writing a report

International Teachers’ First-Year Experiences and Challenges

Introduction

Teaching is one of the most respectable occupation that focuses on improving the profession and enriching students understanding. This goal can only be achieved if there is a positive learning environment which supports a good interaction between the teacher and the students. This learning environment is better influenced by the teacher than by the school or institution where he/she is posted, However, there are some constraints that pose a challenge to achieving the intended goal (Roehrig, Pressley, & Talotta, 2002). This discussion shares three different cases which were experienced by three new teachers to identify what some of these problems are. The information is gathered form an interview where we have three teachers responding and giving more information about their experience as new international teachers.

Literature review

Today, we recognize the work done by our teachers by commemorating the World Teachers Day. Among the issues put into consideration in this day are the challenges and burdens that teachers face every day as they push towards achieving their purpose. There are 650 million children and youth who don’t meet the basic development and learning milestones, increasing the urgency of the need to support our teacher to improve the teaching experience (Margaret, 2015). One fact is that, when teachers are burdened with many tasks, their functionality is limited. Among the perceived benefits of international teachers is that they get to share cultural diversity with the students and it is a possible channel to help students appreciate the benefits of having a multicultural education setting. Among the burdens that might limit a teacher’s functionality include challenges in developing teaching materials, managing students, developing instructional strategies, addressing learner differences, assessing students, adapting to the change of culture and environment, and collaborating with other teachers (Alma, 1998).

Hypothesis

The interview questions were organized in a chronological manner trying to find out more about the experiences that new international teachers go through when interacting with the students, other teachers, the schools authority and what it is that they do to cope with the challenges. The interview questions were administered to three respondents. Among the research questions to facilitate this qualitative study include the following;

i. Is the experience as a first-year new teacher made of negative or positive attributes?

ii. What is the main source of the challenges that are faced by the teacher?

iii. How do teachers get to handle or address these challenges? And does it lead to positive results?

iv. What should be changed or what should be done to improve the first-year teacher experience?

Findings

The answers to the qualitative analysis questions were completely different making it clear that different teachers are subjected to different challenges, and they result in using different approaches to address them. The findings indicate that challenges included; language barriers which limited a teacher's way of expressing him/herself, cultural barriers whereby the teacher had limited knowledge of the American culture and students' misconduct in classroom situations.

The study showed that the school administrator is an important asset to the teachers regarding helping them handle their challenges. By creating a personal relationship, teachers can share their experiences, and they can effectively receive advice from the administrators, and this made the teaching exercise easier for them. Also, creating a good professional relationship with the teachers and the school administration came out as the second approach to solving the challenges. This exposed the teachers to understand the new environment better by having helpful interactions with other teachers and the school management. Among the recommendation made by the teachers was that the teaching curriculum should observe the experiences of the new teachers and work towards making it more favorable for the teacher.

APPENDIX A

INTERNATIONAL TEACHERS INTERVIEW QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES

Question	Respondent 1	Respondent 2	Respondent 3
1. Tell me about your first-year experience	Experienced a lot of behavior problems here	Different responsibility teaching content and strategies alone	Importance of rules and procedures in class
2. What was the best thing about first-year experience?	Experienced teacher were supportive	Learning different topics weekly	Opportunities for personal and career growth
3. What was your number one challenge?	Student indiscipline and language barrier	Cultural differences made me feel uncomfortable	Communication challenges and language barrier
4. What did you do when you experienced this challenge?	Consulting experienced teachers helped, self-reflection	-	I talked to the deputy principle about problems
5. Tell me about your school administrator.	School administration was supportive of new teachers	Warm, kind and helpful	Very professional, helpful and trustworthy
6. What would you recommend to schools to improve your first-year experience?	Working under supervision to help improve	Availability of all teaching tools and plans
7. What would you recommend to new teachers to improve their first-year experience?	Build relationships with other teachers	Time management and building management skills systems	Learn the students personalities and appreciate them respectfully

Summary of the for favorable solution

References

Alma Harris, (1998). Effective Teaching: A review of the literature. Journal, School Leadership

Margaret L. Halicioglu, (2015). Challenges facing teachers new to working in schools overseas.Journal of Research in International Education Retrieved from http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1475240915611508

Roehrig, A., Pressley, M. & Talotta, D. (2002). Stories of beginning teachers: first-year challenges and beyond. Notre Dame, Ind: University of Notre Dame Press.