Getting Off to a
Good Start
4CHAPTER
4-1
BE PREPARED-EVEN WHEN YOU ARE NOT
The first days of a training program are often the most difficult—especially if the
instructors are not very experienced. It is important to have as much as possible ready
ahead of time, including:
• living and eating arrangements for students
• study area with places to sit and good lighting
• blackboard and chalk (white and colors)
• plenty of wrapping paper or poster paper
• crayons, pencils, and marking pens
• notebooks and textbooks for students
• whatever tools or supplies may be
needed for building things, making
teaching aids, agricultural work, and any other activities that may be planned with
the students at the start of the course
• timetable and class plans for at least the first few days (see next page)
Students can help get things ready
Sometimes not all the materials
and furniture are ready by the time the
course begins, or the students may not
all arrive the same day. In this case,
you may want to spend a part of the
first day or two with students, helping
to make benches, blackboards, flannel-
boards, and other preparations. By
doing these things together, the group
gets off to an active start. People get
to know each other through working
together.
It is important that the instructors
work together with the students,
not just doing it for them and not just
telling them what to do. By doing the
job together as equals, a good learning
relationship, as well as a friendship,
begins.
But if you are going to start by
making benches, blackboards,
or other items, be sure you have
the necessary supplies ready.
Making equipment or supplies for the
course is a practical way to start. It
helps people get to know each other.