Finally!

Hello!

Finally I am getting around to writing in my blog. My schedule is different than most - I usually go to work at 1:30pm until 9:30pm, and get home like 10:10ish, then I usually go out to dinner or eat something at Sinan's. So my mornings I sleep in later than I should, and I often lesson plan/lift weights then make lunch for Sinan and I, then get ready to go! Ok so here's what it's like where I work:

I work at Wall Street Institute in Sisli. There are about 8 other centers in Turkey or so, and it's a worldwide company (about 400 centers in 28 countries), and its main office is actually in Baltimore which is funny (where I went to school). Students learn English using Wall Street Institute's "Aquisition Cycle", which replicates the way a child learns his/her native language. First students go to the center to the Speaking Center, where they use computers to first do listening (babies listening to their parents), then repeating (babies mimicing what parents say) and comparing their pronunciation, then reading and reading and repeating, then speaking. There they are also exposed to new grammar and vocab and phrases etc. Once they finish the computer (about 60-90 minutes, and they need to do one lesson per visit, no less, no more), they have workbook exercises to practice writing, and then after doing this 3 times (there are 3 lessons per unit), they meet for an Encounter. So they usually have an Encounter about every 10 days, ideally. Students have an Encounter for every unit they complete. There are 68 units altogether, but I don't think there are too many students who go past 48 or so. There is a continuing story throughout all 68 units, and usually there is a theme each unit, like many the characters are in the airport, or restoring something, or running late (time), or something about cars.

Here is where I come in. Encounters are where students have the opportunity to practice what they learned on the computer. It's usually about 2 people per encounter, sometimes 1, but never more than 5. So I lead the Encounter, a 55 minute class. I don't teach anything, but I elicit the information from the students and then we practice it. For example, point to your watch and shrug to get them to ask the question, "What time is it?" and then act like you are waking up so they ask, what time do you wake up? Or for the present perfect tense in the passive form (something like that), ask, "What do you think this building was before it was before it was Wall Street?" They might answer, "a restaurant". Then you ask, "So what changes have occurred" and you hope and pray they say things like "The walls have been painted" or "Glass has been put up" otherwise you need to think of ways to get them to use that form, but you can't just tell them! Once they get the form, they will put it to use - like doing an activity where they look at a picture of an old, run-down house, and a picture of the same house that has been restored and they'll make sentences about the changes (the door has been replaced). So there are usually like 6 or 7 activities like this - me creating the context/getting the target language, then they practice it. Because they have already been exposed to the language in the Speaking Center, they SHOULD be able to do it, but there are often students who didn't study it well or enough or who just don't get it.

Here's the bad part of my job. I have to decide who can go onto the next unit, and who has to repeat it. It's hard because you don't want to "fail" people because they have to do allllll 3 lessons again and they get really sad and take it personally, but you don't want to move people ahead who aren't ready. I've heard some people in the upper levels and I'm astounded by how poor their language is.

The best part about my job, and I think any teachers reading this will agree, is that the lessons are completely planned out and all of the materials are ready to go. Maybe I have to make a few copies of one thing. But when I go home, my job it over, no stressing over how to teach a tense or what activities to design or homework to assign. It's hard right now because I need to learn the lessons, but after about 1 month I can just pick up one of the lessons and go to the classroom and do it. Right now I'm shaky and doing things exactly by the book (which some of the things are so silly) but in a few weeks I'll learn how to adapt it and improve and modify it.

Ok wow I've been talking so much. I could keep going but this is certainly enough for now! It's a good place to work, although a bit scary now because I need to learn all these lessons and sometimes I get hard questions and I'm on the spot, but really, it's a perfect way to teach English. Ok ok I'll blabber more in a few days. Thanks for reading!