The complete guide for your first day of class

I’m sure that you’ve found yourself many times in this situation, in which  you are asked to join a language school as a teacher. The language school just wants to dish out some classes to you. Actually this is what they might tell you “You have to be in this place, at that time. Good luck!”. And that’s what our first day of class as English teachers looks like. 

It is not common that the language school gives you all the necessary materials, all the necessary content, all the necessary information that you need for the first day of class. In this post we will try to cover all those tools that you can use on your first day of class, forever. We will help you plan this first class, which will help you plan every first class from now on.

So, let’s take a look at what you need to do even before you walk into class. Let me tell you that it has a lot more to do with your attitude than with all your knowledge.

Here are three things we recommend doing:

MAKING A GREAT IMPRESSION

Yes, there are some elements that will help you make a great first impression, such as your dress code, your vibe, your experience, etc. but all of that doesn’t matter if you don’t have the right amount of ENTHUSIASM. So, make your students aware of the fact that you want to be there. Help them make the most of their time with them.

REMEMBERING NAMES

Although this tip might be a bit surprising, it makes a huge difference if we remember our students’ names as soon as we meet them. But of course, our memory plays a big part, so make it easier for you to remember the names of your students.

By remembering the names of your students you show a great deal of respect and help build rapport with your students, at least initially.

Distributing name tags or banners to identify your students would be a good idea. You can then also play some games that will help you and your students remember each other’s names. This will create a great atmosphere and help build confidence in the classroom.

KEEP A PLAN A AND A PLAN B

Planning activities for the first day of class is fun and scary at the same time. What if they don’t like it. And if they get bored? You will always go through this when planning. You may have planned the best lesson ever, but you aren’t making that ‘connection’ with your students.

So, when you notice that your lessons are drifting away from your students’ attention, you need to pull out a variation to the lesson, or even change your lesson completely. This usually comes along with experience, but you can never plan enough.

There’s also another situation that can come up in your lesson, and that is that your students for whatever reason might be simply ‘out’ of the lesson. Sometimes you feel that your students aren’t in the ‘mood’ for the lesson you have prepared.

Even after trying really hard there’s no way to get them started, you will need to pull out a totally different approach until you get them on the same wavelength. Only then will you able to carry out your lesson plan.

I’m sure that by following these three tips your students will at least have a very positive outlook to your teaching and you will surely have created a great first impression.

So, don’t forget:

• Make a great first impression
• Remember their names
• Keep a stack of plans, activities, exercises, role-plays, videos, etc.

Let’s now move on to our aims for the first day of class as English teachers:

One of the first things to do is to know what you want to achieve by the end of your class and you need to know what you want students to have achieved by the end of the class. Having these two things clear for each and every class will surely make you a high-performing teacher. It’s really satisfying when you know what you want to do in a class, and eventually end up doing it.

AIMS FOR THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS
So, let’s take a look at the five aims I think we should all keep in mind for our first class:

Aim 1: Get to know your students:

If you’ve followed our advice on the name-tag or banner activity, you’ve already taken the first step. It would be great if you dug just a bit deeper into what your students like doing, what kind of movies, podcasts, series they watch. Not that you’re going to watch, or listen to any of their podcasts in class, but it will give you a good idea of the things you could actually suggest doing to improve their English.

Aim 2: Ask your students what their aims are

Take notes of what they tell you. You can ask them typical questions such as:
What do they need English for?
What their experience with previous have been?
But don’t worry we’ve created a great series of questions that we’ve included in our needs analysis sheet, (for adults and teenagers) which will help you determine many of your student aims. Don’t forget to check out our List of Free tools for teachers.

Aim 3: Make your students aware of your aims for them.

Although you have already asked your students about their aims it is very important for them to know what you want them to achieve. You can always start by telling them: “this course I would like to practice this and that with you.” We Will take a look at what is this a little bit later.

Aim 4: Assessing and placing your students in the right level

If you are just starting out as a teacher and haven’t had too many hours of teaching time this may be tricky at first, but don’t worry we have prepared a small level test that will help you identify which level your students might have. Placing your students in the right level will surely help you plan courses and lessons better.

Aim 5: Once you have an idea of what your students’ levels are, you can always show them what your/their course is going to look like

Just right before the class ends a hint of what their course is going to look like. You can always tell them that this is something tentative and that after you check the needs analysis and correct their placement test you will probably be able to come up with a more consolidated program for them. However, don’t hesitate to tell them what your ideas are after you’ve spoken to them.

For example, after the first class you may have identified their objectives, and an obvious one is that they will surely need a lot of speaking. So you can tell them that in every class you will try to have a speaking section that will help you practice vocabulary and grammar. You will also try to make it natural for them to use those structures and words.

Show them their aims

Many teachers have asked us how they can help their students visualize what they should be able to do and which vocabulary and structures they are supposed to know. It’s actually a difficult question, but we have prepared a series of documents that will help you. These documents are based on the Common European Reference Framework for languages in which we’ve tried to include the most relevant aims. Take a look at the Aims and Contents for each level.

You will see that these documents have skill mastery aims and content aims. Make sure that you tell your students that your intention isn’t to cover all the content and skills in one course. Instead you will inform them when they’re practising one particular skill or introducing a specific item from the contents list.

Take a look at this Checklist for your first day of class. It’s really useful to avoid skipping any step.

You can then suggest that they can keep track of what is done in class by ticking the boxes right next to each element in the document. It’s a wonderful way to make students aware of what they’re practising in your lessons and a good way for them to register their progress.

IN CONCLUSION:

• Do your best to create a great first impression
• Remember all the names you can. You will see that this changes the whole vibe of the class.
• Have a few plans ready. You can never plan enough
• Start finding out what your students need English for and make them aware of what you want them to achieve.
• Give them a quick overview of what they can expect from your lessons.
• And that’s it! Hope you can apply all our tips in your first lesson.

Good luck!

Let us know in the comments what you do or have done on your first day and if you’ve had the chance to apply any of these tips or activities, let us know how they all went.

Hope all of our tips are helpful for your first day of class.