The blind leading the mute

For the past month or so, people have been asking me about my upcoming position as an English teacher. All I knew at that point was that they started sometime in September and that someone would be getting in touch with me (or so I hoped). Finally, I got a text message last week about coming in, but there was a holiday so it was postponed until today. So this morning I got ready, gathered a couple of things and headed out on my bike to the school. On the way, I realized that it was kind of my first day at my new job which felt kind of odd, but kind of exciting.

When I arrived I saw the teacher that I was supposed to meet with and she asked me to have a set and went over a few minor details with me. It was then that I realized a couple of things: one, I was teaching double the amount of classes that I thought I was responsible for. Two, I was not team teaching with any specific English teacher, but was teaching class all of my own. Therefore, I am not confined to either a grade or a level. I have them all. I will be teaching 9 different sets of students and only one set will be more than one time a week. The level range from hello my name is... to those taking a language exam, in which you most be proficient in the language

This, however, was just the beginning of things in which i was not aware. School does not start sometime in September but the first of September, as in next week. I was just given 2 of the 4 books out of which the grammar teacher will teach, I just have to base lessons off of that. Suddenly, i was aware of exactly how much i did not know. I don't know the exact day school starts, where classrooms are, what school policies are, what the dress code is, what the disciplinary process is, and many other such details. I know there is a saying, the blind leading the blind, but i realized this doesn't really apply, b/c the students know all these things they are not blind, they just can't communicate them to me because we speak different languages. what a pair we will make come next week.