violetablanca
Member
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2010
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- United States
- Current Location
- Argentina
Hello,
I recently had an interview in which I was offered the position of teaching a brand-new conversation class for a night school for adults. During the first (and only time thus far) conversation that I had with the interviewer, I was told that there would be about 12 working professionals of (what I understood to be) a weak intermediate/intermediate level of English. That was all the information that I was given. Now the fate of the class is in my hands.
In only a few days time (about a month or so before the actual course begins), I am going back to this night school to introduce myself to the potential students who may or may not decide to sign up for my conversation class. I will have to give a presentation (mostly in the students´ native language, Spanish, from what I was told) about how the course will go... Obviously, it is in my best interest to have as many students as possible sign up for the class. The main concern that I have is that I was given complete and utter autonomy to come up with everything about this brand-new course by myself... ahhhh!
The two questions that now remain for me are the following: 1) How can I grab the students´ initial interest and "win them over" to want to take the class? 2) What is the best strategy to organize, structure, and effectively teach a weekly class of 90 minutes?
So far, with regards to the first question, (apart from introducing myself and my credentials) I have already started to plan to talk a bit about the importance of learning English- that it will make them more marketable for a job search, for travel purposes, etc. But I need a good ice-breaker/attention grabber, and something to get them curious and interested in what they could derive from the class.
If anyone has any ideas for anything, or has had prior experience teaching under similar circumstances and has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated!
I recently had an interview in which I was offered the position of teaching a brand-new conversation class for a night school for adults. During the first (and only time thus far) conversation that I had with the interviewer, I was told that there would be about 12 working professionals of (what I understood to be) a weak intermediate/intermediate level of English. That was all the information that I was given. Now the fate of the class is in my hands.
In only a few days time (about a month or so before the actual course begins), I am going back to this night school to introduce myself to the potential students who may or may not decide to sign up for my conversation class. I will have to give a presentation (mostly in the students´ native language, Spanish, from what I was told) about how the course will go... Obviously, it is in my best interest to have as many students as possible sign up for the class. The main concern that I have is that I was given complete and utter autonomy to come up with everything about this brand-new course by myself... ahhhh!
The two questions that now remain for me are the following: 1) How can I grab the students´ initial interest and "win them over" to want to take the class? 2) What is the best strategy to organize, structure, and effectively teach a weekly class of 90 minutes?
So far, with regards to the first question, (apart from introducing myself and my credentials) I have already started to plan to talk a bit about the importance of learning English- that it will make them more marketable for a job search, for travel purposes, etc. But I need a good ice-breaker/attention grabber, and something to get them curious and interested in what they could derive from the class.
If anyone has any ideas for anything, or has had prior experience teaching under similar circumstances and has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated!