Experiences of a teacher of English

  If we have to teach classes, we must dedicate time to studying. I know I know, you may be busy teachers, but in some way we all should study, which means thinking. And we can think while teaching, in some way or other. If possible, we could dedicate and devote time to reading websites, blogs, books on teaching, on education, on family, on philosophy, on teaching trends… always in accordance to human dignity. Some teachers keep a journal or diary or just jot down some notes about their teaching experiences. Have a nice day; oh, I’ll be out of Granada for a few days. On purpose: Have a nice day! / Photo from: old-Car-Insurance. Here you can see a 50s car, and you can compare it with 30s and 40s cars and notice their evolution in design. Some of you can recall this kind of cars.

  I just wrote the following notes, and I’ll continue developing those thoughts tomorrow I hope, or soon anyway, “Studying? Only for students? No way man! It’s for all teachers as well, for every teacher I’d say! They have to carry on with studying: their palestra is studying plus the classroom. You may be hectic and busy but do not recoil from studying! You must be mentally sturdy! April 24, 2018” Some of the ideas are by scholar and expert Jean Guitton. / Photo from: 1939 Plymouth coupe Ask Auto

  We as foreign or second language teachers should get our students into immersion in that target language. Well, that said I would add that the level at which we speak in the classroom should be a bit above our students’ one or ones. Only in that way will they learn and acquire that tongue. So our level, the one we use in the classes should not be much above our students’ ones nor much lower those levels. Our students will thus acquire English or whatever tongue we teach. Acquiring is a not aware way of learning. Learning is the way they get the language in an aware way, by studying, reading, listening, etc. Acquisition, on the other hand, is subconscious. And can teens or adults also acquire a language? They can, indeed. One example of acquisition is when we are reading a book in the target language: we may be acquiring the language without being conscious of that fact. / Photo from: 30s cars theglobeandthemail com. If you compare 40s cars with 30s cars you can ...

  Taking care of little things is important for a teacher. It is, indeed. Everyday teaching is composed of little things: cleaning the board after my class, for the next teacher to find it clean and neat; having my students arrange their desks at the end of the work day or after a class if they got disordered; teaching my students to use the bathroom well and thinking it will be cleaned by the cleaning staff or personnel, mostly ladies; not dropping bags and wrapping paper at the playground; having my students have small jobs for them to also learn to take care of little things; dealing with the school material in a nice way for it to last for long, quite long; having their tablets screens rather clean, from time to time; using their books in a neat way… All that said is very educative. Maybe we will not find the fruit of our work now, but our students will be so grateful for our work when they become more mature or adults. Our job as teachers simpl...

  We as teachers should notice the mistakes and errors our students make when talking. Maybe we’ll write some quick notes while they’re speaking, for later correction. I can tell you that for I’m a foreign or second language teacher, namely English, and I must notice my students’ mistakes and errors, and then go over them to correct them. Then we can apply the PPP way of teaching a grammar form or pattern. PPP stands for Presentation of the grammar form by the teacher, then we have Practice and then Production of that form maybe into a communicative activity. So remember: let’s notice the grammar forms that our students do not use properly and accurately. / Photo from: Cambridge PET

  Some days ago I wrote some notes for later posting on my blog: “The summary or main idea of all my blog? Let’s have serene and mild fun and enjoy teaching. Plus: Let’s serve our students. April 13, 2018” I’ve been posting for nine years and I’ve composed more than three thousand entries or posts. And yes, I’d say that, as a summary of all this blog, although it is impossible to summarize all that has been said along this blog in so few words. Teaching is a job and also an art. An art that you learn over time, and at the beginning you may suffer out of inexperience, but over time it’s a hard task but also you may enjoy and delight in it. I insist on purpose: teaching is something demanding and somehow hard, even strength draining. I would keep the statement that teaching is an art in which you will be gaining teaching skills, along time. If you're a good learner yourself, you may be a good teacher too. Have a nice day! / Photo from: mobile phones willvideoforfood...

  We’ve seen that teaching and being a teacher are great. Also it’s so because we’re educating our students. Or better said, helping their parents at that very important point: the education of their children. Whatever we do influences on our students. And we have the duty of setting some honorable example. So we’ll have to better ourselves day after day, and that entails struggle to overcome our flaws and defects. One aspect to better as teachers and persons is treating problems with professionalism. Also we tentatively can count on our colleagues and principals’ advice and help. Alike we saw that we can count on our Father God’s help. Carrying out our beautiful work demands professionalism. All this kind and nice struggle influences quite much upon our students. In other words by conducting in that way we are educating our students. I’m finishing: Although we are so busy teachers we should find and dedicate time for talking with their parents. Have a nice da...

  We as teachers have a public work. We’re on the summit of the classroom. So whatever we do or whatever we don’t influence on our students, our dear students. We should set an example, however we choose one model or another of teaching. We somewhat have the responsibility of our students’ behavior. We influence upon our students. Although it’s the parents who have the main role at educating our students, we have a subsidiary or complementary role at educating them. All this is serious and beautiful at the same time. However, we’re not alone, for we can tentatively count on our colleagues and principals or principal deputies. And of course we can count on our Father God’s help. We teachers have to be strong and have fortitude, for we in some way are leading our students’ lives. We set an example, firstly at working hard. I know that most of you are dedicated teachers. We must have fortitude because we hold our students’ lives, in some way. We hold our students...

  We have to be happy when we go to our daily work. Also while we’re carrying it out. Why so? Because we’re doing our best and fulfilling our duty the best way we know of. Unless we’re working fine and doing our best we have got to rectify and mend our fulfilling our duties. We have to be glad we can carry out our job. Plus we have the authority proper of the person who is accomplishing his obligations and duties. Thus our students will see we have some nice authority, proper of the person who, as I said, is doing his best. All that feeling will help us achieve our goals for that class we’re about to teach. So we have to give away any possible self-destructive thought that we are not fulfilling our nice and beautiful job as teachers. Yes, Fernando, but I have these or those problems at my job and…! Well try and do your best: any teacher that works that way should be peaceful: you try to work better and better and also look for improving yourself as a person alik...

  Sense of humor in the classroom? It’s great! We teachers have to learn how to laugh at ourselves, to lessen the burden our work usually carries along. I know a teacher that sometimes has a small laugh in the classroom. It’s a clever gesture. It alleviates his students’ burden and the tasks that they carry out in the classroom. He has achieved to manage his classes so he can permit himself to have a small laugh, which fosters his students’ work in the classroom. In that way he encourages his students too. In no way is that a silly laughing but a clever and elegant one, yes sir, it is indeed. As well those small laughing and smiling accomplish to engage his students into the activity they’re carrying out. He engages his students in the class he’s teaching. Also we can bear this truth in mind: “The more you get used to laughing each day, the less effort you’ll have to make.” I had that quotation on my notes but now I cannot tell you the source, I’m afraid. It was...

  Hello teachers and students! The power and efficiency of a school is the addition of the power and efficiency of all the teachers together, plus the administrators, the cooks, the lady cleaners or cleaner personnel, the families, the students. If you’re the principal of your school or any director of studies or any teacher, whosoever you are, you should take care of all those people. And who are more important, the students, the teachers or the parents? I would say the order has to be parents, teachers and then students. If we care and look after the parents and families we have much already fulfilled. Why? Because the first educators are the parents. The parents do not entrust their children’s education to their teachers: it’s them who have to take care and educate their kids. And this mission and this role are fortunately in their hands, in the parents’ hands. The teachers’ work is subsidiary, this is, the teachers HELP, but the parents’ education role is ...

  My experience with adults and our elderly is great. They’re great, yes they are. And the best I can do for them is trying to win and gain them. In Spanish we say something like “putting them into your pocket”, which means that you win them as nice and efficient learners. In such cases we have to correspond to their effort at learning. We have to respond to their struggle to learn for example English, which is my case. In those cases you have to be kind and nice with them. Of course you must respect them too. The teacher cannot humiliate any student in the classroom, right? Even more in the case of adults and old people. As well they’re so grateful! They’re valuable people: they devote a lot of time to still learn more and more. Also they demand great from themselves – that’s my experience. / Photo from: Brooklyn Bridge