Before this program, I was sure I would never teach anyone younger than 12 years old. I was sure I would end up teaching in a middle or high school setting when I do end up teaching. I was sure I didn’t have the patience or the classroom management skills to work with primary school students. But after working almost exclusively with first and second graders, I couldn’t imagine never teaching this age group again!
I have learned so much about patience and how best to handle such young students. I have learned so much about helping students learn something for the first time, even though it is something I have known for a very long time. I have learned so much about how to explain things multiple ways for students who don’t understand the first time, feeling great joy when I find the explanation that gets through to them. And I have learned a lot about how to use my imagination to make some of the more uninteresting parts of language learning fun for the students.
Demi DiCarlo 