Scared to teach university students

The students are very demanding and my abilities are very limited.
Recently I have made an embarrassing mistake claiming that the product of consecutive prime numbers + 1 = prime but it is wrong for many cases, I was correct that divisibility on any of the consecutive primes is impossible but, missed that the divisibility on greater primes is often possible, otherwise, it would be too easy to calculate the largest prime. I make too many mistakes.
I had to leave Ukraine due to the war and persecution of the honest people; I have lost all my property and was almost killed by the groups of heavily armed criminals there.
I try to survive in Indonesia, the only country and could enter, and the only job I could find is lecturing at Indonesian University.
My solution to the problem is always doing the right thing but it does not always work due to the complexity of real life.

Wow your situation sounds a lot worse than mine, just because my life isn't under threat. but I can relate somewhat. I'm thinking of applying for a teaching job here in my hometown, but I'm hesitating because some of the classes they want taught are ones I didn't do so well in myself. My advice would be to be honest about your mistake next class period. I have had many teachers make a mistake and come back a day or two later and correct themselves. If the material you are teaching is complicated then you're bound to mispeak every once in awhile that's what makes you human.

You're suffered a lot of stress and likely haven't fully settled in to your new position. Allow yourself time to acclimate and you will regain your confidence. In the meantime, forgive yourself your mistakes.

Thank you for your help.
There is always hope.
I do not know how to deal with anxiety, especially in the USA and other rich countries.
In the USA my life was the most difficult. In poor countries it is more comfortable.
Perhaps, the solution to our problems is to move from the USA and other rich countries to poor countries, at least, for a while.

My students did badly in the exam recently.
Perhaps they think that I am too sick and too incompetent for them to be serious about my classes or my exam was too tough.
I hope they will do better in my next exam, which is soon.

Mike, Don't worry about it. I can understand why this bothers you. It's perfectly normal, but don't let it keep you down. I've never been able to get a teaching position, but I went to college for 9 years. I have had enough teachers, and read enough Plato to know the following... A teacher is first a student.

In my experience any teacher that is only an expert, and is always right, is a bad teacher. The only thing an expert can do is to tell people they are wrong. A teacher's job is to teach people how to learn. If they want the right answers they can look it up.

You messed up on some proposition about prime numbers. That's okay. Prime numbers will survive. The best thing that happened was that your students corrected you. That means they learned something. You will certainly never forget your mistake. They won't forget it either. Mission accomplished. BAM! You are an awesome teacher!

If you get something wrong, just admit it, and thank your students. Culture enters into classroom dynamics and pedagogy. Sometimes this means the teacher has to act a certain way. However, most students love a humble teacher, one who enjoys teaching and learning more than being right. It's much better to be corrected, and laugh about it if you can. Your students won't dismiss you because you made a mistake, but they won't like it if you don't freely admit it, or if you get upset. They know you aren't perfect. When you mess up you have the perfect opportunity to teach them how to be corrected, and how to learn from other people.

(Most people don't know how to be corrected. They aren't taught that making mistakes is an essential and necessary part of learning. Instead, we teach them that being right is part of learning, and punish them for making mistakes. Being right isn't a part of learning at all. If you are right, you already know it, and are done learning - either that or you are just guessing. The result of the way we teach is insufferable grad students. LOL. We want students to get things right, but sometimes they have to get it wrong first. The same goes for teachers. That's just the way it works.)

The longer you teach the more you will learn, and the more confident you will be. You won't make as many mistakes. Keep it up. You are learning to teach. It's hard. Try to remember that even if you make mistakes, you still know a lot more than the students. Remember that the students think you know even more than you really do!

- Matthew

Matthew,
Thanks so much for your opinion. It inspires me a lot.
It is really amazing that someone, like you, has found time to read and reply to my message.
I wish I could support you more.