First Day

A really busy day, though that wasn't a surprise. I had taken quite a lot of time to organise separate class files and a materials folder for each day, so I could photocopy or use the materials I needed.

My personal tutor group grew from 9 to 12 and there have already been some student changes in my classes so I was glad to be fairly resilient and manage to complete the first flurry of forms that go with organising various activities almost immediately.

I deliberately left my first lessons fairly simple, concentrating on a single icebreaker activity that related to the subject being taught - this gave students the opportunity to talk to other students they hadn't met before. This worked well with all but one group, whose English was well below that required to teach to GCSE level. I managed to think on my feet and design a simple lesson to introduce business vocabulary. Talking to EFL staff, they identified a suitable business English text book that I can build a course around. What a time saver it is to ask the question rather than worry about it!

I had intended to complete a short review of each student in each lesson, but I think I have to be pragmatic this week and accept that there is too much going on to make it practical. So I have deferred this to next week, when I will have started on the schemes of work proper.

Overall I'm quite pleased with how the day went and found the mutual support of other teachers (I managed to help a couple of new teachers too) the key to a good outcome.