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Charlotte | Todd |
Todd: OK, Charlotte. You've been a teacher for quite awhile.
Charlotte: Yeah, I started about three years ago. My first job was in Jessif, in the east of Poland. I was promised that I wasn't going to have to teach any beginners or any little children because it was my first job. I was promptly given the beginner infants.
My first day of teaching I was given a book which said, 'Ah! Go into the classroom and say "Hello" to the children and they'll all say "Hello" back to you and wave. I walked into a class of five four-year olds, followed by all their mothers and grandmothers and I said, "Hello" and they all burst into tears.
I spent half the lesson trying to get them to say,"Hello" to each other and stop them from crying while all the grandmothers stood around and stared at me. I finally finished off my singing the whatever Happy Princess Song, all on my own, with crying infants to accompany me. It was one of the worst days of my life. I could identify with all the children though, because I wanted to sit on the floor and cry with them by the end of it. I think that that was when I realized that teaching kids was never going to be my vocation. I had some other classes as well but quick soon after that and moved onto adults who cry slightly less. Yeah, that was my first teaching experience. Not the best.
