How to Teach Your First Lesson to a New Class

Q: In your opinion, how should you teach your first lesson to a new class? How can you make your ‘Lesson One’ a success?
What would you pay attention to in your first lesson?
A
Lesson One is one of the most important lessons. Even for an experienced teacher, it’s unpredictable, and that is why it requires more preparation.
In order to make my ‘Lesson One’ successful and inspiring, I would like to divide the whole thing into three stages: before, during, and after the lesson.
1) Before the lesson
Before the lesson, I must have at least a rough idea about the students I’m going to teach, like who and how old they are, why they learn Chinese, et cetera because these things will decide what and how I should teach them in the future.
Second, I need to, prepare something suitable for the first lesson, such as something interesting and inspiring about Chinese culture involving a little bit Chinese language. 2) 2)During the lesson
During the lesson, I first need to be smart, for example, I need to dress properly and be enthusiastic. An impressive self-introduction will help because it could show that I’m able to do my job and reliable. If the students trust me from the very beginning, the whole teaching throughout the year will be promising.
The first lesson is a very good opportunity for me and my students to know each other. For instance, I could familiarise myself with the new class as soon as possible, like remembering as many names as possible and observing their behaviors and habits.
3) After the lesson
After the lesson, I need to think back. What part of the lesson has been successful and what could have been better? More importantly, I must adjust some of my teachings accordingly and keep doing it in the future.