The first day of school sends chills down our spines, tears in our eyes, and butterflies in our stomachs. And the students have their own feelings!

Questions keep me awake the night before the first lesson.

·         Did I prepare enough?

·         Do I have all my supplies?

·         Will the technology work in my classroom?

·         Will they laugh at my jokes?

·         Will they know that I want to help them?

·         Will they see how nervous I am?

At the beginning of each semester, I have so much hope for my students. I want to say these things to them:

I hope you sense a welcoming atmosphere here in our classroom. I am here to help you learn, and I will learn from you.

I hope you understand that I am giving you tasks and homework to build your skills, not to shame you. I will give you honest feedback for your honest work.

I hope that you feel that this is a safe place to make mistakes; mistakes are all part of learning. You are human; you will make mistakes, but I hope that you will learn from your mistakes. I am also human; I will make mistakes, but I also hope to learn from my mistakes.

I hope that you know that you are unique and special; don’t be a copy of anyone else. I am also unique; no other teacher will explain things like I do. We will learn to appreciate each other.

I hope that we can laugh a lot this year. We can laugh at good jokes, at puns and word plays, and at ourselves. Laughter will make learning easier and more enjoyable.

I hope that we can support each other as we tackle major assignments and challenging questions. Some days will be difficult; but we are here together, to hang on to the hope of learning hard things.

The first day is here. The students arrive. “Welcome to class.” And we are off on an adventure of a new year, full of expectation and hope.

Author: Robin Gingerich, Ph.D., MA TESOL Program Director at LCC International University.