teaching

By the end of today I will have completed one full week of classes.  I teach from 7-9 AM & 6-8 PM Monday through Friday.  Although I'm not thrilled about waking up at 5:15 every morning, this schedule is to accommodate people who work during the day & want to study English either before or after their jobs.  The students are VERY motivated.  Mostly they are professionals:  electrical and civil engineers, an attorney, businessmen, an elementary school teacher, but there are some university and high school students, who come either before or after school, so if it's a long day for me, it is also a long day for them.  My students' ages range from one 13 year old boy, to a couple of 16 year old girls, a few older teens, a few in their 20's to some whom I would guess are in their 30's & 40's to 2-3 who are in their 50's.  The ages don't matter.  There's one father & his daughter in 1 of my classes.  They all want to learn & they are all at about the same level--Intermediate II.  The morning class has 9 students & the evening class has 14.  The students are great.  They keep me on my toes!

The hardest part is lesson planning, but I seem to be getting the hang of it.  When everything clicks, it's so much fun.  (Just like the Adult Learning Center in Pittsfield.)  I do spend the bulk of the day, between the 2 classes, planning for the next day's class.  Eventually I hope that the number of hours of prep time will decrease a little, but to me, the prep is a necessity to success & that it will be......