The First Class

It all began when my friends told me about the experience that they had with teaching the students in the language bridge program. They told me that it was fun, exciting and they enjoyed it. From that point I had the dream about me teaching the students in this program, so when I woke up in the morning I decided to sign up for language bridge program. I needed some one with me so I told my colleague Amna about it and she was happy to join me. We were wondering how would we teach students when we are students in the same, we thought that teaching need skills that only teachers with high degree would have. The only way is to try.

The first week had come, Amna and I were nervous. We were waiting for the students’ arrival in the parking lot. We prepared the teaching materials, and some snacks as well. We’re supposed to have 5 students in our class, but only 3 students arrived. We took the students to the classroom.  We introduced ourselves and the students did as well. We taught the students and we did some games for them like hangman. At the end of the class we gave them the placement test to see their level in English.

After the class Amna and I were happy that we managed the class and had fun talking and teaching the students. Moreover, we couldn’t wait for the next class to see them and teaching them again.

The Teaching Experience (Spring 2013)

When we (Juan, Anas, Allam and Hamza) first joined the Language Bridges program, we weren't sure what to expect from it. People were telling us that it would be a happy experience but as it got closer to the teaching day, we began to get scared about the whole thing. But once the 12 students came in and we introduced ourselves, we felt comfortable and knew we could teach them.
On the first day we mostly just talked and tested them. We offered them drinks (something we've done each week). They were enthusiastic to be there. Surprisingly for us, they seemed to know English better than we thought.
The second week though, it was disappointing to see only 3 students returning. Some couldn't come because of their night shifts and work obligations, and others seemed to have not enjoyed it as much as we had hoped. But these 3 students seemed committed to learning English and we were happy to teach them.
We mostly went over grammar in this class and even though they did great on their tests, we came to realize that they have more trouble actually speaking English. It's easier for them to write than it is for them to speak, it doesn't come quickly to them. We realized that our goal should be to make them better speakers than anything else. We used websites to give them exercises and go through grammar.
We spent most of our time teaching and helping them do exercises, but we also saved a bit of time at the end to just have conversations with them. They responded strongly to this and enjoyed talking with us.
The third week, we were glad to see the same 3 students return to us. They had even completed the homework we assigned to them. They were more dedicated than we thought. We did a little bit of the same as the week before: a mix of exercises, teaching, and talking.
By the end of the class, they appeared to have learned at least a little of what we spent 2 hours talking about. And that was enough to leave us satisfied.
We're still getting used to this and understanding what more we can do to make this experience better for them. We learn as we go. We hope to incorporate some games in the future class and make it a bit more fun for them. But so far, the 3 students seem to enjoy learning from us!