Experiences of a teacher of English

  The teacher in a face-to-face or online classroom? He or she must be elegant. I mean they have to be tactful, respectful, loving toward their students. What I mean by loving is one with benevolence love, i.e. they will seek the best for their students.  For example, that teacher has to know how his or her students are at each moment, and whether they feel good with the activity he or she is carrying out before those students.  And this value is obtained through those affection and benevolence love, plus through experience at the classroom.  As well that teacher will try and be discreet, cautious and tactful. And he or she will say things that will not hurt their students.  Furthermore that teacher will seek what builds up their students’ personality, in accordance with what their parents want for them.  I said he or she won’t say anything harming in the classroom. For those people have some or a lot of sensitivity.  Over time that teacher knows how ...

  Planning our lessons is a paramount point about the teaching job, right?  Now I’m telling you about something else I carry out when I sit to plan a lesson, in case it may help you.  On my teaching pad or notebook I write down today’s date plus Stuff to do plus the class of students I’m going to plan for.  Then I think about a few points those students are in need of, like for example They tend to explain points in our discussions but they lack standard grammar to utilize , or something briefer, or for instance I guess we may be following the course-book in too slow a pace , or something else those people may need.  Thus I plan the lesson with my students in mind.  Or another point may be To foster the importance of homework for them .  In a few words, what I mean is that just before planning a lesson we have to think of our students’ needs and wants. And then let’s plan with the students in mind.  This pre-planning task takes few minutes, but it...

  One example of a lesson plan for the second or foreign language classroom? Ok, let’s go with it, for a lesson plan or part of it, by combining the four language skills, which are listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  Let me see. Ok, we have a text, one for our dear students, adequate to their English level – that language is the target one.  First I provoke my students’ attention by asking them, kind of, Now, do you know how we say such and such things in English? And I give them, one by one, sentences in Spanish for them to try hard to translate into L2 – English.  Then, I hand out some photocopies of the text or I send it via the Internet, to their laptops or iPads.  Then, they have some minutes, say, ten or fifteen, to read the text silently. While they’re doing so I can contemplate how they work – often it’s awesome, and I can circulate to solve doubts.  Then I read the text out for them to grasp word and sentence pronunciation.  Then, the...

  Are you a foreign or second language teacher? If affirmative, let’s think of some points that may help you, both if you are a novice teacher or an experienced one. With experts’ help, of course, and what they put into teaching debates.  We language teachers ought to have the main goal for lessons as mastering that language, so we can foster activities which foster communication in that language, yet bearing in mind that those activities should have interesting contents, respectful toward our students’ ways of being and what their parents wish for them.  Now I want to focus on those language activities.  They should promote communication in the target language, thus we create an atmosphere in class where that tongue is the communication vehicle.  That said, like a web is created in class where the normal thing is communicating in, say, English – which is the tongue I teach.  Something essential is planning each and every lesson. And thus when planning a le...

  Both a novice teacher and an experienced one as well must know that it’s the active student the one that really learns, for example a second or a foreign language. I have seen it in our school.  Students should not confine themselves to solely and superficially fulfill what their teacher sets as homework for example.  Successful language learners are the ones who actually wish to learn.  Otherwise they could pass the school subject of for instance English, yet they would not actually learn and acquire that language.  They do not confine to merely attend the language lessons and see what their teacher will say in class: they attend the lessons with the desire and will of getting the most of each lesson. And they will do more than the sole set homework.  They are autonomous learners.  And they work on the course-book on their own and not only on the set activities for homework. Even they access the Internet in search for videos – really useful ones – w...

  Teaching a second or a foreign language may be fantastic. And somehow hard.  That teacher has to be alert: he should teach language facts… but mainly he ought to foster communication in English or whatsoever the target language is.  Thus he may ask his students questions as prompts for further communication in the classroom.  Asking questions also by other students may be great – I have seen it in class this week. A female student asked another female student how this latter one managed at home if she only cooked simple meals. They have an intermediate level and we utilize a coursebook which is A2/B1 level – some lower intermediate grade. The question was absolutely spontaneous.  That questioning each other also can further the communication in the classroom.  Another point, look. It is not the same our students would convey just sentences or otherwise they would convey oral presentations of a few minutes or even longer, of course.  They can choose a...

  We have already started the new school year and some lessons may have been taught.  One of the most important points for a group-class and their teacher is there should be nice rapport amongst them. The teacher seriously has to be an authority reference in the classroom, and at the same time he or she will get their dear students in his or her pocket.  That teacher will seriously try and get them immersed into the lesson.  In order to achieve that, he has to address each student by his or her name, all with affection and interest, real interest in each one of them.  Out of the classroom he will talk with his students yet he will not be their buddy.  You accomplish all that by treating each student with respect, interest, affection, deference, seriousness. Affection with prudence plus without being a simple buddy to them.  And in a foreign language class he will try to get their learners plunged and immersed into English or whatsoever the target langu...

  Today I wished to tell you about several points I consider as paramount.  First, what the teacher does influences upon his or her students. Even I would say that that influences both if he or she does something in the classroom and even in their private life. We teachers transmit and pass on what we are. What we are, I insist on purpose.  So if a teacher is nice, kind, committed in her profession, respectful toward her students, growing as a person and as a professional, and quite some other good things, well, she will do a big good to those students.  Otherwise if that teacher carried out his job in a sloppy way, he would not attain and accomplish to teach well, and likely he would not educate his learners, the persons that have been entrusted to him by their families. That person could do a big bad to those persons. I retain the positive: if a teacher strives to do his job well, he will do a big good to a lot of people.  Another issue, connected with the pre...

  Once upon a time the subdirector or sub-principal of the school where I worked, and this happened more than twenty years ago, told me that of course I had to keep classroom management and discipline, but also I had to bear in mind that ultimately my students were free.  Free to act as they thought better, in that classroom, I add now.  And that made me think, it did. I was a novice teacher. Yes, they are free, as human beings they are.  Jutta Burggraf said that any authority problem starts from a problem of knowing how to order and ask to do, for example at a classroom.  If you want to be listened to and obeyed by your students, well, do not give a lot of orders. We have to insist on the essentials in the classroom, yet we should not give many orders. And leave liberty to act subsequently.  And leave our people to be free. And let them be free.  These ideas are partly by scholar Jutta Burggraf.  We have to leave our students to act as they think...

  So we may be starting a new school year. And thus the first and the second lessons are so important.  Let’s suppose we teach a second or foreign language. On the first and second classes I think we teachers have to set high standards.  Ok, and may we speak to our students in their mother tongue? Because we are giving them paramount information!  I’m personally talking to them first in Spanish, their and our mother language, then the same in English. Chunk by chunk, a piece of info after another piece, combining both tongues.  And over time I will – I hope – speak in the target language, some 90% of the class language, or even more. I am to use their mother tongue because also I have to help them get acquainted with a sound and good but complicate course-book.  Oh, you know, something quite important I have to bear in mind is that along the school year I have to have the main goal as to provide communication in class: a second language teacher must not con...

  We are starting a new school year, is that right? Or maybe not and we may be at mid-school-year in the earth southern hemisphere. Never mind. It doesn’t matter too much.  If you are a teacher and wish to be a really good one, and perhaps you’re searching for something useful on this very blog (if possible) or somewhere else, well, I’ll try and help you out. If possible.  Actually we teachers have to learn from each other.  Also because we may be wishing to develop as teachers and get a better job as teachers, or just we want to become better professionals.  So thus let’s learn from other teachers. Furthermore, I would tell you that a novice or an experienced teacher alike should have something in his hands to learn from. As well our students and their families would appreciate.  Any teacher should have a book which we can learn from. Always. A book to learn from. Or a website to learn from. Or another teacher’s blog to learn from.  And then each bit ...

  Okay, let’s start the new school year, 2022-’23. With some enormous “ilusión”, we say in Spanish, with great excitement and eagerness.  On the very first class day, hopefully I will introduce the syllabus or program or curriculum to my dear students, thus at that moment I am involving them up to the core of what we are about to do along that school year.  I will do it in a mild tone, but with great enthusiasm.  It’s up to the teacher: he or she is the main resource of activities and knowledge. I am getting my students into the marvelous task of learning English. And I hope they will do it by sharing my enthusiasm, I will speak in a mild tone, though.  In class each individual, each student is unique. And their teacher has to view the thing that way. Each person is suitable of being original, and most of them may provide some originality to the class.  I will not address a mass of people on that first class, I should address individuals, though.  I ca...

  Working as a teacher? Wonderful it may be.  Today I wanted to tell you that a teacher needs resources for his or her teaching, for example a coursebook. And perhaps some others.  Yet we must bear in mind that the main resource, say, is the teacher him or herself. And we must take care of them. For they, as I said, constitute and make up the main source for lessons.  And it’s him or herself who have to invest their best in class. Which is something quite common amongst teachers, although they have to fight against many negative factors, like bad classroom behavior from their students, or some parents who seem to be against those teachers. On another post we could say something about that latter point – now I will simply say that quite many other parents are totally in favor of the teachers.  You know, being a teacher is kind of a hard profession and anyone of us can see how they strive to do their best.  If we have happy and committed teachers, likely less...

  On my previous post I told you that we teachers have to also educate our students for their future… and for the present alike. And we have to have them contemplate beauty. For example through texts.  And always in accordance with their parents and with human dignity.  Well, you know, if possible, we can have them read the classics, where we can find and encounter beauty. Plus other human values such as good, evil, love, virtues, generosity, sincerity and honesty, doing good to others, friendship, honorability, etcetera.  You know what? In principle I was going to have all my students read graded readers and other full version books, for instance classics, but for two of my groups I’m going to introduce an English coursebook, so what can I do to offer good reads?  Well, I have to check whether the coursebook contents are okay and in accordance to human dignity – otherwise I would have to offer other texts and not that coursebook. Anyway, I foresee that the text...

  We teachers may be spending some nice vacation, or otherwise we may be still working, or even we may be dreaming nice about next school year.  It may be a good moment anyway to put our profession in front of our eyes and try to improve our teaching job.  For example we may think that we don’t just teach but also educate those people for a happy future and a happy present now.  As well we have to educate people who will try hard to make happy to those other people our students will treat.  We definitely have to educate those people, but in accordance with their parents and in much way in accordance with human dignity.  For example we have to teach those students how to contemplate beauty.  Not only will we try to form people for the so demanding job market today, but we teachers are right there in the classroom to carry out something else, and that something else definitely is educating them.  I teach English to adults. And we deal with texts in ...

  If you are placed in the northern earth hemisphere, you may be on vacation. Maybe not. Anyway, today I wanted to say that our students must be, at any level we may be teaching, the protagonists of their own learning. No protagonists, no significant learning.  I saw it last school year: I’m thinking of a particular student who has significantly improved his English – I teach English to adults.  Why so? Why has he lifted off a great deal at English language learning? Because he has strived hard to learn it… and he is like a strong and powerful engine that does a lot on his own.  When I say that our students have to be protagonists, in no way do I mean that we teachers have to come down to foolishly create an atmosphere where they do just what they feel like doing by looking down their teacher. No. The teacher is the teacher and his or her students are right there as students and learners.  Perhaps if we teach a modern language we have to read through Rebecca Oxf...

  Today I've learned the actual meaning of 'scolding'. And it means to correct and blame somebody angrily and noisily. And I have used that word to mean 'correct' on previous posts. We teachers can correct our students for their good, but I think that in no way should we scold them, for they have a great dignity as human beings. I have already written about this latter idea on previous posts. Have a nice day.   

  You as a teacher want for your students to learn and work a lot? So do I.  Now I can tell you something that works with us. I teach English as a foreign language. And in class we carry out diverse and varied activities, so the thing turns out as something interesting. All I can tell you about is something I owe to others.  As well I try to give some doses of pushing my students upward in their learning process, in class and outside.  For example I write something as a group or class email I address to all of them, and there I insist on some points, like set and assign some homework, I let them know what is working better lately in class, etcetera.  I address those emails to them as blind copies, so their email contacts keep protected.  As well some of those doses are directed to foster learning in them, to arouse their learning. For example I tell them about some learning strategies they can use to learn English, and which ones are taken from my own learn...

  Every job on earth seems to have a relational nature: we do things that may help and serve others. A teacher’s work is relational as well. Obviously.  And what can we say about working as a team, as a teacher team?  Some weeks ago I read somewhere that creative work is primarily something of a single spirit, so we are creative when working alone, yet here I’m going to say something about working as a team of teachers. Also when we work as a group we may be creative.  First premise is that that teacher who is going to work together with other teachers has to be open to the others: open-minded, open to respect others, open to love others with benevolence love, which is seeking what is good for those others.  All this is brought together with smiling at those others plus being nice and kind and cooperative. If I work in a team, I have to listen to them so I try to see from their viewpoints as well. And I will try to provide my best to that working team.  Eve...

  Many of us English language teachers are non-native speakers… and we have to provide with a lot of that language to our students. And we perhaps are life-long learners of English. It is my case.  To learn a foreign or second language you have to practice the four language skills plus learn grammar plus vocabulary.   One way of approaching one of those language skills – reading – is by reading graded readers and full-version books.  Now I’m telling you how I proceed lately with reading, in case it may help you.  At present I’m reading a novel, which brings language you can hear on the street. I enjoy reading it. And that’s quite important.  As well and on top of that I would say that I study the pages I read: I have gotten accustomed to focus and pay close attention to the few pages I read each time.  I attentively read the lines and kind of mentally collect a lot of interesting expressions and ways to say things in English. I like it.  Then, aft...

  Here I am again with you.  Man is a person who naturally tends to work. We have been created to work. And also naturally we tend to work better and better, with perfection. Not with some insane perfectionism. But with perfection.  So we teachers naturally would wish our students would learn. Right?  And now in the northern earth hemisphere we are close to finish another school year. And we may be tired. Our students may be tired. So we foreign or second language teachers have to pull our students upward, until the school year is over. Even we could think of the work our students might carry out through the summer.  I was thinking that one way to help our students to reach the end of this sort of race is assigning to work on texts of their interest. It’s something I do myself. And those texts can serve the purpose of prompting a lot of spoken language in the classroom.  We for example English language teachers might be expert at arousing to provoke convers...

  Time flies. And thus we have less than three months left of classes. Today I wanted to give you five more points or tips about our lessons, in case it might help you to attain successful foreign or second language classes. I teach adults, yet all this may be carried out with high school kids too.  1. Next Wednesday one student will give an oral presentation – a simple one – on phonetics, phonetic transcription and the IPA, or international phonetic alphabet, because a learner of for example English should know how to interpret the phonetic transcription of a word he might look up in a dictionary.  2. We have no course-book properly, yet I use a B1 textbook to find and learn about examples of activities I could implement in class. B1 is lower-intermediate level.  3. I take texts from that book to implement listening activities, for my students need to practice that language skill. I carry out lead-in activities before the listening proper, and follow-up ones always....

  One month ago, while I was suffering some Covid-19 at home with minor symptoms, I wrote a series of remarkable points to take into account for my English lessons, if I wish my students would accomplish to learn and acquire that adorable language. Namely they are:  1. To read English graded readers or books they could get at a given recommended bookstore.  2. To foster they would give oral presentations in class about a topic of their choice, for a quarter of an hour or so.  3. To pass them on the lure of learning English also on their own, so they would become “autonomous, independent and self-relying learners” (Jeremy Harmer 2003).  4. To have discussions in the class about the activities we are carrying on in that class, or about pictures I show them, or about topics they like (my students are adults).  5. Assign homework to them by emailing, and demand that homework in the class.  Well, actually I wrote down more points, yet I wanted to pinpoint t...

  We foreign or second language teachers may wish there should be peace and communication amongst people.  Also we try hard there should be communication and immersion in the target language in the classroom.  And I am a language learner myself, and I will always be a learner myself. And thus I can help my students learn that target language, namely English.  Something I do to learn more and more lexis or vocabulary is intensive reading books. Next lesson with my students I will show them the notebook where I register and keep the words I’m learning, in case that may help them out.  You know, it’s like a diary or journal. Some time in the evening every day I write down one or two… or five words, expressions or idioms I have learned today: words and terms that have attracted my attention, from the classes, or from the Internet, or from the book I’m reading now.  I write for example a sentence where a nice word showed up in the book I’m reading, maybe with so...

  At last I’m back with you again, readers. And I’ve recently suffered from Covid-19, fortunately and thank God with minor symptoms. And I’m glad I’m back also with my dear students.  I'm reading and thinking and I was considering that an English language teacher like me has to think twofold. On the one hand he or she has to think that they are teaching a foreign or second language for people, for their students to communicate with other people.  And in the classroom those language teachers will try hard to establish and build up real communication in that atmosphere. And that will be created if that teacher tries hard also to empathize with each and every student he has in front of him. As well he has to be a good listener to what his students tell him.  He will detect whether his students are bone tired, or happy because of something specific that is occurring to them recently, or a bit disgusted with each other, or worried because of exams, or…  Teaching is s...

  I am again with you all. And enjoying teaching my students. Adults. And one year ago we began online lessons, English lessons. Now this school year classes are face-to-face again. And my students are great people. Yes, they are. And very willing to learn English.  We have gotten some nice rapport in the classroom.  From the teacher’s angle, experience is showing it is paramount. With experience you get the right way to treat your students. In a nice way. With experience you learn how to treat them, what they can like and what they don’t. You learn how to treat them in a nice way.  For example at the end of a lesson often I let them know what has worked fine in that class, kind of, Well today we have had some nice discussions and like a get-together to talk about this, about that, you have my congrats, people . And thanks for your cooperation to the class . And, you know, they like that and also they thank you for the lesson. And then we say good-bye in a cheerful w...