Dear Family and Friends,

A favorite Drumm saying is that “I’d rather be lucky than good” and so far, I’ve been lucky enough to possess the energy, the impulse, the inspiration, and the time to write to you all. And I’ve loved it! But by 6 pm, Sunday, July 2nd, reliance on luck had already drained away and the work to be “good” has just begun. By 8 pm on Sunday evening, Liz had gone upstairs and I was seated by the darkened windows at the Wendy House café, writing my first words to the Intermediate students that my group of trainees will be teaching to for the next two weeks.

At this point, I should assure you all that ECC School and the CELTA are just what my research indicated: well-planned, efficient, professional, and rigorous. Briefly, as I have a second lesson plan to complete, I will tell you that we are a group of 10 CELTA students and 2 tutors. I cannot tell you how badly I want to describe my peers to you but I’ve thought a bit about this and I don’t think it fair to write about them as individuals, well, at least not at this point. But what I will tell you is that 7 of 10 are male, the vast majority are British (yes, there was more than some disappointment re: England’s World Cup elimination), I am the only American and intimidatingly, and I’m also the only person without any teaching experience. We are divided into two “TP” (teaching practice) groups and we did teach today. (To get the obvious remark out of the way, I did cause some consternation when I complained to a friend about the lack of TP but of course, my issue was regarding toilet paper.)

Yes, this means I taught my first class today. I had 15 minutes in which to instruct my 13 students of varying ages and South East Asian origins to discuss their childhoods. I did ok… today’s issues were that I talked too much (but not too fast!) and that I did not manage to convey the concept of childhood upfront nor well enough. When my 15 minutes were up, I was shaking and wondering what ever made me think that I’d be good at this teaching stuff. One of my fellow teachers kindly assured me that I did fine and that even though you never get over the nervousness, it gives you an edge. I cannot say that I found this completely reassuring but my shaking stopped soon after that.

Tomorrow’s lesson is 20 minutes long and requires discussion relating to the comparison of two similar but different pictures. The aim is to master effective instructive giving and frankly, I think my lesson is going to be challenging. But I’m game to have another go…

Watch those hands and eyebrows near the bbq and have a great 4th of July, one and all.

Cheerio!

Laura