Laszlo Molnar, teaching in Brooklyn, New York on the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Programme

I come from a small town in Hungary and felt ready to take up the challenge of teaching in a big city like New York.

One of my aims is to develop different teaching skills to use in my classroom back home in Hungary. Having spent a year in the UK last year, I am keen to learn about the stylistic differences between British English and American English.

My day starts with a wonderful train journey from Manhattan, where I live, to Brooklyn with a wonderful view of the city from Williamsburg Bridge. I usually bump into one of the teachers from school on the train, so we’ll have an early morning chat along the way.

Once at school, teachers spend early mornings teaching children who need extra support, followed by their usual teaching programme.

The majority of the students I teach are more or less fluent in English, unlike my groups in Hungary where many students are from migrant families and have specific language needs. The real difference is that I can spend more time on reading and writing tasks with my class in Brooklyn.

It was a bit of a culture shock to hear phones ringing during class, but I soon realized the benefit of keeping in touch with other teachers and students. I also had to adjust to daily ‘announcements’ made in the class but, thankfully, not during class time.

One of the most delightful things to happen was when a student came up with an idea for an international cuisine event which involved students preparing dishes from different countries. It was very successful and hugely enjoyable. Students learned new vocabulary in the process, too.

My exchange partner and I plan to carry out an audit of all the positive features of our schools and devise an imaginary system of education based on our experiences.

My top tips:

• At first, you will feel like a new teacher, even if you have years of experience, so be prepared for this.
  
• Bring lots of useful things about your home country; they can be used as talking points and are great educational resources.
  
• Be ready to drop or change your usual way of teaching
  
• Teachers’ breaks vary in frequency and duration, so you’ll need to adapt to this.
  
  
  For more information on teacher exchange programmes visit
  http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-fulbright-what-is-fulbright-uk-us-teacher-exchange.htm