Community post
Starting a New Teaching Gig
Yesterday, I started working at a prívate technical institution a good friend of mine is directing.
It had been more than two years since I last taught a face-to-face class (I'd been teaching online classes only since we moved to Caracas) and there were some significant challenges to face, but I decided to give it a try.
The unofficial deal was to teach three ESL courses on Saturdays, over the course of 14 weeks.
Classes start at 7:30 am, so we left at about six forseeing some public transportation delays. The institution is about 45 minutes away by bus.
My girls decided to accompany me for emotional support (I think the real reason was to have all day for themselves at a mall a block away 🤭🤫).
It was darker than we thought at that time of the morning and a bit cold.
We did not have to wait much for the bus and it was not as crowded as I had anticipated.
We walked some five blocks from the bus stop and were there at 7. I wanted to be early to take time to install the devices I had requested.
They have not updated their tech, despite being a prívate institution, but again, this is part of the overall crisis. My friend had a family issues to attend and was not there to welcome me. He had offered some markers and eraser. I had to make do with used ones, speakers did not sound sharp and the keyboard was missing the letter i!
Students arrived a bit late, but class was ok.
One big issue, though, is the lack of continuity in terms of the content of each previous course they have had since they do not follow a textbook series. I will have to make additional adjustments to the planning to accomodate students with different backgrounds and proficiency.
In a 50-point placement test I applied, the results were like these in each class.
By 5:00 pm everyone was exhausted. Like me, most students had been there since early in the morning. The lunch break was less than an hour. I have never been fan of intensive teaching. It is rarely conducive of meaningful learning, but it was fun to face students again. This batch seems to be willing to learn and some of them are highly motivarse, so, let's hope things work out. 🍀🤞🏽
Thanks for stopping by
Replies (16)
Éxito. A pesar de las dificultades, éxito.
No es una materia que me apasione y espero que se popularicen los traductores instantáneos antes que Duolingo me despida de la aplicación.
Buena suerte, pronto echará de menos a Pacheco.
😂
Muchas gracias, @felixmarranz
Creo que hay avances significativos en los traductores simultáneos. Una realidad que espanta a los profesores de idiomas, pero que es inevitable. Con suerte, tendremos unos años más de trabajo.
Muchos con seguridad, siempre la inteligencia humana irá por delante de los algoritmos que llaman AI.
La enseñanza de un idioma extranjero es de verdad exigente, pero a la vez muy satisfactoria.
No sé si la IA le robe al estudiante el deseo por aprender un nuevo idioma. Sería una lástima que se exigieran cada vez menos esfuerzo.
Le deseo mucho éxito en esta nueva etapa. Siempre he admirado la dedicación y esmero con la que prepara sus publicaciones. Una agradable sorpresa conocer que es profesor de inglés. Aunque no estudié para ser maestra de idiomas, hace muchos años imparto clases de inglés y alemán.
También admiro la solidaridad de la familia para acompañarlo en este primer día de trabajo, deseo que hayan pasado ellas un excelente día en el centro comercial.
Muchas gracias.
Mi admiración por su trabajo de enseñanza a pesar de no tener el entrenamiento formal. Siempre me ha parecido que el alemán es muy difícil, especialmente por la fonética.
Son muchos los retos que enfrentamos los docentes de idiomas estos días. La tendencia de los chicos (por mi experiencia en online classes) es usar más AI, sobre todo para sus tareas escritas, lo cual debilita y demora esa destreza tan importante. También la usan en la elaboración de diálogos, lo cual impide el desarrollo de vocabulario, gramática, fluidez e imaginación (los diálogos tienden a ser formulaicos y ajenos a la personalidad lingüística del estudiante).
En todo caso, aún tenemos estudiantes dispuestos a recorrer el camino largo.
Wishing you well with teaching once again, sure to pick up and find ways to balance everything once settled.
Thanks, @joanstewart
Hope things are going well in your part of the world 🙏
That's quite a wide spread of abilities! I wish you well as you tackle this job.
Not going great over here, hope your side settles soon, take care!
Sorry to heard that 🙏
Happy you have found a teaching post, hope going into the future will be better than the past.
Congratulations @hlezama! You received a personal badge!
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You haven't posted for a while. I hope all is well.
Hi, @scribblingramma
Thanks for asking.
Not really. So many things have happened since january. We are quite overwhelmed. I have tried to find My way back to posting, but can't make up my mind yet. Country was a Messi politically, economically and socially. The military operation that extracted the usurper and wife did not make it any better, then the earthquake gave us a mighty blow.
We we're not harmed by the earthquake, but lost some friends and relatives. More recently, my mom passed.
Hope you and family are doing well
I am so sorry about the passing of your mom, and the loss of friends and relatives in the earthquake. That's a lot to happen in a short time, on top of all the other upheaval in your country. I pray for relief on many fronts.
🙏🏽🫂
Thanks