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Scared and disheartened? Help is closer than you think
“Sorry, we’ve had to move you to the stage,” said Maria, the extremely harassed-looking organiser of the teacher training course I was presenting in Italy. “A few more people turned up than we were expecting.”
I looked out over the hall admiring her understatement and, bizarrely, feeling sorry for her. Red-faced and sweating, she looked as if she was about to go into cardiac arrest. I reviewed my choices. I could get angry (pointless), walk out (loser) or get on with it.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll manage. Maybe if you could just …” But she had already dashed to the back of the audience to take her seat.
There were at least 80 teachers sitting in front of me, eyes on the stage, clasping notebooks, pens and phones. I had prepared material for 20. My timed-to-the-second session on role-play, involving group work, handouts, lots of interaction and a short period of feedback would now have to go completely out of the window.
There was no time to change anything or get more material as the hall was full and the presentation was already five minutes late. Like the swan gliding calmly along while its little webbed feet are frantically paddling beneath the water, I smiled at the audience as my brain flew into…
