First Day of Teaching!

My first day of teaching yesterday was absolutely amazing! I couldn't believe how well my three classes went and how much fun I had. The only bad part is getting to the center on the metro, I could do without that part of the experience. Yesterday I started wearing the abaya (long black robe like thing) on the street and in the metro. I was attacked on the street recently and I don't want anymore trouble from depraved men. Wearing the abaya seemed to help, but it seems like a ridiculous solution to the problem of male harassment.

Anyway, teaching started off great. I taught three level 13 classes. My students were much better at English than I had anticipated. Many of them have large vocabularies but need to work on their speaking . Many of them have studied English for 12 or more years in school and university. Most of them told me that they practice at home by listening to SLOW English music (Celine Dion and Bryan Adams are big favorites!) or by watching English movies and shows on TV. All seemed eager to learn, so I decided to jump right in by giving new vocabulary and homework! The great thing about teaching adults is that it is their choice to be there, and they come from far and wide to learn English-from us! I don't want to disappoint them by making my class too easy or not expecting enough from them.

I was suprised when my students asked if we could pray before the class as I had never been asked that before. Luckily they asked me after so I didn't have to make an on the spot decision. Does anyone have any opinions on whether or not prayer before class is appropriate? As a liberal American I would tend to say no, but this is Egypt, and whether you're a Christian or a Muslim Egypt is anything but secular! I guess we'll see what happens.

I am teaching level 7 today and looking forward to that challenge as well! KATE