Experiences of a teacher of English

  Do our kids need limits? Our kids at school I mean? Yep, they do. They cannot do all that pleases them and all that they may think of. If you’re a teacher, you may understand what I mean.  Also all of you readers have passed through school, at any grade it may be.  But they are limits that protect those school kids. They are there for their sake. For them to learn. And for them ultimately to be happy. Who doesn’t remember and recall some good teachers we have had, when we were young, or at any other crucial age? All of us can remember that teacher who influenced great when I was a schoolboy or a schoolgirl. They become beacons for our lives. Maybe we are not aware how much they intervened in our lives. Or perhaps we are.  Furthermore, any teacher of kids needs to set some rules for his or her young students, don’t they? To begin with, some days ago a rural doctor who is a friend of mine and he knows some of the high school teachers of those small towns where he wor...

  From here we thank Larry Whitted for his help in class these days. He’s a native speaker – from the USA and based here in Spain – and it seems he’s helping out great in class with my adult students. As well these ones are talking with him so they can practice their English, also out of class.  By the way today I wanted to write about the learning process, of anything you may be learning, math, a second language, history, chemistry … . Okay, when you are learning – and I’m also learning English – you have to take some risks. For example when learning to walk when you’re a toddler, well you’ve got to put one foot in the air to keep walking, and then when that foot is set then another foot in the air. And we’ll have progress.  Also when learning to ride a bicycle, you may fall and fall later on again, but in the end you are able to cycle too.  When learning English, you kind of have to take some risk to venture an expression you think you’ve learned. It’s nice, and we...

 I've written a lot on motivation in the classroom. Ok, but you may find something I'm lately considering about motivation, and which you can find on my new blog, whose link is on the left hand of this very blog. That new post is #4. I hope you enjoy it. Motivation is ok but since we wish the best to our kids, you might find out other perspectives about motivation and love. Have a nice day. And you may leave your comments. Oh, the label where you can find my other blog is called Other experiences. 

  So the teacher has some authority in the classroom – even some moral authority, gotten through several factors, from dressing up correctly to his or her carrying out their profession in a right way.  Anyway, also this teacher must face the fact that also his or her students ought to have and drive some initiatives about their learning: no decision-making by them, no learning, or perhaps poor learning.  Something I implement with my adult students is I encourage them to work on the textbook on their own. We have two lessons a week, which, you know, is okay, but if they really wish to learn … then they ought to work on the coursebook by themselves, and actually they do so, and I note their progress over the years.  As well I tell them they’re going to learn a lot by reading books by themselves, the ones they choose.  Also if your students are kids, well, they also could work on the textbook – definitely it may be something good learners do. You can encourage the...