Experiences of a teacher of English

  If we want to teach a student at private tuition we should make friends with him. Definitely. Otherwise we won’t deepen into a solid human relationship with him, and our teaching will be superficial, and we won’t teach them how to study and work on their own. We teachers should listen a lot to our students, and talk with them. Also I’d say we should explain to them that they can count on us teachers. We are at their disposal totally. If we want for them to tell us about themselves, we have to talk a lot with them, and as I said listen to them too. Only in that way we will get to accomplish teaching them seriously. I repeat on purpose: we have to set clear that they can rely on us and count on us. That will build up confidence! / Photo from: www corwall gov uk. the picture is just an illustration

  The teacher, the good teacher must learn how to work in a team of teachers. He must be open to other minds and viewpoints. It’s something essential at school. Essential to build up a common project. He must be open-minded and easily able to follow his head’s directions. He’ll be easy to hold a conversation with his workmates and colleagues. He should be easy to listen to those people, those persons. He also should translate and adapt his class conducting to his head’s directions, as I said. And at the same time be creative in order to be versatile, to adapt his labor to his students’ needs and expectations alike. And easy to build a nice rapport with his workmates all. And learn from his own failures, as well as from his colleagues’ experiences. This is the basic general scheme, I’d say. You could add other stuff from your own experience! / Photo from: chicago-skyline www greencurtainevents com. the picture is just an awesome illustration

  Intuition. That’s the point. That’s what we learners of a second or a foreign language do with for example what we hear. We guess (that’s the word!) what somebody is saying. It’s kind of a game. We guess also because of non-language signs: face expression, gestures, non-verbal language, nodding, silences, small laughs… We learners (life long learning but marvelous anyway!) interpret what we hear and see. It’s not simple to explain, but no doubt it’s kinda intuition. Language is not only oral or written words but all a person puts out, gets out of him. I guess it may be a point for research, because not much has been said about it. I learned it from scholar Stevick. See you tomorrow, fellows! / Photo from: www playbuzz com

  We English language teachers could imitate a native speaker, in any of the varieties of English. It’s possible for everybody. Some people have more abilities to imitate, but everyone can, for sure, and this is what H. D. Brown advised for learners of a second or a foreign language. This doesn’t mean you become another person: you keep being the same person: the same person but speaking in English, that beautiful language. The aforementioned author told about a young man who used to imitate with so much practice that he was thought he was a native speaker, over time. I also know a friend my same age that went to Texas to live there, some twenty-something years ago, and his friends have told me he speaks like a native speaker. He went to the States when he was some 19 or 20 years old, and that being so young also helps, but the author we’re dealing with however kept advising to imitate… and I add to listen to massively, for example to a radio station in the internet...

  If the teacher of a foreign or second language keeps learning and acquiring that target language, if he perseveres learning himself, for example one or two words or phrases each day, he will be making up a massive tank of vocabulary that will be brought up while using that language; even he will recall words he thought he didn’t know. He’s creating the sense of the language, by means of which he’s making the foreign or second language his own second language! Those words and phrases will be brought up unconsciously, whilst he’s writing for instance. They just come to mind! By the way I would advise foreign language teachers should aim at C2 level, within the Common European Framework – it’s the highest level, out of six ones. / Photo from: sg theasianparent com

  In Spain summer vacations take a bit long from now: schools have first to finish the syllabuses and offer the final exams. I wanted to write about those vacations anyway. Many teens get bored after the first days of vacations: they don’t know how to use time and how to make a responsible use of that period. From a positive viewpoint I could say that we teachers might assign some useful summer work. In the case of the school subject of English we could assign the reading of a reader. There are nice readers, about suspense, thrillers, classics which are abridged, etc. The point is to help our dear students to maintain their English, what they’ve learned this school year! We teachers have invested a nice effort too to teach them English, and we shouldn’t lose all our effort plus the kids’ efforts in summer. In my case also I run a camp where English classes are one of the activities for the boys. They have fun, I can assure you! And girls have their own camp too. I u...

  The teacher’s first priority is the teacher’s himself (!). How about learning a new word for example, per day, unless your language is English – and you are an English language teacher. I'd say the same for other school subjects: we must be updated in some way... The teacher is the main “resource” for the class. The more he's motivated the better. The more he works for his students, the better too. So if we are department heads we should take care of the other teachers themselves, as a first premise. He, the department head, should be concerned about his colleagues’ labor. And guide and lead his fellows. Where to? Toward Excellence: one at labor as teachers and one at our students’ learning. If the teachers work fine, the students will learn and acquire and improve their English, or French, or German, or… If you aren’t a department head all this advice is suitable to you too: all of us teachers have to learn how to work as a team, taking advantage of other t...

  I wrote something on the previous post about correcting a student, right? We teachers should respect the student’s interiority and uniqueness and divine filiation. We do all this because of the love of benevolence we owe them. We correct them always by ultimately respecting their freedom: we show them the way to good and we try to shed light, but ultimately it’s them who have to choose the way they walk on. / Photo from: olympic-games-throw 2012 olympic games. we point at the target when correcting… as this athlete tries to reach the farther the better

  When we have to correct somebody, like for example a student, I would tell you to do it gently, but with clearness and a firm mood. Never humiliating him, and leaving him a way out – he should be able to find an excuse or some way to find himself not humiliated. Always aside of course. And thus we could even catch ourselves being thanked and appreciated by our students. What should be corrected, it should be so, with fortitude, because it’s easier to keep quiet, to look the other way, but this will not help him at all obviously, and our mission is educating those young people. We may recall some teacher that did this way, and he had authority, moral authority. / Photo from:   The Mental Benefits of Sports www healthline com. the picture is just an illustration, but we'd prefer fair play: let's play nice in our wonderful labor

  The students we teach should know we’re going to listen to them and to their problems... and joys too: sometimes, maybe often they would like to share some joy they have with somebody else. They must notice we know how to listen to them. And also they should notice we have all the time in the world to just listen to them without any distress, as if the most important thing in our life would be to listen to them, and help them out on their stuff. They deserve that from us, because they’re important for us. Why so? Because we love them with love of benevolence, and because God loves them too – love of benevolence is to love and wish the best for them. The more generous we are the better. I trust in your discernment to decide if they just want to spoil and lose time. And if we cannot listen to them right now we can let them know about that, and we can try to arrange a meeting to carry on with the conversation. / Photo from: airline_pilot_career www universalairsacade...

  Are you teacher tired, now at the countdown of the academic year? That may show you’ve given the best from you to your dear students. You may have done your best, and that honors you. You’ve loved your students with love of benevolence, and you haven’t spared any effort to teach and educate them. You’ve given more than what your contract said. Not only have you given the best from you to your students, but you’ve offered yourself to your students’ education. We teachers spend a long time per day with our students, and this service is worth to accomplish. What’s more, we teachers don’t just make a service, like a service company, but we’ve been entrusted the best of families: their children, and our role is assisting and helping families to educate their kids – not less than that! / Photo from: American farmer and author joel salatin is coming www ocdt co nz. The photo is just an illustration

  In order to empathize with our students, both at classes and at tutoring sessions it is useful and helpful to look in their eyes, to keep eye-contact, in other words. Moreover in that way we show our sincere interest for them. Everyone is important for us. And everyone is unique, right? When they’re telling us a problem we should be attentive, sincerely attentive, and one way to show that interest toward them is paraphrasing something of what they’re telling us, to show we’re listening to them. Anything from them, anything they tell us is important for them, though we could think we’re losing our time by listening to trifles – I trust in your discernment. And also we could write some notes about what they’re saying, for retrieving those problems at later tutoring sessions or classes. / Photo from: www indianagrain com. this picture is an illustration

  My senior students are great. Just great. We are at the countdown of the classes, and I reckon they’ve invested a big effort. They’re very nice. They’ve learned and acquired English, definitely. If I had to give them grades or marks I wouldn’t hesitate too much in giving them the highest grades (or marks in British English, as you know). I thank them for their attention and contributions to the classes. I’m going to miss them this summer. I will. / Photo from: trekking-senderismo-hiking-excursionismo www senderismoeuropa com. the picture is a mere illustration for the text

  One virtue we teachers have to apply to our classes is fortitude, for example to demand from our students to use the target language (English in my case) in the classes. We teachers try to say all in English, and that’s okay, but as well we have to demand and exact that same point from our students. It’s simpler to let them speak in Spanish, our mother language, but it wouldn’t be nice from us teachers: we have to apply rigor to our classes. Ultimately our students expect that demanding from us, and they would appreciate it! They expect from us to make that effort. / Photo from: trekking www senderismo net

  We communicate with one another by using for example verbs, and so we need to master verbal tenses in the target language. I their teacher should follow a logical and naturalistic sequence, so as to teach a verbal tense to my students. I can follow the skills we use in real life to acquire and learn some way of expressing ideas, in the following order: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Thus I their teacher can say many realistic examples with for instance present perfect; I say sentences about specific students, with present perfect. After that I ask my students to say sentences similar to the ones I their teacher have said, by using questions and gestures as prompts. Then I write on the chalkboard examples of that verbal tense. Or one student does. After that students read out those sentences. And last but not least they copy and write examples of sentences with present perfect. Afterwards I can implement a drill with present perfect, before I proceed...

  Sleeping well is essential for students, and also for us teachers! You may have little children or babies whom you’ve got to assist at night. But whenever possible, try to relax. How? I’m giving you some clues. Slow down the rhythm of your thoughts, on purpose. Listen to silence around you. Relax the muscles of your face, relax your body, as if it was very heavy. Just relax your body and mind. Abandon all in God’s hands, in his fatherly hands. Repeat the exercises, and relax your mind: right then you aren’t going to solve any problem – your duty now is sleeping, or better said, resting and relaxing: sleeping is a result. Breathe slowly, not for too many times: proceed into regular breathing soon. Relax the tension of your face: eyebrows, cheeks, nose. Repeat all, more and more relaxed you’ll be; I assure you. Turn to your sense of humor. / Photo from: 24-04-15Vivir-Cantabria-Valle-del-Nansa www vivircantabria es

  All we teachers do at classes that turn out well comes from our effort plus God’s help. I would say so from my experience. I thank him when a class has turned out fine. Also part of the tart belongs to my students’ attention and contributions. My senior students try hard to cooperate with me during the classes. They’re pretty interested in classes, and they’re great people: they attend classes where no diploma or certificate will be given to them. When they’ve got to define a word, a difficult one, like “life”, they do not give up at all and they struggle with their English to be able to define the word. They write down notes during our classes, about new words that aren’t on the worksheets for example, and I have them make up oral sentences with those words: we learn words that we use; otherwise it’s likelier to forget them. / Photo from: 1959_Experimental_Futura_Lincoln ibytes es

  Somebody told me once that my blog is rather humanistic, okay, I guess so too. Many other teachers offer material and stuff for classes, and that’s wonderful and useful! Shortly ago I got two books from which I might extract a few texts, by typing on the computer, and inspiration as well, plus including original variations on the texts, according to my students' expectations and needs. I can offer what I know about: how an English language teacher has to do to feel nice – let him feel fine, and that’s okay with him or her, and with me too. Or other different language teachers, not only English. If anybody is willing to learn what stuff I offer he can have a peek at the labels on the right column on the blog, one that pops out. Or otherwise scroll down with the mouse, down the blog. You know what, fellows? I write in English quite a lot more than in Spanish, my mother tongue. And I’m okay with it – sorry for the errors and mistakes: I’m after it! / Photo from: ww...

  In educating kids nothing is lost ever. All you do, all you say, leaves a result in their personalities. When we work to give love to God and to give a grand education to teens, nothing from what we say is lost. It’s a seed, which will give fruit, now or within years. If you’re demanding and willing to firmly educate your students, nothing shall be lost or spoiled. Think of yourself. Which teachers can you remember? Those who were more committed in educating you and teaching you their legacy. Be patient. Don’t lose your temper nor your nice mood. Your students will appreciate. Which teen has not given trouble, maybe some trouble to his educators and teachers? All of us teachers have given some war to our dear teachers, haven’t we? And now we are adults, educated ones. Oh, and confide all and trust in praying for your students and their families. Praying is our “weapon”. Relax! Have fun, enjoy classes! / Photo from: www youtube com. new york city subway – it’s ju...

  I prefer the option of single-sex education, in puberty and adolescence, from a didactic point of view. We advocate for a personalized education, right? I guess that girls and boys, at those ages, should be educated in different schools. Because we prefer an individual education. And thus we can educate femininity and masculinity, which is of a paramount importance. at those ages. This is also my teaching experience, within personalizing education. And I don’t mean they both would fall victims of their instinct or kind of that, but we might favorably educate women and men. / Photo from: cantabria www casaazaga com. the picture is a mere illustration for the post. My great-grandfather was from this northern area in Spain

  I can remember names of people because of my training in learning new English words – my mother tongue is Spanish and I’m learning and acquiring (yes, acquiring!) English, in a life-long way. I think that when you teach something you learn twice too; today a student of mine, a female one, told me that. I assume that you also can remember names when you have affection and love of benevolence toward those people. Don’t you think so? I’m pretty sure about it, and it’s my own experience! / Photo from: london-underground-station-comp pioneeringooh com. the picture is just an illustration

  Great teachers are like… I’m trying to draw what a good teacher is like. To my mind and others’. Great teachers, the ones we can best remember, looked after little things. They’re on little but great details. For example: they think of that student who’s going down concerning his grades; they have the initiative of calling some student’s parents or family to the school; they consult the Web for polishing their methods with the contrast of other teachers in the Web; they utilize the Web to search for material for classes; they pray for his students and his students’ families; they offer themselves to help and aid another teacher that is hectic; they know how to calm down their character when it seems it’s going to explode; they’re admired but also they’re a living nice example for their students; they have discipline in their classes, but mainly because of their moral authority; they know when a small joke is prudent; they personalize when teaching a ...

  My senior students are great. Sometimes when they’ve got to utilize a word they don’t know, they use a paraphrasing or circumlocution expression, or they use Spanish, or they give examples about the unknown word. I try to speak in English, the target language, all the time, except when it’s necessary because of several reasons. The more I use English, the better, and I’m after it! Spontaneously my students say things in English to one another during the class: they’re marvelous, and I can work nice all the time, even they smile a little laugh when I say something a bit funny: it’s the way also to motivate them – I shouldn’t be too serious! / Photo from: rainy-days swimmingthe depths com. lately it’s being rainy in Granada

Oh, I forgot to say it on the previous post. I thank my students also to reinforce the human and humane relationships with my students - I was going to write "my friends", and up to some extent they are so!

  I often finish my classes of English with my senior students by thanking them for their attention and contributions, in English, of course. It’s a way to enhance and reinforce their positive motivation for learning and acquiring English. This also reinforces and boosts and fosters their attention and their positive mood and effort and attitude. They’re awesome! / Photo from: rainy-day blogs missouristate edu. it's just an illustration

  Now I copy and paste this letter I’ve written to the director of local paper Ideal . The articles I wrote about are pretty interesting. The letter has been sent to the printed version, and I don’t know if they’ll publish such letters in the website mode. Estimado Señor Director de Ideal, Soy asiduo lector del diario que usted dirige y hoy me he encontrado con dos artículos muy positivos, uno a cargo de César Guisado y otro a cargo de la psicóloga Zoraida Rodríguez Vílchez. Los dos artículos son muy positivos, y más porque hacen referencia a nuestra juventud, ahora que estamos especialmente preocupados con ellos. El periodista César Guisado escribe el día 10 del corriente que la UD Monachil, equipo de chicos jóvenes, no se rinde ante los resultados negativos en los partidos de fútbol, sino que antes bien se solidarizan mutuamente en la cultura del esfuerzo. La simpática psicóloga preconiza una serie de pautas para los chicos jugadores de fútbol, de modo que no se venga...

  To prevent from bullying something we teachers can do is to tell our students that they can count on us for possible bullying or for anything else, and also that we’re at their entire disposal. We teachers can give a short presentation about this conflict to our dear students, and then let them know we’re at their entire disposal. The students could feel better and even when presenting this speech to them we might detect cross sights across the classroom and notice some nuance in our students’ looking or on their faces. They can be cunning. Because of that we teachers could have eye-contact during this presentation, in case we could find some possible subtle disruption. Much better it would be also each student would have a tutor with whom they can turn in cases of bullying. The students will be assisted. Some schools have individual tutors, like in the school where I worked previously in another town south of Spain, near Granada. / Photo from: dish_free_hd pics-a...

  We teachers should love our students and their families, and our colleagues, with love of benevolence, is this right? Okay thus we have to wish what’s good for our students for instance. And we can desire and wish the best for our students if we teach them to also love with love of benevolence. We teachers cannot confine to look for and seek class resources, say, technical resources and that’s it. We teachers have to give our students chances of being happy. How? Teaching them to transcend themselves through love of benevolence toward others, say, their classmates, well and in the first place God himself. They should not seek themselves but wish the best for their classmates. Inasmuch as they forget about their immanency, about themselves they can become happy. We teachers have the experience: when we do not confine to fulfill a schedule and that’s it but we seek teaching our students for life, we are hitting the target right on the center. / Photo from: rainy_d...

  Something nice has happened to me today. I was with my dear senior students at Monday class. Just some minutes before now. I told one of them to wait for me after the class. I was going to suggest to him to carry out some extra work. I had thought he would decline the extra effort or something negative like that. I had thought that way or something similar: I hesitated he would accept my proposal. So after the class I shot my proposal. And… awesome! He’s accepted the proposal and he will do it willingly. My senior students are great: they willingly attend my classes, our classes, they’re eager to participate and learn and acquire English. / Photo from: seat_1400 www escuderia com I knew this car when I was a child

  Our profession ethics takes us teachers of languages, either secondary or foreign ones to improve those target languages in us, English in my case. I cannot lie to my students or intend to mean that that is the right word in such or such context, without checking it up. Something we can do is tell our students next day I shall tell them what the correct word was, in that context. We teachers ought to be, better said, should be upright and honest. The students, unaware-like, perceive our trying to do our best, though this can be a bit hard for us teachers. Otherwise we could look up a given word in the classroom dictionary itself, or in an online one; I would recommend you Wordreference : awesome! It’s pretty good. It’s the one I utilize. / Photo from: www nydailynews com. the pic is just an illustration

  A good and committed teacher gives himself to their students, in the classroom and is available at the school, generally. It’s an action of love of benevolence: he isn’t a mere worker that just confines his work to the schedule, but with not much interest. The school is not a service company, but a prolongation of home, of the family. He gives his best to his students, and at classes he works with the utmost and uttermost dedication. It’s an action or a series of actions that perfect and tweak the teacher himself plus his dear students. S o if he finishes a class as tired that means he has tried his best. His attention and love toward his students is love of benevolence (to wish what’s better for someone else). And this on a day after another. This is education! – education plus instruction on a school subject. All this has been taken or inspired from Carlos Cardona, Ética del quehacer educativo (Ethics of the educative performance). / Photo from: www centralpa...

  We foreign or second language teachers have a lot of useful and helpful activities in our students’ textbooks of English, for instance – it’s my case. Also we can find a lot of material at TeacherLingo. Often kids don’t know how to take the most from the textbooks, both the student’s book plus the activity book. For them those books often are something that may be a bit confusing: pictures, texts with different character letters, a mess of activities, some confusion of the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) etc. And much more confusing those books are when the students have to train and prepare themselves for tests and exams. They don’t know what to do and how to do! We could help them by having them read the activities, to notice the symbols of “listening, reading…”, in a few words, we can help them understand the unit as it appears in the book. The point also is for them to learn what to do with the different parts of the unit an...

  We are celebrating the 400th anniversary of the death of grand William Shakespeare, as you all know. I’ve just read an article about his obscure life but brilliant work. I say “obscure” referring to the fact that we have close to no knowledge about his life – I don’t intend to say he was obscure (or dark). It seems he wished to slip through the history of his time… I’ve made the resolution of reading his dramas one more time – I’ve read some, and we had a whole academic year dedicated to him and his theatre (or “theater”, as you like) at our college degree of philology of the English language and literature, and now I would read one drama at least. He’s awesome, and worth to read, or what’s more: he’s a must-read, for some of his dramas. And adaptations can be brought to the classroom, for our kids, and with so many human values and interests to be worked out! – I count on your discernment as a teacher, for a very few plays require some moral education. Moral ...