Experiences of a teacher of English

I have written a lot on classroom behavior management. Angela Watson and Robyn Jackson also have and very interesting stuff indeed.  There should be rules in the classroom. Yes indeed. And we teachers have to distinguish between possible teenager disruption and disrespectful attitudes, which these later ones have always to be cut off in the classroom, with prudence and tact, without humiliating and shaming the kids. Concerning mere disruption, sometimes we have to cut off, some other times it is not essential.  These are some ideas you can find on Angela Watson’s blogs, namely on https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/respond-rude-disrespectful-student-attitudes/   Yet and at the same time we have to educate our dear students on liberty. Why? Because man and woman ARE free persons. Basically and deeply so. And the student has to learn how to administer his or her liberty.  Once I was surprised because my school’s assistant principal told me ...

To be a teacher? It’s so great – it may be tough, though. But I retain that being a teacher is great. You have some students with you in the classroom, and firstly some families you have to attend to, properly. All this is pretty human and humane.  That teacher eventually gets interested in his or her students’ progress and learning and becoming great citizens.  I say with Aristotle that we teachers have to love our dear students with benevolence love, which as you know or may know is seeking what’s good for those students.  That teacher does not confine to plan his or her lessons, yet that person tries hard to think of each student and his or her progress, as much as possible, or at least that teacher thinks, when planning the lessons, what those learners do need most, at such and such circumstances.  Even Carlos Cardona in his Ética del quehacer educativo states that there should be certain friendship between the teacher and the students. These latter ones permit ...

Reading books is so good and convenient for learning and acquiring a second language, as I said on the previous post. It's great. I personally do it myself – I’m learning and acquiring English.  On the last post I described some techniques you can implement to read in order to learn a second or foreign tongue.  Something else I sometimes do is focusing on some words, phrases or sentences I already know but my students are learning as something new. They’re some more basic expressions I learned years ago but my learners are learning now.  As well and as a consequence I prepare myself to teach those expressions to my students, now considering next school year.  Some of my students – well, few of them actually – tend to translate those books they are to read into Spanish, our mother tongue. No way, they have to read and enjoy directly in English.  The point is to have books or readers that are in accordance to their levels: they understand them and also there’s som...

If you’re learning or teaching a second or foreign language, you should remember that any language has four skills to practice: listening, speaking, reading, and writing, ok?  Today I would like to say something about reading. Reading is so great. The language learner has to read intensely and massively, and that counts toward a lot of learning that tongue, whatever that tongue is.  I personally read a book at least some brief minutes a day. I try and enjoy it. Reading is great, as I said.  When reading you’re thinking in that target language.  I come across some new words and enjoy learning them.  I use the dictionary rather little – I’m learning English, by the way.  I read a couple of pages each time or so, and then I come back to what I’ve read and then randomly I pay attention and focus on some words and idioms and take like a mental picture. Memory is something you can train and it's elastic, like chewing gum... In that way I can tell you that I’ve le...

There is a remarkable difference, if you’re a teacher, like me, or a boss, between auctoritas and potestas .  Let’s go with the second one. I mean, the teacher for example can be like a cop or a sergeant or so and exert some kind of power on the basis of shouting at his students. I have nothing against the police and the army – all my admiration goes to those professions.  But what I mean is that a teacher can try to master his students on the basis of shouting and avoiding any disruption among his students.  However, can that teacher really educate his students?  Much better is whether that teacher has some authority.  The difference is pretty big. Authority is on the basis of really educating those kids or those adults the teacher teaches. Authority is moral. It is built upon some nice mastering of the subject he teaches plus the respect his students devote to that teacher because he loves them and also behaves honorably.  He has gained that authority am...