Experiences of a teacher of English

We may have students that cannot reach farther and fulfill our school minimum goals, okay.  They may be very valid for other things, for example manual work, and may not be good students, this is, good at mental activities.  I’ve had some students that got bad grades. We teachers made up a special curriculum for them, individually, but neither then could they get sufficient to pass an elemental level, say. Well then, they may be an ace at other activities, like working with their father at an aluminum workshop for example, as some real case I’ve encountered, and he earned his life much better than if we had insisted too much at his studies.  As well now I’m thinking of the very groundkeeper of the condominium where I live: his dad was pretty worried about his son’s school progress – or rather lack of it! -, but believe me, he’s an ace as a groundkeeper.  Einstein, Newton, Joan Miró, and other geniuses were not quite good at their school-age, ti...

Students and teachers at school have the main scenario to acquire values and virtues. They do need them.  Our goal as teachers is to educate thorough people, right? And we teachers, first than our dear students, can exercise ourselves in the repetition of actions that lead to gain a virtue, like commitment, an enthused way of working, which is the opposite to just a superficial and empty-headed routine...  Each one of us should attend everyday classes and tutoring sessions with the clear idea and ideal of educating the people who will be the protagonists of our world and our society, quite soon: time flies, fellows! And our students will be replaced by others, and these latter ones by others… / Photo from: www hdwallpaperscool com

We can encounter teens and even younger students, since they’re ten, who look they don’t like the things we adults tell them.  It’s so when they’re those ages. During puberty and adolescence (we also were like that, weren’t we?) the kid is in a crisis, which means change.  And something frequent is they look they don’t follow what we tell them, and even it seems they don’t love their parents, and mothers above all get worried, because they think their sons don’t love them so much as when they were younger.  Who has not passed through those young ages? We also were that way! / Photo from: landscape_rainy_day_by_neko1334 deviantart com

We may have private classes with a playful kid and a bit of a rascal, but let’s bear in mind that he will receive what we tell him, though he may look he hasn’t listened to us teachers, and he looks so far from what we tell him for his improvement.  Something remains in his inward mind.  Something stays in his mind, but maybe we can’t see the fruit of our marvelous labor now. Others will receive and collect what we’ve sown.  If we treat him well and with affection, he’ll receive what we say to him. Stay calm. It’ll be so.  Oh, and we teachers must learn how to listen to him! What he's saying is important for him. Listen. / Photo from: www turismodecantabria com. this region is where I have my family roots, north of Spain

Our students and our children will have the perspective or vision of work as we their teachers or parents now have. The way we adults see and consider work is already influencing on our kids.  The way we talk about work will pass on to our dear kids. What a responsibility, isn’t it? How do you, how do I attend our labor post every day?  At work we all learn and acquire values and virtues: we mature as thorough people, persons: let’s expect so from our kids, young they are though. Let’s help them acquire the right vision about daily working out, whatever our job or profession is. / Photo from: www telma com mk

We teachers and our students have to constitute a working group, a working team.  Both share the same aim: learn and acquire English, or another language. They are the protagonists of that learning process. And we make this process be real and factual and feasible. We all have the same thoughts and purposes and feelings, or nearly similar, right?  Of course the teacher also is the protagonist: no teacher, so likely no learning, though there are autodidacts, people that learn on their own. / Photo from: objetivocantabria eldiariomontanes es. In the north of Spain, in Cantabria I have my family roots, from my father.

A heart in love is what makes us be happy. Plus the person can grow happy inasmuch as he tries his fellows be also happy, starting from the very family. It's something natural for men and women to make well to the people around. Men and women are happy if they have friends. / Photo from: www publicagenda org

We teachers of English or other languages should foster a meaningful teaching for our dear students.  The topics we treat about should also concern our students and their world and interests.  Even the sentences we have them make up for example should be concerning their likes and interests. We won’t confine to a repetitive learning, although there are things they have to repeat so as to learn them, like the irregular verbs... Even then the sentences and usage the students will make will be related to their world. This doesn’t mean we won’t open up windows to other topics that can be new for them, and so enrich their knowledge and experiences. Let's try a balanced teaching. / Photo from: bigstock-Little-Girl-Playing-The-Piano nocamels com

A small laugh or smiling by the teacher is good and sometimes necessary to break the ice, to have the students relaxed. I’m referring to adults, but with young students can be helpful too. Good humor defuses and takes the small drama out of the class conducting. It makes the students more prone to work and learn. Give it a try. / Photo from: Pretty-teacher-smiling elkgroveins com

Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder.  University Hospital of Puerta de Hierro in Madrid is developing a program to treat kids with this disorder. It implements online playing chess. In this way those hospital experts will train kids’ memory, focusing aptitude, thinking, perception and even self-esteem. This was taken from Spanish ABC newspaper. / Photo from: benefits-of-chess-for-kids2 www gykapp com

Pepe and Marta loved each other, and although a nice number of years had passed since their marriage, they could hold a similar love to the one they had when just married.  This love has been passed on to their children, and these ones could notice their parents’ love, in the way they treated each other, with an exquisite respect and affection.  From time to time the marriage traveled aside and then they were just one for the other.  They kept being lovers, authentic lovers, plus they didn’t utilize the other for just sex relationships, but their love on bed was genuine and fine. It was the expression of the love each one had to the other.  Besides this tender love was open to life, since they did not use prophylactics, condoms: their love was open to life, like I said. Some ideas have been taken from Bárbara Sotomayor and Alberto Masó (2012) El arte del amor. Cómo lograr la plenitud afectiva en la pareja. Madrid: Palabra. / Photo from: www e...

The teacher should be a person prone to listen, to listen to the other: students, parents, families, colleagues.  Today people are in need to be listened to, maybe to give vents to their inward conflicts, and also positive things, and it’s the teacher the person who can learn how to listen.  Prone to listen and rather a bit less talkative, or at least he’ll be at people’s entire disposal.  Thus the teacher will likely be loyal and faithful. And how to help others, and help them change their flaws and defects? First the teacher will strive and struggle to improve and better himself. He knows how to say things to the others because he knows how to say things to himself. / Photo from: phone-1 englishlessons-houston com

Both at private classes and at group classes we English language teachers should expect and somehow demand a change on the working rhythm from our students.  For example private classes should be like a health-care therapeutics – in some way. We teach our students how to work, how to learn, how to improve, and eventually and overtime we ought to expect those changes, because they’re actually improving and we try each class be a step forward.  We teach for instance how to face up a textbook type of exercises, and overtime we must expect an amelioration and improvement at those exercises. / Photo from: rushmore mount. That above is just a picture as an illustration. Could you name the four presidents? Simple, right?

If you’re a novice teacher, you should follow your school department guidelines, of course, but little by little, I guess, you also should find the way of teaching you are more comfortable with. Geniuses – and regular people alike – found what they did well and what they liked to do. This idea is inspired on Gerardo Castillo (2015) La cuna del genio. 15 personajes que cambiaron el rumbo del arte y la ciencia . Madrid: Palabra. / Photo from: Steve Jobs samanthahoffman blogspot com

Two weeks ago I started private English classes with a kid aged 10. He’s pretty playful, and might have an ADHD (Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder), maybe not that serious.  Anyway I have started to listen to him, in order to help and aid him with his problems.  Well, he’s felt so great because an adult could be listening to him. In the way he said bye last day I could notice he will jump through hoops to participate in our classes. It’s a relief it seems so. / Photo from: adhd_child_learning-112412 www health harvard edu. Obviously the kid on the pic above isn’t my student

We teachers should be creative. There are more genius teachers than we think.  The teacher must have human values and virtues. He or she can’t give to their students what they don’t have.  And his or her students should have fortitude, solidarity, charity, environmental friendship, generosity, honesty, sincerity, joy, being audacious, etc. And all those values and virtues are gotten through daily work.  When for example communicating and talking with her students, the teacher should love them, with love of benevolence, be polite and delicate, have fortitude when correcting mistakes and errors, think of her students’ process of learning and acquiring English.  As well the teacher will try to carry out neat and technically-good implementing activities. It’s up to you. If you chose to make a shabby and seedy and unimaginative labor you would have lost time, I guess. / Photo from: blogs comblogs com

Steve was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs. Paul was a mechanic. Young Steve grew amid an electronic device atmosphere. When he went to school, he used to get bored. He and his friends played and outfitted jokes.  He was expelled from school several times. His father went to the school to say to his teachers they should respect the chances Steve had to develop his talent. His parents thought all that was because of the school: his teachers made him learn and memorize absurd stuff.  Teacher Mrs. Hill saw something bright in him: she applied some tests to him and discovered he was quite smart – only his teachers should treat him as a smart kid. He had some ideas in the pipeline.  Now do we teachers try to find talents among our dear students?  The previous info about Steve Jobs has been taken from Gerardo Castillo (2015) La cuna del genio. 15 personajes que cambiaron el rumbo del arte y la ciencia . Madrid: Palabra. / Photo from: apple mac128 www o...

Our teaching English or a different language must be therapeutic: we teach, and we teach how to learn and how to acquire English. Each class is a therapeutic session with our dear students. / Photo from: medix webix tv

Teaching ethics. We teachers should also take into account the ethics of our job and profession.  Am I ethical? Am I aware I influence on my students?  Do I have the person into account, for we work with people, with persons? For example, do I take care of small details important though? Do I take the student into a thorough person account?  Do I take care of small tiny things like planning the class in a thorough way? As a language teacher, am I honest and upright as for instance giving the true and real word which a student asks from me?  Do I speak in real authentic English? Or rather my English is shabby and seedy? Do I try to improve my English (if I’m not a native speaker)? / Photo from: www wired com. I chose this picture because there’s a bionic ethics as well. Think of a computer I can have installed in my body, which makes decisions

Rita Levi-Montalcini was born in 1909. She won the Nobel Prize in 1986, the one of Medicine and Physiology.  She was an ace at the research about the brain and its development. She said something interesting for us teachers: young children should be taught to think, since they’re young.  She celebrated her 99 birthday by working at her lab. She died when she was 103 years old, in 2012.  She postulated that we should exert our thought as long as we live.  This nice information has been taken from Gerardo Castillo (2015) La cuna del genio. 15 personajes que cambiaron el rumbo del arte y la ciencia . Madrid: Palabra / Photo from: www arizona edu. The picture is one of a lab, but not hers

So we teach people, persons. Our job as teachers is great, just so great.  Also we work with their parents and families: more people, more persons.  The order in a school should be parents and families, teachers, students. We should have this order in mind: if we achieve their parents and families get along nice, for example, we will have a better school. / Photo from: kite-festival-india macamposga wordpress com. the photo is just an illustration

I’ve written a lot about discipline and class management, and you have the labels or tags with these two ideas in my blog.  Now I’d tell you that the way we treat our students will correspond with the way our students will treat us teachers.  Something else about this topic: we teachers have to acquire the values and virtues of fortitude to correct our dear students, one by one and not in the class, with rigor, and with energy. / Photo from: inkhammer wordpress com. the picture is just an illustration

Marta and Pepe used to renew and restore their love. A deep and profound one, this love of that marriage.  They passed on this love to their children. And these ones noticed and noted their parents’ love, with nothing special: their love could be felt out of them. Their children could see their parents’ love and unconsciously loved one another among them siblings more and more.  And all this love made them all feel together and was a nice booster for their children’s education.  The marriage sometimes used to go to some place and talk to each other, and spend an evening together for instance, they alone, and so they could renew and restore their love. Their children then stayed at their grandparents’ house or they stayed at home, the elder siblings taking care of the younger ones.  This real story is taken from Bárbara Sotomayor and Alberto Masó’s book (2012) El arte del amor. Cómo lograr la plenitud afectiva en la pareja. The characters’ name...

I was just thinking that a person who believes in his Father-God has more spot on which he can rest when facing up life and work, and he knows he’s not a victim of fate and destiny. / Photo from: nosolocine es. From The Martian movie, one that I’m looking forward to watching it. I like science-fiction and thrillers. I’ve only seen the teasers in YouTube 

Dedicating and devoting time to our children is something just essential.  They need you their parents. They need someone would listen to their distress, hesitations, problems, puzzling when discovering things like for example falling in love when they’re teens and encounter love and they feel kind of strange and they get stunned by the other person, etc.  It’s worth to take this time for talking with our children – also we need them and they contribute to enhance and stabilize your marriage and keeping you two together. / Photo from: Mum exercise pram baby www physciocise com au

What a responsibility: we have been entrusted for example young people, young persons.  Plus the fact that we influence on our students’ lives and souls: we can do a great good or a great bad to our students. Just choose.  We should improve and better as persons, each one at his or her circumstances and situation (!). Their families have put their children in our hands. / Photo from: space station over earth www nasa gov. the picture is just an illustration

Online safety. It’s an issue that many parents and educators are worried about, regarding their children or students.  Some points about this could be said anyway.  It’s better the computer be in a room of the house where everyone can pass by.  The main point, however, is for us teachers and parents to get acquainted with what the kids do: we could participate in some way in their chatting or whatever activity they carry out on the computer, and we can have tactful conversations with our kids about what they do online: we’re their parents or educators.  Many kids, on top of that, hold some online chatting which might hurt them or make them have relationships that we would not like for them. And we should insist on our kids to dedicate more time to study, according to an educator I once met. / Photo from: www startoyschile com. star wars, the awesome rebellious fighter spaceship. The picture is just for illustration sake

Yesterday I began to teach new private classes. One of them is to a kid aged 10.  Although he’s so young I asked him what he expected from me in order to help him. “What can I do for you?” was the question but in Spanish, amongst other reasons because it was a tutoring session rather than a class proper.  I guess this question can put him to a point of responsibility for being the student. What I meant was that he is the Protagonist of his own learning process. I tried to pass him on that responsibility.  At these classes I’ll speak in Spanish – about his homework, his tests, his grammar stuff…- except when I want to help him to improve his speaking competence and skill. / Photo from: LR-carlsberg3 newdiscovery blogfa com. the picture is just for fun and for an illustration to the post. I would appreciate any of you native English speakers to correct my prepositions use

The teacher team’s project should be to lead our students as people with a communicative competence.  And all this by practicing the language four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.  Teaching based on experience is something pretty good, and also if the teaching labor is centered on each student, and on real life, on real everyday school life: there should be communication in the daily conducting of classes of English. This has been partially taken from Susana Pastor Cesteros, of Universidad de Alicante . / Photo from: www telegraph co uk. The photo is just a nice illustration.

We teachers of languages have to learn and re-learn how to work as a team.  You’re a busy teacher, I know it. Our work as teachers can be valuable, and that’s okay.  Now let’s think that the more we teach as a teacher team, the better. We are pieces of the whole school project. Also a project of the languages department of our school.  We’re a project as a team. In a school teachers should work as a team. And this implies and entails communication amongst us. / Photo from: football www olbg com. think of a soccer team: the game depends on each player, and each player as a portion of the team

We can teach English or another language in immersion mode, which is okay, and so it facilitates communication in the target language, which is the main goal, right?  However I also use translation, but with also a communicative purpose. After having worked on a story of a worksheet, sometimes I tell my students “How would you say… in English?”, and I tell them an expression in Spanish, which is our mother language.  In this way I make them turn a useful expression or sentence or phrase into the same one in English, with the convenient changes, because it isn’t literal translation. / Photo from: skiing-with-family donationtravel com. the photo is an illustration

At college, Albert Einstein found a professor that was open to his students’ suggestions about the syllabus or academic year’s planning they would immediately start.  Thus he could orientate his likes and future professional career, according with his trends and tendencies.  I’m not sure this way is the best, but at least it was opened to the students’ preferences. Oh, this reminds me of flipped classroom: kinda the students prepare the stuff they’ve gotta learn on their own, before the teacher would present the stuff.  In some USA schools this system is working fine, as far as I know. / Photo from: MartianDiff_PIC3 nerdist com. notice the person on the circular part of the spacecraft, the one isn’t dressed in a spacesuit, can you see it?