Suggestion for first day of class

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sophiaAP

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Joined
Apr 5, 2012
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English Teacher
Native Language
Spanish
Home Country
Spain
Current Location
United States
I just got a job as an ESL teacher in a public school and I will start in two week. I have tried to talk to the teacher who is actually in this position right now and she is not willing to give me all the information that I need in order to continue with what she is doing right now. The administration is throwing me there the first day of my assignment and I feel a little apprehensive because I have a lot of ideas but I don't know how to approach this situation. I have been a teacher for almost 10 years, but I have never been in this situation before, starting 3 months before the end of the school year.
Please, teachers, can you give me a few suggestions about strategies and activities that I can do the first few days without looking like I don't know anything? The only thing I know is that I am teaching 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders and they are focusing in reading and writing and preparing them for the state test.
Thank you so much for your help in advance.
 

moonlike

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Joined
Mar 26, 2012
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Persian
Home Country
Iran
Current Location
Iran
Hi
Welcome to the forum :hi:
Congratulations on the new job as well. You 're experienced, so I'm sure you can manage to make the best first impression on them perfectly. The following is an idea:

You can write some yes/no questions or WH questions with the name of the person missing in them. Like "What is...........interested in?/ What would.............like to be? A cat or a horse?/ Did......... have a late night last night? etc"
Of course you need to fold the two sides of the question and the only part that is visible to them is the blank. The learners sit in a circle and the first one starts writing her name on the paper, to fill the blank. Then she passes it on to the one on the right and she also writes her name on the next blank, the she passes it to the one on the right. It goes on and on until the blanks are filled with the students names. Now it's the time for them to have one complete list of the questions. They should move around in class and ask each other the questions (they know who they should ask{ based on the names written there}). It's a lot of fun. By the way if they don't know each other, they can get to know each other. You can make some funny questions. You can play music as well to make it more exciting while they are passing the paper to each other to write the names and when they're asking questions.
Good luck
 

Esredux

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May 10, 2010
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Other
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Russian Federation
Hi Sophia,

Quite unexpectedly, I found myself in the same boat - was asked to stand in for a teacher going on maternity leave. Here, it means a month and a half before the finals.
With the senior groups I am going to start with a mock and then brush up/ teach problem areas not wasting time on anything else. Clearly, it's going to be a lot of hard work but at least I know what to do.
It's the junior groups that I am not certain about. Obviously, by the end of the academic year the younger children are sick and tired of any kind of learning and a new teacher will just add to the entire mess. Probably, some games and fun activities could spur them a bit. Like TPR for the youngest and 'reading' treasure hunts for the rest of others. In terms of writing I used to like dictogloss and will probably try it this time. Songs and a bit of drama could be an option but it usually takes a lot of preparation which the lack of time doesn't allow.
I'd appreciate it if you could make time to share your ideas as well. The last couple of years away from school blanked out everything in my mind connected with young learners.
 
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