Kineta Abraham » 2007 » January

Well, my anxiety has passed and Robin and I felt that Wednesday’s lesson went well. All of the students were engaged in the activities and learned a lot from each other. There were some great discussions related to gender and relationships, and the conversations could have probably been extended if time would have allowed for it.

It’s hard to believe that our lessons will soon come to an end because it feels like we’ve on begun. Yet we have completed three of our five weeks in this program. The teaching experience that I’ve gained and the skills that I am learning are irreplaceable. I’m having a blast both in and out of classroom.

Just the other day my conversational partner Marwa, who is from Saudi Arabia, and I participated in a tour of Madison’s capital. To some it may seem boring, but to Marwa and I it was a chance to delve into the unknown. Since neither of us is from here we welcomed a guided tour. I couldn’t tell you our guide’s name, but she used the capital’s murals and architectural elements to help breathe life into the stories about Wisconsin’s history. However, one of the best parts of the tour was when Marwa told me she enjoyed herself and said that she understood, but she didn’t really didn’t have to say anything because she was beaming with pride.

It’s Wednesday morning and I’m feeling a little anxious because I don’t want a repeat of last week. Every Wednesday and Thursday my classmates and I are responsible for teaching from a lesson plan that we’ve created and last Friday’s class seemed to be going in too many directions.

Robin, my partner, and I have taught four lessons in the Midwest Teacher Training Program (MTTP) and have some awesome students from Korea, Brazil, West Africa, Japan, Taiwan, and more. Although they’re from different areas of the world, they have no problem collaborating. Some are studying to improve their TOEFL scores, seeking to get into a university, or need English for their jobs, so they’re eager to learn. They give me their best, so I want to give them my best. Hence the anxiety.

We’re in our third week of the Midwest Teacher Training Programing and things seem to be running smoother. Today my partner Robin and I finalized our plans for our lesson plan and were able to give each other some good feedback. It really helps having someone to bounce ideas off of. My partner and classmates give me the opportunity to pretend that they are the students and I the teacher. This practice has really helped me to see if my ideas come across as clearly as I intended them to. My classmates and I all have different strengths, but what I’ve noticed about this program is how much it encourages its students to draw from one other. We are definitely a team that learns from each other.

Who would have guessed the girl who everyone described as shy would be asking to stand up infront of a group of strangers. Highschool speech class terrified me. Like clockwork when I was called on to give a speech my hands began to sweat and to those listening my voice noticeably shook. So when a pastor told me that I was going to be a teacher one day everything in my being was like, whatever you don’t know what your talking about. I literally wanted to run. To make a long story short I ran all the way to Japan, and guess what I did…yep…I taught conversational English for two years and am now enrolled the Midwest Teacher Training Program (MTTP) in Madison, Wisconsin. I ran into the very thing I was running from, but the good thing about it is that I finnally found something I love. Go figure!