Teaching English for the First Time: Frightening or Challenging?

Abstract

To enhance the quality of teacher performance, teaching practicum is required by the Teacher Training and Education Faculty at university level as the pivotal compulsory course. The practicum is expected to give positive unforgettable experience for shaping their prior knowledge with contextual activities in the real school. This memory affects their next teaching journey according to the people they have met and interacted with during the program. Considering the significance of understanding the students’ experience in performing their planned lesson inside the class, this study aims to describe the students’ ideas during the Teaching Practicum Program, especially the effect of Teaching Media and Micro Teaching courses. Qualitative design was applied to investigate the students’ responses through the questionnaire and document analysis. The result indicates that teaching practicum seems to take the students in a very new direction, and it needs significant effort for adaptation to maintain better communication with the internal school stakeholders, particularly school based mentors and students. Further, media use for English instruction provides benefits for the experience. This study implied that identifying teaching experiences leads to comprehend possible challenges to achieve success. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.18.4.9