i can't undestand a comment on youtube video
"I'm enjoying my job greatly because the school atmosphere is very casual and friendly but there is a problem. I'm fresh off the boat when it comes to teaching and my classes are very mixed in terms of individual student level." (it's an ESL teacher's phrase)
I found the meaning of "to be fresh off the boat" - The phrases fresh off the boat (FOB), off the boat (OTB), banana boat (BB), or just simply boat are terms used to describe immigrants that have arrived from a foreign nation and have not yet assimilated into the host nation's culture, language, and behavior, but still continue with their ethnic ideas and practices.

So the teacher feels himself like an immigrant?

Question

i can't undestand a comment on youtube video
"I'm enjoying my job greatly because the school atmosphere is very casual and friendly but there is a problem. I'm fresh off the boat when it comes to teaching and my classes are very mixed in terms of individual student level." (it's an ESL teacher's phrase) 
I found the meaning of "to be fresh off the boat" - The phrases fresh off the boat (FOB), off the boat (OTB), banana boat (BB), or just simply boat are terms used to describe immigrants that have arrived from a foreign nation and have not yet assimilated into the host nation's culture, language, and behavior, but still continue with their ethnic ideas and practices.

So the teacher feels himself like an immigrant?

Answer

He doesn't consider himself to be literally like an immigrant. He's speaking figuratively to mean that in the context of teaching he feels that he is still inexperienced because he has just begun to teach. His use of the saying "fresh of the boat" is meant to be understood as a metaphorical analogy, comparing his experience of being new to teaching to the experience of an immigrant who hasn't yet assimilated into the host culture.

Answer

I agree with Adam. The teacher means that he is new to the teaching culture and hasn't fully adapted to the environment

Answer

I think in this case the teacher is saying that he feels like a beginner in his new job and is having a lot of new (and stressful) experiences. He feels like he is adapting to new and unfamiliar work experiences.

Answer

As the others have mentioned, this teacher has just started a new job and is likening the experience to arriving on new, unfamiliar shores. We could use other expressions:

I'm still finding my feet (learning a new skill, like a baby learning to walk)
I'm flying by the seat of my pants (learning something new and perhaps only managing to do just enough to survive)
I'm a newbie (I'm new here, compared with everyone else)
I'm still learning

I hope you find these useful!

Answers · 7

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