Teaching English to Adults

My first year and a half I was teaching chemistry to 14-20-something year olds. Most of these students knew very little English, though I do have to admit that many of my students were much better than most other students in the country. With that said I battled teaching a subject to them in a language that they didn’t fully know. Not to mention dealing with normal teenage issues.
Teaching adults has been like a breath of fresh air. For one the class size is smaller, normally smaller than 20, average around 12-15 students. Although attendance tends to be an issue, I find teaching them much better than teaching the teenagers. Most of the adults actually want to be in the class and want to learn and understand why they need to learn. The only major problem is that outside of class most students don’t practice or have any chance to use the English that they are learning. Clearly that then creates a challenge for them to really get a handle on English, but I know they try their best and so do I.
I’ve taught a few classes and even been lucky enough to teach members of parliament including the speaker of parliament. What I liked most was how intelligent many of the adults are and once some level of English was grasped the discussions could really get good. It has also given me a chance to learn a lot more about Rwanda since I try to get the students to talk about what they know.
I did greatly enjoy my time teaching in secondary school, but for the time being I’m happy doing this adult education. The only thing I wish was different was the hours. For some time it was 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours at night, but now only at night, so during the day I’m free while at night I work. Not the most ideal situation, but its paying the bills and more, so I’ll continue for now.

Oh another great perk is that my first classes were students of Bank of Kigali, where I have my bank account, so whenever I go withdraw money I get great treatment..hehe:)