Really helpful. I haven't started yet. I'm still doing my course but this has calmed some fears that have begun to bubble. Thanks.

Ive been teaching since April and have now reached summer vacation. When i first started i felt like an inposter, someone trying to be an english teacher who wasnt. I began to realise through talking to others that i was putting to much pressure and had created an unrealistic expectation of what and english teacher should be. Now im more relaxed and have realised teaching is about helping and sharing what you know and if you dont know something, just like the students you can find the answer online, in books or ask a friend/collegue. You are not expected to know everything, including the grammar so its ok to walk into class with a couple of your own books for grammar or a dictionary...i strongly advise a bilingual (book or electronic) dictionary in class.

As for number three it is true that you are never 100% in control. more often then not it is the students choice to listen and some times they only listen to each other. A method i use is to first ask for silence or if they are listening, then i will stand and wait and stare in the direction of those talking and eventually they go quiet or another student will shout out in their language for the class to go quiet...this works well in all my schools

as for number 4. my annoyance is when a year group is divided in to class A, B and C for their levels but these levels are based on their overall studies and not english and so even though someone is good at maths and science they may not be good at english and in fact can hold the class up...When i learnt french in school the language classes were considered separate and you were put into levels based on your ability and this changed each year...this should happen in the schools i teach because some students that are advance are held back by those who are still beginner and the school is making me teach from and stick to the text books...so this is one major problem in language learning :S