This weekend Daniel and I faced one of our biggest fears...and survived! It all started last week when I got a call from one of our former employers asking if we'd like to teach a one-off English class on Saturday morning in Nyíregyháza. Even though the thought filled me a certain degree of dread, I said we'd be pleased to. Daniel was not a happy camper when he got home and heard the news!
You see, last year Daniel and I taught an intermediate class for adults in the nearby town of Nyírbátor. The classes went for 8 months (though it felt like much longer) and by the end of that time we'd managed to whittle our thirteen enthusiastic learners down to a single, extremely patient student. It was a painful experience.
In hindsight, the main problem was our inability to teach English grammar. It took us far too long to realise we were hopeless at it and by then many of our students had gotten frustrated and dropped out. Of course, none of them actually cited that as the reason but we're pretty sure the grammar was a major factor. Towards the end of the 8 months we realised that our real teaching strength was encouraging discussion and getting people talking in English, but by then it was too late to salvage much.
Anyway, when Erik called and asked if we wanted to substitute teach another intermediate class, I was naturally apprehensive. But then I figured if Erik was desperate enough to make the request, we owed it to him to try to make up for our previous efforts. And that's how we found ourselves teaching again on Saturday morning.
After all the drama and stress, I think Daniel and I both came away pleased that we'd agreed to face our fear. We stuck to our teaching strengths, avoided getting technical about grammar, and managed to facilitate a fun and useful learning environment. Go us!
In other news, we trekked into Budapest today and met a friendly squirrel.
- Amanda
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