Teaching

Teaching here in Alexandria, Egypt has been a blast. At first, it took me a long time to create my lesson plans, but now I have the hang of it a bit better. I teach two classes—one pre-intermediate class and one upper intermediate class. I have great students in both classes and they seem to be making quite a bit of progress.

In general, I don't teach any grammar explicitly, unless my students really want a boiled-down rule. Rather, I search for ways to teach grammar implicitly through highlighted dialogues. The students internalize the grammar more quickly and accurately when it is contextualized.

I also try to make my lessons engaging and relevant for my students. We do a lot of laughing in class. J. I also enjoy learning about my students' life goals and incorporating them into later lessons. We learn about English in a way that is relevant to the students' lives and dreams.

All said, teaching English here in Egypt has been an enlightening and rewarding experience. I only hope that I am able to get a job so that I can teach here beginning with the 2010-2011 school year.

Egypt

Living in Egypt has been a fascinating experience. Although I have done my share of traveling, Egypt has one of the most different cultures I have ever had the privilege to experience. Like any culture, it has its ups and downs—but the friendliness of the people is enough to warm anyone's heart.

I know that when I go home I will want to share the experience with everyone, but I'm not sure that I'll really be able to explain it. Egypt is getting into my skin, like an addiction. Its paradoxes are becoming commonplace, almost natural. As I approach my last couple weeks here, I wonder what it is going to feel like at home. I'm afraid everything will feel stale, too orderly and rigid, lifelessly lofty.

On the other hand, I'm ready to live a home with air conditioning. It hasn't been too bad here, but I've never particularly enjoyed waking up sweaty. J

All in all, I am really enjoying the Egyptian culture. I hope to have more opportunities to learn more about it in the future.