First Day of a New School Year

It’s my first class and as usual the idea of standing in front of a group of students still gives me that special feeling that comes with the first day of school for all teachers and students alike.  Maureen has her first class tomorrow.

One of the first things that both of us do with a new class, is to introduce ourselves.  This serves a few purposes the first of which is to capture the students interest based on their natural curiosity.  To spice up the introduction we use photos of our home, family and family activities in Canada.  This introduction gives the students exposure to authentic English-speaking voices and provides them with a model of how one introduces oneself or another person.

Our friend, Samson, sat in on my first class.  Samson sat in on as many classes as he could during our first two years at C.I.T. in order to improve his English-speaking skills.  Because of his dedication, his skills allowed him to take part in a three month exchange which saw him live and work in Prince Edward Island last winter.  While he waits for the next round of activity, the other students are busy practicing for their presentations in which they were to introduce a classmate using a number of the expressions that were used in my presentation.

All in all, a great start to a new school year.