PLAY AUDIO
Where was her first teaching job?
a) London
b) Poland
c) Japan
How old were her students?
a) 3
b) 4
c) 5
What did the students do at the start of the lesson?
a) Laugh
b) Cry
c) Sleep
How did she try to finish the lesson?
a) Story
b) Song
c) Game
Does she like teaching children now?
a) No
b) Yes
c) Not sure

PLAY AUDIO
OK, Charlotte. You've been a teacher for quite awhile
Yeah, I started about three years ago, and 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, and 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, cause 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 quit soon after that and moved
onto adults who cry slightly less. Um, yeah, that was my first teaching experience.
Not the best.