Hi everyone!

I am going to be volunteering in Nepal very soon. Up until now I was supposed to be working in an orphanage, but this weekend I was informed by the organization over there that they have assigned me to teach English at a school in Kathmandu! Starting in 10 days!

All I know is that the students are age 5-13, don't know how many students per class. I'm pretty sure that their knowledge of English is very basic. Also, I'm sure that resources are very limited. Now: I am not a teacher and I have no experience in teaching!

I would love to tackle this task, but I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the info on this (wonderful and informative!) website and I don't know where to start and I only have a week left. Wish I had the time to do a TEFL course but I don't...

Does anybody have experience in teaching English abroad (esp. in developing countries), and can give me some advice, hints, tips.... especially concerning the first day of class, 'breaking the ice', maybe simple games to do, lesson plans?

Would really appreciate any help!

Livy

Livy - I think it's natural to be a little anxious about heading off to such a teaching job, but the anticipation of what's to come is worse than the real thing.

To be honest, if they didn't require any experience or training, they're probably not expecting you to have any. They might help you out in the beginning and give you some direction, but you'll probably have to learn as you go.

I think just reading aroundthe web and getting an idea of where you might be able to go for ideas, advice, and so on is a good idea. But don't worry too much about it.

I do a bi-weekly on-line show called ESL Teacher Talk. It's a podcast or on-line radio show, and designed exactly for people in your situation. it7s for new teachers who have little experience and just tries to give some simple tips, activity ideas and advice for tackling language teaching. If you have some time listen to a few of the shows and maybe that will be helpful.

Enjoy the excitement of a new journey in life. Don't stress to much about what's to come. I'm sure you'll have a blast!

Find out if you are the first teacher there or replacing someone else. This will make a difference to what you take.

For introductions and ice breakers have photos of you, family, friends, the place you live and the neighbourhood etc.

If you have a laptop then put some of the powerpoint flashcards from this site on it. With your age group I use lots of fruit, veges, food, sport, animals and then change the language with them.

Enjoy the opportunity, sounds like quite an experience.

I agree with Mark and Simon, this is going to be a great adventure. When I started teaching English in Japan, I was kinda thrown into a situation with no training too. Fortunately for me, I was a music teacher back home, so I had a bit of teaching experience. I know many excellent English teachers though that have started from no experience at all.

If you can get a hold of Practical English Language Teaching: Young Learners by Caroline T. Linse, I would recommend it. It has a lot of great ideas for teaching children English.

Two children’s books I highly recommend: Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr. and Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

I don’t know if you will have a cd player there, but bring some music, especially for the younger kids. I have a bunch of free songs you can download that go great with the MES English Flashcards on my site: www.dreamenglish.com All the songs have lesson and game ideas, so that could start you off.

If you won’t have a cd player, and you are so inclined, brush up on some childhood favorites, head, shoulders, knees and toes, London Bridge, etc. You can base a whole lesson off of one song.

Like everyone else said, have a great time, and if you learn some cool things about teaching English to kids, put a post back up on this forum so we can learn from you!