on the job: adventures in teaching adults

You know how people say that we fight not to be like our own mothers.  I cannot say that’s true for me.  My mom rocks — she’s superbly smart and uber creative; she’s full of advice but refrains from being judgmental; she’s always been both a great parent and a good friend; plus, she’s a spectacular legend of a teacher.  I could only hope to be all those things.  Well, except the teacher bit.  I’ve never wanted to be a teacher and I’ve been fighting “becoming a teacher” for years.

So I was thrilled that I was assigned as a youth development volunteer in Romania, not a English teacher.  But I got to site to find out that my host organization really just wanted me to teach English to adults to bring in money.  That’s what the volunteer before me did and I would sustain that project.  I did not like it one bit and I fought it — because of the idea of being a teacher (rather than my assigned role) and the fact that I was just “sustainability” for a former volunteer.  With some time and some soul-searching, I decided to give in – I mean, how bad could teaching be,  there were other battles to be fought, and I figured at least I’d meet more people.

And so in March, I began teaching adult English with David as my side-kick/sounding-board/partner in crime. We’re half-way through the 12 sessions and I think the participants like me (I got an orchid and cozonac) and I think I like teaching them (I’m having fun).  While it’s not the first time I’ve taught, I’ve learned some new things about myself.  For instance, I’m good at thinking on my feet and improvising (especially in English); I’m not afraid to say “I don’t know”; and my handle on the subtleties of English grammar are sorely lacking.  Oh and defining English words when they don’t really exist in Romanian is crazy hard.

Student: Veronica, what’s “high jinks”?
Veronica: um, um, um…(a few minutes of rambling).  they are actions that are mischievously playful.

What’s clicked is that I’ve been able to be creative in teaching. Creativity is my niche and I’m using it. For example, last week, with the Intermediate/Advanced class, we did a lesson on daily routines. But I pushed them a bit.  I showed them this silly cat video and asked them to write a script about what daily routines the cats could be talking about.   I knew it could bomb.  I knew that they could look at me like I was an alien with three heads.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3U0udLH974]

But it was great!  They were totally into it. We laughed and laughed while a few recited their cat conversations. I counted it as a win — because of their readiness for humor in a learning environment, their creativity, and the language practice.

You’d think that laughing while learning isn’t a big deal.  But for most Romanians, adults and kids alike, learning is serious business not a laughing matter.  So when we Americans come in, prepped with creative teaching methods that involve “fun and games” and we’re all about the “joy” of learning, Romanians, as I’ve observed, don’t exactly know what to do with us.

But I’m winning this small group of adults over. Slowly, but surely. And they are winning me over to accepting that, in some facet of my life, I’m destined to be a teacher……just like my mom.

All the lesson plans and materials I’m using for these English classes can be found here.