third class with Intermediate I

My third class with Intermediate English I was quite hard.  I had to read a lot in order to master the topic; one of the advantages this practice has is that we teach topics that maybe when we were students, we could not master. When we are in charge of teaching, we have to know a lot about the content. I prepared a series of activities for them to practice after the grammar explanation I gave; they really need speaking activities so they can practice their language. When I started the class which was about count and non-count nouns, quantifiers and units of measurement, several questions arose from the students. They found controversial why chicken and broccoli is uncountable; to this I gave a proper explanation telling them that it chicken is not the same when it is an animal and when we refer to it as food.

I also taught few and a few. I told them that few has negative connotation whereas a few has positive connotation. These words dragged them into confusion because they didn’t understand why it was either negative or positive. I gave them a couple of examples: Paul has few friends. It is not good for him because we must have lots of friends. David has a few apples in his bag. When nobody has fruits, David has some; it is good!

Well, students asked and I tried to answer as correct as I could. All I had read and the background I had helped me to answer their questions. At the end of the class, the tutor told me that I was not so confident, but personally, I think I was. She also told me that it is so good that I make them all participate in the class. Overall, it was a great experience.