We got up and had breakfast at the normal time of 7:45 and then at 9:00 we got on the coaches to head to Bath. It’ supposed to be a short journey but it took us until 12 to get there, so we got off the bus and had our picnic lunches then walked around the city for a few hours. We couldn’t get in the Roman Baths (you have to book in advance) but the town was nice enough. I really didn’t see anything, so to judge the place I’d have to go back. We boarded the coach at 3:30 to head back to Butlins for dinner and a scavenger hunt. I don’t know square footage of this place, but it’s like a small village. My feet hurt just from walking this place!
The past few days have been anything but what I expected. I suppose I thought there would be more classroom learning and just a few activities. There have been some complaints from the groups actually because they don’t feel they are learning enough. To be honest, the activities could be great for immersion into the English language, but they tend to get in their cultural groups and speak their native tongue. I’ve only taught two classes and we’ve been here since Tuesday. I’ll teach again next week, but only one lesson per day. It’s just not enough time. If the kids are in groups with speakers of other languages, then that would be ideal, but they’re not. The books we are using, which are designed specifically for EF Language Schools, look rather ridiculous too. They cover entirely too many standards in one small “unit”. In my first lesson I was to teach how to use simple present tense for facts, adjectives for opinions, and adverbs for sequence, and that was only the first page! I’m sure most of you reading don’t care about that, but it’s the teacher in me. I know how to put lessons together and I know that that many objectives in one short lesson is nearly impossible to do. There is very little review time so it’s not like I can do a little each day. Also, I do believe there is only one other teacher here and the rest are college kids. It’s fine, but I always feel (and this will sound stuck up but whatever) that I’m so much more qualified for these jobs than the others! I will tell you though, it is a great job for a college kid since the majority of it is babysitting and taking kids on the excursions, etc. I will not do it again, that’s for sure. I decided that the first day. I’m glad I’m here because it gives me something to do for three weeks and I’ll go back to Dublin with a little cash, but not worth it in the end I don’t think. Everything can be used as a learning experience so that’s what I’ll take it as…and I’ll learn not to do it again! J
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