In less than two weeks of our arrival, I found myself standing in front of Vietnamese students in a well-respected Saigon language centre. My job hunt had been fairly straightforward – a combination of luck, skill, preparation and networking landed me at the very school that the Jet Set boys taught at one year ago (an amazing coincidence if you consider how many schools there are here).

I was incredibly nervous for my first day of instruction.  The reason for my anxiety is that I have never taught English before, and there’s not much I hate more that going into something totally unprepared with the chance of me looking like a total idiot.  I have never put together a lesson plan and it’s been a hell of a long time since I’ve had to deal with gerunds, infinitives, present perfect forms, etc., let alone have to explain them to students who are non-Native English speakers.  I looked through the material and had an evening to listen to the audio materials before I stood in front of the students.

I should mention that at this point, I consider myself extremely fortunate to have landed at the Cleverlearn Language Centre.  I have heard horror stories about giant classes (50+), a lack of any kind of discernible curriculum, and the rarity of tools such as textbooks and whiteboard markers (teachers often need to provide these themselves).    At the centre where I work, it is organized, air-conditioned, with small classes, and they provide everything you could need including supplemental tools such as audio recordings and DVD’s. There’s even a teacher’s resource centre with computers, photocopiers, supplies and an administrative staff to assist you.

But back to my first day.  My first class I had to teach is GE5, which is the highest level of English that they offer at the centre.  On the plus side, the students have a good foundation of the language already, but on the down side, the instruction is very technical, which means I really have to do my homework in order to bluff my way through it.  It’s a three hour class, and much to my surprise it flew by.  I even enjoyed myself once I got into the flow of things.  This was not expected – I had previously taught music to kids and hated it, but I think the difference now is that they don’t have instruments to honk at me, and they are adults who are paying to improve their English.  They are there because they want to be.

My main problem with the teaching is that because I haven’t done this before, I don’t have the experience to know the activities that break up the instruction.  I have been playing them songs and giving them a sheet of incomplete lyrics for them to fill in as they listen.  I have them play charades with new vocabulary words.  Anyone can lead a student through a textbook, but I am trying to make it fun and exciting for them (time will tell whether or not I succeed).  Sadly, I’ve heard of many teachers who could care less whether or not the students actually learn anything, but I simply cannot take that approach, no matter how brief my time here will be.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Do one thing every day that scares you”.  Well, I’m doing just that.  I started with one class, the GE5 level, and immediately  after my first class I was given two more classes of differing levels.  Which means I’ll be trying to keep my cool more often than I’m used to.  But if my first day was any indication, it looks like I’m going to love it.