teaching is learning note to self

Whenever the incredibly disorganized and superficial school you might be working for puts you on the spot, because they don't use registries but didn't think of keeping the contacts of that teacher who ran away before you and of whom you are inheriting the class; when they have once again swapped the classroom giving you the one in the basement with no windows, even though you are the only one who can use the IWB in the room upstairs; when they have forgotten to ask how many, what kind of students you are giving the demo lesson to in that Big Company, but it's incredibly important that you win them that tender; when they set your classes head to tail without any breaks, if not spread out across the day from morning till night: when any of this (and much, much more) happens just remember, teaching is learning. You are here to learn, most likely, the valuable lesson of how to never run a school.

eliciting vocabulary note to self

when you write a word on the board and elicit vocabulary (for example: "childhood") or show pictures to the same effect - try going one by one, asking them to say all the words they can think of, rather than eliciting from the group as a whole, which seems fun but goes by very fast.
-- Togzhan?
well... school, games, friends...
-- Aziza?
toys... sleep
-- Aikunim?
I want to say ice cream, grandma, school...
-- Oxana?
hmm... poo?
etc

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