I maintain....

Coming to the end of my second teaching placement, I maintain that the most important part of teaching is to have a good rapport/relationship with your students. Not only will they behave for you but they will respect you and it will make your job a lot easier. If there is no trust then it makes your job in engaging students a lot more difficult.
I can see the benefit of teaching placements in a diped and I cannot see how it can be avoided because I think it's essential to get practical experience. However, the time it takes to settle into a new environment is barely enough to get to know the students you will be teaching and for them to feel comfortable with you in the classroom, teaching them. You are in and out and it becomes difficult to build a routine. This is one aspect of teaching that will be only heightened once you have your own class and time to build on those relationships.

Week 4

I am nearly at the end of my second placement. Although my posts are few and far between I feel as if it has been rewarding to have a record of at least my feelings when I start and finish a four week block. The things that seemed like I would never understand have become a little clearer to me, although there is still so much that I don't understand. The experience of teaching adults has definitely been a positive one and there is so much that you have to think about differently. For example, adults are not children obviously and so should not be treated as such. There can be a fine line between talking slowly and clearly in a tone and voice that they will understand and being patronising or 'preachy'. For this reason, it is important to remember not to use materials that are for children. While visuals are excellent they do not have to be too 'picture story bookish'. There is a wealth of resources out there for adult learners so it is important not to revert to childlike materials.