Last night i taught my second class and I wasn't nearly as nervous, YAY! I was calm the whole day too, untill closer to the class where I think an excited energy started building as opposed to a scared energy. Makes me think that I've really found something i was intended to do, following my path even, because it just feels natural (of course there's still nerves etc, but i think i am seeing the difference between nerves and anxiety, where anxiety was kinda all i knew before).
the lesson this class was a large one and i had a feeling I wouldn't be getting through all of it. We were reveiwing future tenses and expressions with make and do but we didn't make it to that section. The first group discussion was answering 3 questions and we went round the room all taking turns: What are your future plans or goals? most of the students wanted to go to university, or wanted their children to go to university; Your hopes and dreams for your family? to bring relatives to canada, or to go back to their land and make life better for the people there. Istvahn wants to bring his brother here and open a Hungarian restaraunt (perfect timing since Praha burnt down), Patricia from Sierra Leone wants to go back to her country, buy a big house and fill it with all the children whose mothers have been beaten and killed and left on the side of the road. Holy heavy and extremely appreciative she felt comfortable enough to share that kind of story with us. I won't tell her whole story, but it made us all take a minute to be thankful for the opportunities we have, and for the lives we live; Yhe last question was 'what do you think the world will be like in 25 years?' We spent a lot of time on this question and most of the class *hoped* for no more war, poverty, sickness. Some ideas were: our cars would fly off solar power, we would be free to travel and live anywhere in the world, and we would all speak 1 language. Which, according to Jane, would be Mandarin, and she would teach everyone which would in turn fulfill her desire of having money to help her family travel the world. Miguel said there will be 1 king to rule the world and every country would concetrate on exporting the 1 thing they are excellent at producing (he said Mexico makes the best people and China makes the most people lol). The men were leaning towards more of a brave new world feel, and the women towards.. well, I guess the same but without the government control, more of a Utopia. Anyway, it was very interesting. The convo started to veer off into hypnosis, hypnotherapy, subliminal messaging and I thought I better get off this topic because soon enough we could be discussing Aliens and God and then we're in trouble! However, when teaching subliminal messages, I explained my Doves t-shirt, and while they weren't paying attention to it, their subconcious might make them download an album, or watch Purple Rain ;p. I was also able to teach the class what Utopia meant, and in a nod to PROW, what Elipsis points are. I asked the class if they knew Utopia and a lot of them nodded, and said Africa. I repeated Utopia.. and they said "yes, Africa" then I started thinking "fkk...well, they say we all origiated from Africa.. what if this is true? what if this is some Biblical thing.. " but it turns out they thought i was saying Ethiopia. *phew*.
We worked on more exercises and I had them reading aloud and talking more. All in all it was a great class, and I asked them how they felt it went, they all said it was great, liked the amount of talking and reading aloud so I was pleased with that. I even got a few "Thank you Miss.Brenna" and ""thank you for your teaching" and everyone said goodbye and have a nice night, I liked that.
Hector stayed behind packing his bag up and was talking to me as I was writing my notes to the Director. He said he really tries to learn english but grammer is hard for him, and and he's been here for 15 years but the only jobs ("yovs") he can get are labour and the schedule changes so often so maybe he can't come to class regularily, and that he doesn't want to clean buildings as his life's work. When he goes home, he only listens to english radio and tv programs, and really likes watching the news. I told Hector thats excellent ways to learn the language, and he's doing a really great job. Hell, he knows more English than i do Spanish, I'd consider him bilingual. I told him he should be very proud of himself, look how we are communicating right now, i know what he is saying, he knows what i am saying. He says when he has a job that allows him to come to class every day he feels more confident and hopeful for a better life for himself, his family and his country.
So even though I didn't finish all the material we were supposed to, I feel like we did a lot of work speaking, learning, and expressing things.
What a great class!
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