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[00:00.88] Todd: OK, Charlotte. You've been a teacher for quite a while.

[00:05.88] Charlotte: Yeah, I started about three years ago. My first job was in Jessif, in the east of Poland.

[00:11.38] I was promised that I wasn't going to have to teach any beginners or any little children because it was my first job.

[00:17.38] I was promptly given the beginner infants.

[00:19.63] My first day of teaching I was given a book which said, 'Ah! Go into the classroom and say "Hello" to the children and they'll all say "Hello" back to you and wave.

[00:29.38] I walked into a class of five four-year-olds, followed by all their mothers and grandmothers and I said, "Hello" and they all burst into tears burst into tears.

[00:37.88] I spent half the lesson trying to get them to say, "Hello" to each other and stop them from crying while all the grandmothers stood around and stared at me.

[00:44.88] I finally finished off my singing the whatever Happy Princess Song, all on my own, with crying infants to accompany me.

[00:53.88] It was one of the worst days of my life.

[00:56.13] I could identify with all the children though because I wanted to sit on the floor and cry with them by the end of it.

[01:00.38] I think that that was when I realized that teaching kids was never going to be my vocation.

[01:04.88] I had some other classes as well but quickly soon after that and moved onto adults who cry slightly less.

[01:10.63] Yeah, that was my first teaching experience. Not the best.