Wednesday marked the start as my (to-be short lived) role as a teacher. This month I'm teaching a course to a group of 23 first and second-year Dutch students introducing them to the basic outlines and concepts in English law. Perhaps unfortunately I didn't have time to be nervous due to the mooting work, but I'm now one lesson down.
I've never done anything like this before and it was quite a strange experience to find me writing my own name and email on the whiteboard in front of 23 students. Things went pretty much to plan, but I was impressed with how boring I made everything sound. I was talking about some basic concepts like Parliamentary sovereignty and the difference between common and civil law systems, before I got bogged down (heavily) in trying to explain what Equity was all about. So it didn't end on that high-a-note. There was class participation though which was encouraging and I was asked quite a few questions.
I did enjoy myself though, but there's certainly room for improvement. I have though learnt from the first week and I know what needs to be changed. I've always preferred lecturers who do just that, and lecture, so that's the style I adopted, and it didn't really work. Next week I'm talking about the English legal education system and the legal profession which hopefully I can make a little more interesting and involving. If anyone has any funny video clips or multimedia involving Barristers, Solicitors or Judges, or even just some teaching tips (Annie?!), then you know where to find me!
The whole thing is leading up to the students themselves running a mock-trial set in an English court room. There was a general look of bemusement when I explained a little about it, but I'm hoping that it'll be something good fun and give them all a better impression of what English law and our legal system is like in practice. It'll also be a good excuse to dress up - Judge John Deed anyone?
1 comment:
Oooh I didn't know you were going to be teaching, how exciting! And good luck. I do indeed have many an teaching tip given my oh so wonderful five months so far…so feel free to ask away, i can give you general advice or suggestions for adaptable fun stuff, just let me know! In return if you have any genius info, cartoons or whatever about the EU or international relations they could prove most useful…! Swapping is definitely the way forward :)
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