Experiences of a teacher of English

Teaching is great, tiring though. Currently I teach adults. And at the beginning of the lesson, as a warmer or warm-up activity, I do what I tell you now. I teach English as a foreign language. First I write on the whiteboard today’s date, and we have a brief discussion on today’s weather.  Then I tell them about learning English: tips which could help them learn English, from some scholars and experts like H. D. Brown, Jeremy Harmer, Rebecca Oxford.  My purpose is for them to get aware that it’s the student who has to be like a powerful learning-engine! Each learner has his or her own personal learning style, which it’s them who have to find out about.  The learner is the main responsible one to learn.  You wish to learn, you will achieve it. You don’t really want to, no learning is accomplished. There’s effort, there’s a step forward. Each item learned, one step forward. Each effort invested at communicating in English, one step has been walked for...

All of us teachers need a class with our students in a peaceful environment, right? We wish that environment!  Well, we have to set that peaceful atmosphere, but it’s a business of our students too: not all depends upon us teachers.  If our students get engaged in the activity, more likely they will work, and work in a gentle way. So, it’s important our students would get engaged. Demotivated students may be disruptive, so disruptive.  Also, if they know how to work that activity out, they may get engaged. Otherwise they may distract their classmates and us their teachers! If they understand the activity, they can work fine. Moreover, in that way they will have some nice self-esteem. If they don’t understand the activities, they may feel bad and eventually also their self-esteem can fall down.  As well we have to make them participate and contribute to the class, for they together with us their teachers are the protagonists of the class! So, class ma...

Lesson planning is necessary and takes us teachers quite a lot of time, right? I would like to facilitate you teachers that labor. If possible.  Something I lately do when planning the activities is first of all writing a few goals for that class-group I’m going to teach: What do they need? What should I do as their teacher to accomplish they – my students – would learn English the sooner the better? How are they?  Thus, before the lesson plan proper I write just three or four lines – short ones – about the main aims or goals for those students.  Also, something I usually do is to sit down comfortably or stroll for leisure while thinking about what I must take into account for my class-groups: Just what they, my students, need and what is the most important objective for my class-periods.  It’s an insight that I carry out with ample lenses, like it was a view from the sky, or with other words, what is the most important point for my students at this ...

It’s their parents who have to educate their kids, okay. And their teacher has also to set an example. Okay too. An example like taking care of our planet. We teachers are instructing those students, in math, the second language, history, biology, minerology, other sciences, literature… And when we are teaching, while that is happening, also we are educating those young people. In accordance to their parents.  We should call up those parents to come to the school to have a meeting about their children.  Okay, well, any teaching action in the classroom, whatever the subject is, should set an example. We teachers are public persons, and thus we have to set that good example. Any teaching action should be educative. Any action in the classroom should provide teaching, promote an aptitude, promote some upright human value.  And it’s so because of the relationship between the teacher and the students in the classroom… or at any other place within the school area. ...