Teach English in Quma Zhen - Chongqing

I have been teaching english as a foreign language now for almost five years. When I came to japan, I had absolutely zero experience and the first couple years were really challenging for me; it was indeed a trial by fire. I wasn?t getting any feedback on my performance and most times I felt like a fraud because I had no idea if what I was doing was right or not. As things progressed, and I was able to talk to other foreign language or ?degreed? teachers, I gained confidence in my abilities and became more comfortable in the classroom. Still, I have always felt I was lacking some essential background information and that?s what I think this course has given me. What I have found most useful was the ?engage, study, activate? methodology for planning lessons. I have been exposed to something similar here at JET program forums and through other teachers but often the terminology and the general focus were different; I guess it wasn?t as structured. After studying this method and planning some lessons for the various units, I can see that I was often lacking in some of these areas in my lessons. Since learning about this method a few weeks ago, I have already successfully employed it in my adult education classes and hope to implement it in my regular classes at the start of the new school year in April. This course has also given me confidence in my teaching abilities by confirming many of the things that I have discovered on my own over the last five years. Often times I have felt like I was operating in a vacuum and wasn?t sure if how I was approaching various situations in the classroom was appropriate. Throughout this course I have gotten some much-needed affirmation and only wish that I would have taken the initiative to complete it sooner.