First Impressions of the TEFL Course

Right now I'm sitting on my balcony, drinking an excellent Greek wine that was only 3 euros for a bottle, looking at the stars, listening to the waves...life on Crete is good. Anyways, my first week of classes is almost complete and I figured I should write on my impressions of the course so far. First of all, my classmates are a diverse group. There are four Americans (one from Minnesota, one from Maine, one from NYC, and this Georgia boy), two Canadians, two Greeks, and one South African. Needless to say, we have very different life experiences and worldviews which makes for lively discussions. My apartment is outside of town so we have a 40 minute walk to class every morning. But the first part of the walk is along the beach and the scenery makes it very pleasant. Class starts at 10, which is great because I'm not a morning person, and there is about 3 hours of instruction on teaching English. We will cover everything from methodolgy to classroom management to grammar and lots in between. Then an hour for lunch, so far lunch is either a gyro or a greek salad, and I think it will take a long time to get tired of either one of those. Then the afternoon is spent planning our lessons for the teaching lesson at night. I had my first student teaching lesson last night and it went really well. Its very different because you have to speak slowly and explain everything but I think the students got the point and my observer had mostly good feedback. I was definitely nervous but it felt good to get started and realize that I can definitely do this. I think this course will be very helpful when I start teaching on my own because while it is my native language, I certainly did not know about writing lesson plans, using visuals, creating handouts, etc. And after teaching, which ends around 9, we return to the apartment, drink some wine and hang out together. The good thing is we only teach two or three times a week and the other days, I am done around 1:30. So then I have the afternoon to explore Hania, relax on the beach, and generally enjoy island life. And the weekends are the time to go out and explore the island. This weekend we are going to Elafonisi, which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches on the island so I will let you all know how that goes. Hania is also a very fun town for nightlife. We went out last Sunday night and had a blast. The island is known for raki, a liquor distilled from grape leaves with no additives that is very pure. The bartender at Zepos, the bar we went to right on the harbor, is friends with the director of our school so he welcomed us to Crete with plenty of free raki. So the night involved dancing and singing and an incredibly fun time. So things are off to a great start and I am so incredibly happy right now. I know this was the right decision for me to come here and I can't wait to see where this odyssey will lead. I hope all is well in the States and please keep in touch. Yamas!