Practicum Week 2

It's FRIDAY phew.

Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but it's been quite a week. Every day, I get barely enough time to finish everything I need to do and plan for the next day. And get this - I only teach 10 periods a week. If I had to teach 20 periods a week, I don't know where I'd get the time from. And teaching isn't the only thing - a real teacher has to do admin work and paperwork and has multiple roles as Head of Panel or some teacher advisor of co-curricular activities...how about their roles as mother and wife in their own family?

No wonder teachers are so burnt out and disillusioned with the heavy workload nowadays. 

The first thing to go is usually the lesson plan, I guess. With all their other responsibilities, and the reality of weak students, sometimes lessons just can't afford to be interesting. For example, when a class doesn't understand what you're saying in English, there's bound to be some restless souls who start doing their own thing, and you'll have to stop the whole class, reprimand them in a language they understand (definitely not English) and then get back to your lesson. And if your class doesn't understand English, you can't really give them instructions to do a more complicated activity because they haven't even mastered the basics yet. Not to mention you didn't have time to drop by the store to get more manila card or colourful marker pens to highlight certain grammar points because your kids were waiting at home for you. Besides, the pupils have bought their workbook already, and that's really enough. 

Fortunately, my Year 3 class is proficient enough in the language to make the teaching and learning process enjoyable for me (and them). It's very mixed ability, which is why I have to keep a tight rein on class control during worksheet time (some finish really quickly and start distracting their slower friends), but it's ok. They seem to like me, and I definitely like them. That creates a rather democratic classroom atmosphere, I guess. I like things to be democratic, but I don't think my lecturer would like it if my kids were too noisy in class. 

So far, so good. My kids are really enthusiastic about my lessons, and were disappointed when I announced that I would only be teaching them for another 2 weeks. D'awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

I'm loving it.

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