Did you know that they don’t have “helpers” or “employees” at Disneyland?
Instead everyone on the park floor is a “cast member.”
Their job is not to “be”, but to “play the part of,” a super helpful, caring, energetic Disneyland guide.
Even the best of teachers sometimes have off days.
And some beginning teachers simply don’t have the self confidence to walk into a class and be passionate.
So in our workshops we sometimes have to use a phrase…
Fake it till you make it!
Even if you feel down/not confident/sick/hungover(!), just leave all those insecurities outside the door, flick a switch and walk into the class as a super confident, super world class teacher. Think of the best teacher you had at school, think of the best teacher you’ve ever seen, and become that person. You will always be you, but take on their energy, their confidence, their presence.
The children will sense this and will always respond.
And if you are teaching Genki English you will walk out of there with such a big smile on your face and have taught a fantastic lesson.
We all grow, we all evolve and get better and better as time goes on.
After a few lessons you’ll no longer have to “fake it” you truly will have “made it”.
So give it a try, put all the bad stuff outside the door and be your very best “you” to give your students an amazing lesson today!
Be genki,
Richard
Hi Richard!
I’m very surprised to see no comments to this post. Maybe it’s because of the holidays 🙂
The statement itself is debatable (like every statement, in fact). But I think I got your idea!
I remember one episode in my teaching practice. It had happened when I was just a beginner teacher. My students were 6 years old. And I had much trouble with a boy who never stopped moving and talking about things which seemed to make no sense at the lesson. I had felt sick when I saw him come into the class. And my face had probably showed it, because then things got even worse. I was irritated with him, and this made me more discouraged. I hated myself for that, but I didn’t know what to do.
One day, when he entered the class (after he had missed some lessons because of a desease) I met him with big gladness. Of course, it was a fake. To my surprise the result was unexpectedly positive. He was so much pleased with my treatment, that he himself started to try to concentrate during the lesson. And after some time I had noticed his behaviour didn’t annoy me anymore.
I understood that if I want to involve students in the lesson the first thing I have to do is to welcome each of them warmly from the very beginning. 🙂
Now this boy is 18 and every Monday he brings his younger brother to my lessons. 🙂
LOL, this reminds me of a phrase I’ve used many times with my colleagues after a break that has brought more than one giggle to us, especially seeing the face of a parent or two:
“Ok guys, time to pretend we know what we’re doing!”
hahahahahahaha
@Julia: Boy can I relate to you! I had this teen last year in my class who drove me nuts through most of it, but somehow I always started to feel “sick”, as you mentioned, just before a long weekend or break would come around, so I would just bear through till the next time.
This continued throughout the course and no matter how hard I tried to be nice to this young man, I finished the course with a HUGE sense of relief. It got to the point where I am going to request to my boss that he and a friend get put in separate groups this year (and I don’t want him in any of my classes).
Ok, so running from the problem, but the young man is really a nice person, but he’s there forced by his parents, which is what seems to the cause of his behaviour. I really don’t think his problem was with me, but with the fact that he had to be there.
I also think the group he was in had the wrong energy for him, so changing him and putting him “alone” in different energy might just do the trick. I’ve seen this work many times and I’m sure my boss will love having him in one of his classes (he loves these kids hahaha).
Not as happy an ending as yours, but I’m sure he’ll be much happier with another group!