So, today I went back to the language institute and gave a demonstration of my teaching methods in a simulated classroom. The lesson was on the English past tense.

I used to not teach grammar in my class because I didn't believe it was helpful for speaking. That was the only criticism I used to get from adult students and sometimes from my boss.

So, in my demo, I decided to teach grammar like a real teacher. I'd watched bunch of videos about past tense and I was ready to teach. So, when I started to warm up the class and introduce the past tense, my inner school teacher started teaching different regular and irregular verbs and how they're spelled. I was writing in a not-so-perfect order. I think I was stressed out. (Random thought: If it wasn't in the morning, I would've done it better"

Then, the lady who was playing the role of my students, interrupted me and asked, "Ok, ok, what do you do next?" I read a text from a book and tried to use Teaching Proficiency Through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) method, which involves asking a series of circling questions. This technique used to take up almost the entire class, and my students really liked it.

However, this lady interrupted me after the first sentence, so I was left speechless and asked her if she wanted to play a game. She agreed and I handed out imaginary flash cards to an imaginary group of students and explained what I would do in a real classroom setting.

She asked, " Okay. What else would you do?" I said, "I'd have the class write out the exercises, and for homework, I'd have them transcribe the listening section."

Then, she switched to Persian and asked me about where and when I got my Teacher's Training Course (TTC) certification. I told her my city and the date. Then, she said, "Those teaching methods were old school ten years ago, so you're teaching old school. You need to attend our TTC class and get with the times. The method we use is Engagement Study Assessment (ESA).

Apparently, my class wasn't engaging enough and I shouldn't have been teaching grammar.

So, I don't know how I feel; a little sad that I wasn't accepted, a little shocked that she called me old school, and a little mad that I didn't handle it better, kind of like I wasn't entirely myself.

Why am I writing about my failure? I don't know. Perhaps, I just see it as a new experience. I've already failed at life. So, this one doesn't even count.

By the way, could you tell me the difference between class and classroom?