Experiences of a teacher of English

Love makes all new.  The person who loves invents love every single day.  Love makes the teacher to feel as young over time and in spite he’s getting old: he keeps having a young spirit and attitude!  Love makes the teacher see things as new all the time. He gets interested on all the other person’s things, as if they were of his own!  He sees every student as unique, and the student’s things are seen as of his own. He gets interested on anything of the other person. Because of that the teacher treats each and every student as unique.  When addressing a class of students, each one reckons and feels as if he was the one the teacher is addressing! I’ve seen this, actually.  Okay, someone could say, but all that is very difficult to attain… I would tell you the main point is to love. The good teacher is the one that loves his students, his colleagues, his students’ families, his job, his labor, his everyday teaching.  So...

I guess it’s right to address our students like they were grown-up’s.  In some way. I mean, you know, the point is to trust them and load them with their responsibility at learning and acquiring English. Explicitly and in plain English we could explain all this to them.  Moreover because they shall be adults or young men in a few years! In Granada I’ve encountered old students I had had in an English language course like the one I’m assisting now.  And they keep either a positive or a negative vision of us as teachers and monitors! But the main point is to think of them with a generous hear from us. The chief point is to really try to help them now and for their entire lives.  We have, I guess, to demand a lot and big from them, but in a nice way, trying to get the best stuff from them. They can give a lot. The point too is guessing how to extract the best from them, and we shall make it if we hit the target upon the right point, if we learn ho...

Today I copy from an email I just sent to some people I love. I think it is relevant and meaningful. And it sheds some light about discipline and class management. At the summer camp I’m spending here at Spanish Costa del Sol.  I’ve included something new, which I did not write to those people I love.  The picture just shows the impressive ancient temple of the Jews at Jerusalem.  I have to carry on with our students' discipline and class management implementing. Aquí en general estamos teniendo no demasiado calor. Hoy he tenido que leerle la cartilla a una de las dos clases. He apelado a su responsabilidad, y a su buen hacer, y a su afecto hacia mí, y han reaccionado bien. Hay que enseñar a cada uno, y no a todos en masa. Son buenos chicos y están en un curso de inglés en plenas vacaciones, tiene mérito por su parte. Mañana quizá les diga algo positivo. Y apelando a su buen hacer y responsabilidad: la mejor disciplina es la autodisciplina. ...

At the English language camp I’m working at these days I think something that helps our students learn English and receive education is that we share many things: we monitors share the line at the cafeteria self-service at lunch with the boys, for example.  In that way we can reach to help them more than if we were apart.  Also we can get a nice rapport with them, and be able to help them at some more aspects of their lives. As well we can share their learning process, at English and in general concerning other aspects of their lives.  I’ve got to say something else: we do learn from the students, or at least I can say that! I learn from their effort at learning and acquiring English, and their learning to talk in public, work in a work-group, and other daily professional competences we also implement here.  Alike the kids learn from us monitors. Whatever we do or whatever we don’t helps either educate them or get them ill-mannered and what is ...

Today Saturday, at the English language summer course, we didn’t have the two English teachers, and one of the camp monitors has had to teach two classes.  The students could choose between a spiritual retreat or recollection, or classes. Five have chosen English language classes, and the rest – some thirty-five students chose the recollection.  The monitor has told me the classes were fine, and the students were eager to participate.  That monitor told them the reason of his living was them, the students, and has told them about the vocation the teacher should have: the teacher must have passion and commitment about his teaching; thus, as he gives all his person to his students, these ones do learn and participate in those classes and he can really educate them.  The monitor or teacher has to love those boys with love of benevolence, plus with affection.  Moreover the teacher started the first class by making them align the classroom de...

These days of the English summer course I’m finding out once again that if you treat your students with politesse and fineness and delicateness, while at the same time you exact and demand from them, you’ll need less effort to achieve whatever you wish regarding their behavior and level of working.  The point is extremely treating our students with a fine respect, so we create and make up a nice atmosphere of delicateness – with nothing odd or strange, we aren’t at 18 th century Versailles!, and all this I’m writing about implies manliness – and hence we get more from our dear students: an atmosphere where it’s simpler to demand from them a fine working and learning.  Thus if you shout at someone, amid this nice atmosphere, the result is much more than if we always are shouting at them. For them then a shout is something so serious...  Otherwise if we’re all the time shouting at them, one more shout does little in order to push them up to work, and event...

In my career as a teacher I have met marvelous parents, and families, from whom I could learn a lot, okay.  But also I’ve encountered some many parents who are kind of too naive and think their children can never do bad things, serious bad things I mean. And they say or think “My son that? Never!”.  And I’ve always thought those parents have to be called to school to have a tutoring session with their children’s teachers – assuming those teachers do know kids can do serious bad things too.  What I mean, you know, is those parents should also be educated, in order to fulfill their role as parents or whatever family relations they are.  However in no way do I intend to draw disastrous and pessimistic panoramas, just trying to draw something closer to reality. My style isn’t negative, and thank God I could say I’m rather optimistic, counting on human resources and on God’s grace and help – He loves us with a limitless dad’s and mom’s love! / Photo f...

The first day of the English course I’m helping out for I was thinking about some announcements for the boys, a couple of days ago.  I was doing that in order to arrange things for the first class day, on the following day.  I was thinking of things to tell them but pretty soon, when I saw the group of boys together, at a large school hall, more or less ready to listen to us monitors, I soon understood the main point for me was to help those kids concerning their typical adolescence problems and stuff.  In other words I had to firstly love them with love of benevolence, which is to wish the best for them and their education as persons.  Something practical and pragmatic so would be looking at them whilst speaking, gazing at them, sweeping around the small crowd – albeit it was a small crowd I had clear ideas about educating each one of them!  They did need to feel supported at the typical problems of adolescence, and that was the main ...

I guess I'm gonna be able to post more. Let's see! Just to let you all know I'm spending a great English summer course or camp with boys, near Marbella but inland, at Costa del Sol, south of Spain.  From here, which is on the very top of a marvelous hill, on clear days you can make out or just see Atlas Mountains, north of Morocco.  We  seem to have two great-to-see teachers. Very committed ones. Best wishes fellas!

  We teachers cannot reach all we would like to, at our classroom! Because of that, also for looking after the classroom and the school, and for making our dear students become more responsible about their environment, we could assign them with small jobs. For example: turning off lights after the class day, erasing the chalkboard, aligning desks neat, picking up pieces of paper from the floor, going to other school places to fetch something or announce another teacher about some point, taking care of the noticeboard, watering the plants, tidying the classroom, getting enough chalk for the chalkboard, etc. Experience tells me our students like those small jobs, and they feel like important. In that way we look after the classroom and make our students responsible, like I said. Even we could tell them in that way they think of others in order to help and serve them, we’re helping them become matured, and even they can offer those small jobs to God. All that with ...

  I wanted to write about parents and families’ role at school, but I’m so hectic that I don’t know if I’ll be able to construct something meaningful. The point is that parents have a lot to do at the school, firstly because they’re the main educators of their children and not us teachers. Parents don’t delegate their children’s education in us teachers but like I said they’re the main and fundamental educators – otherwise we will get nothing valuable. I hope you can follow this discourse of mine today. I by no means intend to say they will plan the syllabus and school program but they (parents) should attend school meetings for them and should meet their children’s teachers, chiefly their tutor teacher- do you understand me, fellas? Oh, right now I remembered something practical: parents could run talks to our students: they’re cops, solicitors, doctors, farmers, and a pretty long etcetera. As well old students or alumni of our school of course could take their c...

  Today is 4th of July, and I’ve written some emails to friends I have there, in the US. So have a nice day. I shall celebrate it in some way. Also today I will say something about parents’ role at our schools. For example, some parents and families should encounter and meet up with other school parents, to join and share our kids’ education. Parents and families should come to the school, to be taught and educated, at the same way we educate their children. We teachers have a lot to teach and tell our school parents about education and raising their kids, and also to learn from them parents. But today I wanted to let you all know our school parents and families have a lot to learn. If we teachers, at school try to educate and raise our students, I guess our parents and families at school should listen to us teachers: both they and we pull the cart the same direction, don’t we? I hope to write further about this point, but today I only would say that our school pa...

  I was just thinking that my former students, when I taught them a nice number of years ago, today are married and with children to raise. We teachers have to work with our heart in our hands. What a responsibility! What we do today with our dear students, what we sow today, it shall be their future tomorrow, so to say, in a few years, because time flies. We have to work with our heart in our hands, and that entails and demands to seriously work, plan classes with our dear students in mind, look and grade their tests, etc. And now in summer vacations, by thinking and praying for them, and prone to diligently carry out our nice and beautiful labor when back to school in fall. Whatever we do influences on our students, and whatever we fail to do also influences on them too! We teachers have to shed light to our students, by thinking in their future and in what God may want for them to become – God himself can use us as secondary causes for discovering their bright an...

  I think I could help someone by just telling how I learn and acquire English, which is my target language, and which entails a life-long learning. Constancy is just paramount, plus perseverance, to face up with problems at learning and acquiring English. Practice is also pretty important, otherwise I would not use the language properly. It’s so and I commit many mistakes and errors yet! But let’s persevere: each word I learn is one step forward! Buildings and edifices are constructed and built brick by brick, word by word. Effort is also important: what’s important, it implies effort; no language is learned and acquired without effort. Endurance as well is necessary, for learning a language is hard sometimes, but if you persevere, you shall progress, no doubt. Motivation: it’s necessary for learning, but also it is a consequence and result of that learning. I’ve sometimes thought of learning a different language too, but I’ve changed my mind and devoted that pre...

  When there’s affection from the teacher toward his students, these ones obey their teacher. A moral authority is created. The teacher is really concerned about his students and they feel so. He doesn’t confine his labor to fulfill his schedule and strict duties, and that’s it – he doesn’t forget about his students when out of school, and for instance he prays for this student with this problem and that other student with his other problems, and this more student, who has changed his mind and is working hard now! This in no way means for example this teacher cannot enjoy his family life, no way! The teacher is interested about the students’ problems and issues. This affection means love of benevolence, this is, to wish what’s good or even what’s better for his students. This affection doesn’t mean a too close intimacy – well, the male teacher could follow affection, but toward his male students. He will be careful not to show and reach intimacy toward his femal...