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Once upon a time, I signed up for a foreign program to become a language teacher assistant. The program would allow me to work and live in Europe. I was hired and, despite some doubts, in the end I said, why the heck not?
My role was described as “prepare activities that focused on language and culture (based on the United States, in my case).” Essentially, I had to recreate the American English version of everyday lessons, adding a touch of their own culture. Of course, this was flexible; every school made use of their assistant differently. Piece of cake, I thought.
That was until my first day of work. On my way to the school, I found out that I’d be teaching a subject that was totally out of my expertise.
“How good are you at Art?” asked the principal, with whom I’d car-pool to school every day.
“Oh, I’m pretty bad,” I said, sort of joking, but not really. I was dead serious about the bad part.
I knew where she was going with that question, so I thought I’d let her know in advance. For a second there, I thought she was kidding me, but kidding she was not.
“It’s just that we’re still trying to figure out in what subject you’d be a better fit,” she said. “But you will most likely help with art.”
Art? Art!
What the hell did I even know about art? Not a darn thing.
I got really anxious and then really excited because, “Hey, that could be fun.” I always loved art. Besides, they’re just elementary kids; they won’t know I don’t know what I’m doing, I thought. And I kept calm. After all, I was only “the assistant,” right? It’s not like I was going to be in charge of all the main teacher’s responsibilities.
Well, my wishful thinking didn’t make it too far. There was no further discussion about the matter, and as soon as I stepped into the first classroom for orientation, I was introduced as Miss Art Teacher—sort of. And the next morning, despite the fact that I had not a clue about what I was doing; despite the fact that being an art enthusiast doesn’t make anyone a teacher, I had an art class to report to…as the teacher.
Stay tuned as I revise this old little story to be re-published soon. Yes, it’s a true story!
In the meantime, feel free to check out my little illustrated blog posts.
