Bob Majirioghene, Nigeria
There was this this time that President Clinton visited Nigeria and had to address our national assembly. For the first five minutes or so, President Clinton did not seem sure but he had a grip on afterwards and delivered a breathtaking speech afterwards. I guess what I want to say here is that being nervous before an audience you are not familiar with can be a daunting experience even for a Cicero. Just know this and just keep talking and get the students' attention and you'll do just fine.

Jose Cirino, Ecuador
It`s not easy to teach when we are not prepared a class. That makes us nervous, because perhaps we have some fear to be standing up with many students.

Jill Williams, USA
I used to be so nervous speaking in front of people. My face would get red and my heart would pound. I finally lost these feelings when I started to care so much about my students that I ceased to think about my embarrassment. I totally focused on them and their needs and problems and how I could best help them. This took the focus off ME and onto THEM. As soon as I stopped worrying about my nervousness, it stopped. I was also getting more experienced and knew enough to plan the timing of my classes and have a couple of extra activities to pull out in case my lesson ended early. Being very well prepared always helps too. Good luck!

Ursula Marmol, Peru
Feeling nervous is something natural and positive as long as it is under control. My first suggestion would be to be always prepared for your class. The more prepared you are the more confident you will feel. Try to anticipate things. We teachers have to know our students pretty well so that we can anticipate reactions, situations and anything that may come up in class. Give your students things to do. If you're giving a class that is 100% teacher centred it is natural that you might get stressed and nervous. You have to give them a lot to do so that you get time to breathe and think about the next thing to do. Do not try not to get nervous. Use it! Performers always feel nervous. Nervousness many times just means responsibility. You FEEL the responsibility of doing things the best way. So, be worried when you feel TOO relaxed, then. I've been teaching for 13 years now and if I didn't feel butterflies in my stomach when I get into a classroom I WOULD get worried. I'm an actress, too.

Demostene Marinotto,Brazil
To be nervous at the beginning is natural feeling. I have been teaching for about 40 years and I still have such feelings when beginning a new group. You have to be confident and have a well-prepared lesson. I mean, prepare it in great detail for the first 10 minutes. This will raise your confidence. Good Luck

Fawad Toofan, Afghanistan
I have been teaching English for five years. As I have got the experience through teaching, I think that full readiness is quite important for a teacher to have, because students are like soldiers that anytime they can attack so for this we need lots of readiness and preparations and also courage is so important. For example, if we can't answer anything we should tell the students that we will bring the answer another day instead of blushing in front of the students, and also the students can realize that it is not our native language so there is no problem.

Jacqueline Stella Francois, France
I was very shy and nervous in front of students, but not anymore. Have someone video you or tape yourself, then listen to the tape and imagine yourself in front of the class. It works a treat. You'll gain more self confidence and feel more at ease when you actually teach your class. Role playing at home is also useful and mirror work. Look at yourself in the mirror and imagine that you are in front of your class. These simple exercises will really build your confidence up.

Jiri Smejkal, Czech Republic
From my own experience:
a) build your overall self-confidence (might be sports, training in your subject,..) b) the "family-partnership:" background is very important c) find what situations made you feel nervous or relaxed and avoid the bad ones and go more often to those good ones d) activate your students, involve them and make them more responsible for certain lesson steps. Don´t worry, be happy :-) !!!

Anon
Have a small meal before teaching. Get them to tell a joke in English to make the class more light-hearted. I try to find material in advance which will interest the students in small groups, so they talk and listen among themselves. You can then go round and find out how things are going. I often find subjects they are interested in on the internet, from newspapers and special interest magazines, which surprise them and encourage discussion, which takes the focus off me. It's much worse if you stand up for long periods in front of them.

Domício Moreira Ribeiro, Brazil
Dear Eang Hay, you said that you have been teaching English for two years and still feels nervous when you are in front of a classroom...What I have to tell you is that I learned that a normal person is supposed to be NERVOUS, ANXIOUS, WORRIED, etc. before a presentation. This reveals responsibility with your audience, your students, etc. Those who get to be completely calm are ABNORMAL people or pretenders. In fact, all are nervous, but pretend not to be. So, there is nothing wrong with you. Being nervous in the beginning of a lesson presentation is something completely expected and accepted. But if you stay nervous during all the lesson (50 minutes or more) I think that you should look for some help; perhaps a better planning of the lessons or maybe you should study a bit more about the subject you are supposed to deal with. When you know a lot about your subject matter, there is no reason to be anxious. I remember one day when I was about to present a seminar and I was almost giving up, because I was very, very nervous. But I decided to face my challenge. After the presentation, my professor, a PhD in Linguistics, said: 'You were brilliant. You've got a top mark! You see? Only I knew I was nervous!'

A tip: do not say (to anybody) that you are nervous, because most of the time only you know that! I hope that my words can help you. Best wishes!

Zlata, Czech Republic
Maybe this could help Eang May with her feelings of nervousness in front of the class: be honest. As a student, I appreciated the most the teachers who were also human beings, not only the tough and all-knowing ones. As a teacher, admitting to my students that I have difficulties with explaining something or, that something makes me nervous and asking students for a little help works fine. You cannot make them think you are completely weak but treating them as partners makes both sides feel better. Good luck!

i have been teaching english over the last 8 years across varied age groups.

it is a well known fact that nervousness is nothing but the hormone adrenalin getting pumped into the system which sends fresh blood to the brain which in turn helps a speaker to be alert and get focussed.

the success or failure of a speaker depends on how he uses this situation to his advantage.

it is also very critical to be authoritative on the first day by asking students to change their seating arrangements once u get into the class even before u introduce urself.

this has a powerful impact on the students because u are clearly sending out a message that no one can mess around with u.by that time u are totally in control of the class.also ensure that u keep urself updated regularly on various aspects of the english language.u do not know what kind of questions will be thrown at u by ur students.