I am also in this position.  I am about to start my second year teaching.  My first year, I was told to teach them what I thought they should know.  There was no book, no guidelines, no starting point.  This caused my first year to be quite unorganized, unrelated, and so this year, I'm trying to prepare in greater detail.  However, I still have no idea what these students will "need to know."  This is supposed to be a TOEFL preparation class, but I was told to "teach them how to talk."  Many of my students have joined our program because there was no other way for them to enter the school.  They are studying alongside the students who wish to travel abroad for college.  So, I guess the question is: What can I teach that is applicable to both?

Trying to emphasize free-speaking is really difficult. I have them keep a journal. They answer a question, write at least five sentences about it, and then you can use it to segue into the lesson. You have a lot of freedom, which is great. Pick three grammar points, like past tense, subjunctive, and future tense. Then teach that all year, in dialog, tests and whatever.

Good luck!

I became a teacher later than my university friends. So I asked many things to them to have ideas about the school life. I was wondering what I have to tell in the class to make the atmosphere of the class active and comfortable. My friends told me that she taked about her daughter's color of the socks, how she cooks at home, her travel experience and so on. She tried to encougage me.
Now I feel very comfortable when I teach. I'm sure you can do well, too. Be corageous and confident.

Today was my first day and I feel like I was thrown for a loop. I spent all my time preparing a lesson plan around the textbook - which is what I was told to do. Then when I got to class, my co-teacher completely threw that out of the window and spent the lesson doing his own thing, getting them to ask me questions and speaking to the students on the side. I wish I had seen this coming because then I would have prepared a proper a slideshow - it just made me feel completely and seem as though I hadn't bothered to prepare a lesson. I really hope that it's not all downhill from here.