The first lesson you have with your students is important as it sets the tone for the rest of the course.  It is also an opportunity for the teacher to assess what the students’ level is and to decide what to focus on.  Here are a few tips for that all-important first lesson:

• Smile Most students want a teacher who is approachable, friendly and fun….and yet….
• Be firm Students need to know the ground rules and what will happen if they break the rules (go over the school’s policies on homework, attendance, behaviour, use of mobile phones etc with your employers).  This is especially essential with children!
• Do an icebreaker A fun game you can do if your class don’t know each other is ‘the name game’…students stand in a circle and the first student says ‘My name is Luca’.  The second person must then say his/her name and the person’s before ‘My name is Giovanni and his name is Luca’.  The next person must then say their name and the person's before. And so on! 
• Introduce yourself Classes like to know information about their teacher – so give them an opportunity to ask questions and practice their English! 

A good game: write about five answers on the board in short form, for example ‘England’ ‘chocolate’ ‘Japan’ ‘40’ and ‘painting’.  Students then have to make the CORRECT question.  For example if they ask “Where are you from?” you can circle ‘England’ and tell them it’s the correct question, but if they said “How old are you?” you can say “That’s a good question, but it’s not the correct question!” (or “you think I’m 40???????!!! You’re getting an E!”).  When all the answers are circled you can then get the students to do this in pairs.

• Do a ‘find someone who’ activity Make sure the language is for the level – ideally it should cover grammar/vocabulary from their previous level(s).  Obviously this wouldn’t be a good idea for elementary learners!

• Manage students' expectations Give students a questionnaire which will assess their expectations of what they want from the teacher (this is more common for adult classes).  If you want to do this for lower levels, ask the school you are working for if they have any forms with translations (very unlikely but worth a try!)

• Assess students’ strengths/weaknesses Set activities with the aim to assess students’ English knowledge and ability and thus this will help you tailor your future lessons in line with their needs. Note that whilst you are consciously assessing students it is important not to let on to students that you are doing so!  Many students will take this to be like an exam and the last thing you want is to make students feel uncomfortable in their first lesson.

Feel free to add your own first lesson tips!

• TEFL advice
• TEFL class
• TEFL job
• TEFL
• TESOL
• teaching abroad
• teaching English abroad