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Procedures of Teaching

Putting the lesson plan into practice taught me many lessons. The day I started teaching my first classes, I began to feel the weight of the job. My experience as a basketball coach in my hometown gave me the confidence to stand in front of a class of 40 students from a foreign country, but it did not prepare me for the communication skills. It was my first time teaching as a teacher, and it was also the first time I explained a technique or conducted a class entirely in English.

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With lesson plans, with activities that I think I have done a good job of dividing time, I proceed with a relaxed mindset. But actually teaching is a different story, sometimes I think I spend too much time explaining the skills I am teaching, and sometimes I spend too little time practicing with the students individually.

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Another difficulty is that I have to use simple words, short sentences but still have to convey the idea that I want to convey. This is one of the difficulties because although English is the second language of the Philippines, many students have difficulty in understanding what I am trying to convey.

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After the lesson, the students were still interested in practicing, partly because it was the first time they had a foreign "teacher" teaching them. The comments were given by Ms. Jean very fairly, she was willing to point out what I did right and what I needed to try harder. Looking back, those lessons also helped me a lot in the next lessons.

​​​​​​​​Gradually, through the teaching days, I gained full confidence, the ability to select language and the ability to manage the class effectively. Ms. Jean was always by my side and observed the small details to note down what should and should not be done in a lesson. And it was a great way for me to hone my teaching skills and I have my cooperative teacher to thank for that.​

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Time Management

Organizing a lesson was not easy, the timing of the activities was not exactly as I had planned on the first day of teaching.

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The activities such as warming up, assigning tasks and requirements of the lesson went very smoothly, I had no problem in conveying the necessary information before the lesson to the students. The problem only came when it came to the skill instruction step of the lesson. I had difficulty demonstrating the steps to perform the skills, as well as my teaching style was somewhat different from what students at Laureta usually encounter.

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The first day I taught three periods, and none of them were exactly 45 minutes long. The first period I taught was 10 minutes early, while the next two periods were 10 minutes late. Adjustments were necessary.

The next time I taught, I really kept track of time by constantly checking my watch to see when the end time for each activity had come. The second day was a success, only being a few minutes short or over for each period.

The last day was a perfect day as every period I taught ran exactly as I wanted it to, the timing was just right, and the activities were all within the time frame of the lesson plan. A perfect ending.

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Classroom Management

and Problem-solving

Classroom management is also not an easy job. With the experience of a basketball coach, I am no stranger to noisy and distracted students. What I find difficult is to resolve difficulties while ensuring the professionalism of a teacher. I cannot show that I am hot-tempered or that I am too easy-going. It is really important to stay calm while teaching, even if the students are distracted, even if there are unwanted things happening around, as a teacher, I must try to resolve them professionally and quickly.

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When students were distracted, I regained their attention with a vocal call-out and hand clapping. If the students were struggling to grasp the idea, I communicated slowly and clearly, emphasizing each word with supportive body language, deliberate and memorable gestures, and by deconstructing the entire skill into smaller, manageable parts.

​After teaching and observing for many days, I've come to understand that language is not the ultimate barrier; it doesn't hinder the transmission of information. How we communicate information is the most important in deciding whether the information is conveyed correctly or not. What we show as teachers, how we communicate, behave, how we respect the learners, make them feel valued and cared for is the destination of the teaching job.

Preparing a lesson plan and organizing a lesson are distinctly different processes, a difference that becomes clear only during the act of teaching.