Again there is no time during the day to do these so you must do them in the evenings or at the weekend. It’s Saturday today and I was in school 3pm-9:15pm planning my lesson for Monday.

It may sound like I’m complaining; believe me I’m not. I knew what I signed up for. The lack of sleep does make you feel somewhat zombielike; I now permanently walk around with the feeling you had after camping in the woods at 14, waterfall, not sleeping and then going back to your house and trying to convince your mum you’d stayed at your mates.

There were 12 people undertaking CELTA at the start of the week. There are 11 now.

It is a very good group of people who are taking the course with me. A range of nationalities; French, English, Dutch, Vietnamese, French, American, Scottish(me), Algerian and probably somewhere else I’ve forgotten. A range of ages, I’m the 2nd youngest member of the cohort; its a good spread of mid-20s to mid-50s. The one thing that everyone has in common seems to be the desire to seek out something different. English teaching provides the ability to do something challenging and fulfilling while simultaneously expanding your job opportunities on a global scale. The Middle East, South America, Africa, Asia (inc central) are all options in this field. It also makes visa and residency issues easier, and the pay is actually very attractive especially with the low living costs. Despite this, there should be a desire to teach. You can’t go into it just for the pay-check, well you can, but you shouldn’t. If you do I think you’re doing a disservice. A disservice to the people paying you & a disservice to yourself. You need to have values and a view of purpose, and I don’ think that purpose should have a £ attached.

After a long week we decided to head out on Friday to let off some steam. We met up at 7:30pm in ‘hidden bar’ which is accessed by walking into a taco shop and then GOING THROUGH A FRIDGE IN THE WALL. We sat and spoke about things we can’t discuss in school. It was good to get to know everybody on a personal level. The school, uniform and nature of the course mean that we didn’t really get to know each other properly until we got drunk. I’m not going to write much more about our night because some things are better left to the imagination – but we had fun.

I ate a delicious meal earlier in the week, my first time at a Korean BBQ. You basically get a plate of marinated meat on a bed of vegatables, a grill on your table and some seasoning. You cook the meat yourself. It’s fun and smelly (in a good way), if a little dangerous (my hands are covered in oil splash-spots). I also went for an Indian on Thursday. Surprisingly nice! The Vietnamese food has been delicious but after ‘however many bowls’ of noodles in soup with meat it’s nice to have a naan. I’ve also discovered a panini place around the corner from the school. A panini costs about 3x the price of a Bahn Mi but they’re bloody delicious! When I say discovered I’m giving myself slightly too much credit… The previous owner of my CELTA folder wrote me a letter of encouragement and also encouraged me to visit said panini place; cheers Francesca!

During my first week I thought a lot about what I was like as a student. I have a newfound admiration for anybody that ever tried to teach me. I’d just like to take the opportunity to apologise if you’re reading this Mr/Miss/Mrs ________. I get it now. 45 minutes is hard enough. I don’t know how anyone can do it 7 hrs a day, 5 days a week. If you’re reading this and are every in a learning situation again take a minute to think about the other human trying to make you better, and maybe try to not be a dick.

I’m sure next week will be tougher, but that’s why I’m here.

I also find it slightly ironic that people made Corona virus jokes when I was heading over to Vietnam. I’m not going to lie I was a bit worried myself but now there are more cases in the UK than over here! Mad that.

When I get a spare moment I’ve been trying to read more. I’m exhausted most of the time so I’ve been reading a book of short stories. I think they capture the essence of what I’ve felt over the short few weeks I’ve been out here. There isn’t some magical thing that happens when you travel to another place for a prolonged period. It’s more the small human moments that bring you the most joy.

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It’s 4am – better go.
Inabit x