Fernweh und Heimweh: August 2012

Since I've hit a writer's block in the final stage of my thesis writing, and my adviser is MIA, I suppose I'll take the free time to update, since I haven't done so in a while. Since I've only got about two weeks left in this country before going home, and I have to get my thesis done before then---and I've only got half the word count so far :-\ ---this will probably be the last time I update the blog in this country, because when Daniel finally reappears and sets me straight again, I'll not have time for the remainder of my time here.
I don't usually leave work until the last minute, but there is a semi-good reason: work work. Back in May I got an offer for a temp summer position as an ESL teacher at a fairly large company, EF (Education First). I wasn't happy that it was temporary, but the pay was good, so I took it, and in retrospect I'm glad I did, having since found out that my job prospects on my current visa were slim to none (hence my return to the States). Plus, the rent wasn't going to pay itself.
I have to admit I was a bit skeptical when I went to "training". It wasn't really so much "training" as it was halfhearted corporate indoctrination and an attempt to get the teachers to unite under the banner of the company. But at the very least, they did give us a free lunch and some ice cream every day, and the management was quite nice.
So I started on June 19th (Happy Birthday, Dad). I have to admit I was a bit nervous because I hadn't taught for almost a year and, as such, I felt I was going to be off my game. This was enhanced by the fact that not only did we receive none of the course material we were supposed to use until that first morning, we didn't even know what level classes we would be teaching. The previous day we had administered a placement exam to about 300 kids, and they were placed into levels according to the results of the exam the next day. Thus, it was only the next morning when we showed up and received registers that we knew which level we would have to teach. Indeed, some of the students may have known before we did. But really, I suppose it was no issue. I remember my first teaching job at a summer program in Brooklyn---not only was there no material, there was no placement exam, nor even a level system: "Here's 200 kids, interview them and place them into levels and then sort out between yourselves which classes you're going to teach. Good Luck!" No, it certainly wasn't like that this time, but since I hadn't taught for a while I had forgotten all the little games and activities and tricks I used to keep up my sleeves.
But I found my groove pretty quickly. At least this time there was material to use---and some of it was actually usable---and it wasn't a monolingual class. Well, statistically the classes weren't monolingual, but they were always unevenly weighted in favour of one nationality; in ITL 1, there were too many Italians, in ITL 5, there were too many Hong Kong kids, etc. Nonetheless, this was the first time I had taught a mixed class, and I have to say, it was a wonderful experience. At the very least, having a mixed class is good for killing class time, not to mention spicing up the lessons: the kids have to speak English to communicate with each other, and when you do activities you can chat with them about their home countries, the differences in cultures, etc. This allowed me to be pretty flexible in regards to classroom activities and lessons. Plus, since they were teenagers, they liked playing games. I like playing games too, because it means I don't have to plan anything, so I'm sure you can imagine that in my lessons we either played games or did activities the whole time. Naturally this earned me unrivaled popularity among the students and an equal amount of disdain from my partner/cover teachers, as I didn't use the book or do a "proper" lesson as they thought I should be doing. But to be fair, think about the students. They're all like 14/15/16, they're in a foreign country alone for the first time, meeting new people, hormones raging, sitting in a hot classroom half the day and being dragged around London sightseeing mercilessly for the other half---did they come here to learn grammar and work out of the book? No, they do that in school back at home. Because of this, I tried to make sure the students had as much fun as possible. It is, after all, more of a cultural trip than an educational one.
So as a teacher, we were partnered with an activity leader, who would take them on trips around and out of London. They worked Monday-Saturday, and then on Sunday they would have the day off and the teacher would have to cover the activities with the activity groups the activity leader had planned. I both loved and loathed Sundays this summer. Although it was so much fun to be with the kids outside of the classroom and do fun stuff with them, working 6 days a week made me absolutely knackered. But one of the upsides of having to cover activities was that I got to go around London for free: one Sunday we went to Brighton, two Sundays were spent in Camden Town, and another found me in Brick Lane and the Tower of London. That was a nice perk of the job, when you didn't have to deal with kids' problems and them going astray.
So last week when I finished at EF, I had mixed feelings. I sure was glad to be done with the grueling schedule, but I felt a bit sad as I left Friday afternoon. Despite all the corporate crap (which I won't go into here), I actually liked the job. I really loved working with the kids, because they were really clever and loads of fun. And even if they weren't the most cooperative or enthusiastic, at the end of their two weeks they always wanted to get a photo with me and said my lessons were fun. It sounds lame, but I have to confess that I got a bit choked up when one class gave me the "Oscar" for the best actor.

Ron Group *superstars*

Van Basten graduates

But while the kids were fun, I have to say what I liked, and will miss the most, about the job was my coworkers. I have to confess, I hadn't high hopes about making friends with the English when I came here, but after working at EF, I'm happy to say I've worked with some of the kindest, wittiest, funniest, and most fun people I've ever met. I will miss them very much, and I hope to keep in touch with and see them again some day soon. So you lot, if you're reading this, here's to you.