Experiences of a teacher of English

  For those of you who are in the northern hemisphere I wish you teachers all a nice back to school.  Today I’d like to say something about classroom management. I do know how some teachers have to struggle to keep a working pace at high school, at the classroom. I’m typing something that might perhaps help you out, if Granada now earthquakes let me write – I mean, we are okay, just we’ve have ten days of some small earthquakes, a few bigger ones. My mind goes to Venezuela, Colombia, Perú and Indonesia and their people, and I keep praying for you all.  Well, I guess in class the main point is the teacher achieve to keep his or her students working, studying, learning. And a lot of you teachers already are attaining this, and you could tell us and share with us about that point.  I’ve already written a lot on classroom managing in this blog, and clear is it that you cannot be those young people’s buddy. You cannot enter the classroom and, so as to gain your students, ...

  One month ago I wrote down a note that said something like “The teacher’s function is to get knowledge into his or her students’ minds.” In fact it was taken from a book I was then reading, by J. B. Chautard, which book was published about a century ago, and it has been published into numerous editions ever since. Actually the note was in Spanish and it sounded kind of “La misión del docente es que los conocimientos penetren en las mentes de sus alumnos.”  And I guess it’s just great, and nowadays we should say the same about our function as teachers. Well, you know, you teacher may feel some burn-out or you may be hectic, or even alienated, yet just let me tell you something which might perhaps help you out somehow.  I consider the teacher as also – or primarily – source of knowledge. For that aim he or she ought to continuously keep learning and reading about the subject they teach. Just a few minutes per day, or half an hour if attainable.  And then we have that...

  What does an English language teacher wish, really wish? That his or her students would learn English! One point for you, for you got it!  Like a couple of days ago I wrote down some notes, in Spanish, whose translation would be, “In order for his students to actually learn English they need to read a lot, and write a lot, and speak a lot.” And that’s it. The article is over.  Yet let me tell you more about that point, just in case it may help you out, if you’re a second or foreign language teacher, or otherwise a learner of that language.  You know, it’s my experience, and a lot of people’s one. Since I’m a teacher, I’ve had to speak a lot in class, for my students to input a lot of English, plus from the CDs, plus from their class peers, plus from our assistant teacher. And by practicing a lot, I’ve learned a lot, I mean, to speak -- and much more I’ve still got to learn!  And I’ve read massively and intensively, and I’ve written a lot of articles on this ve...

  You know what? Like one month ago I finished to teach English to a nice class of adults, 0 beginners, or better said, false beginners, for they had some knowledge of English.  And over all the school year I have been struggling to actually teach them, and striving also for them to learn something, you know, like the basics. I don’t usually encounter such a group, beginners I mean. It was a nice fight to really make good use of time – tell me, what can you do when the students know close to nothing, and they’ve got few communicative competences?  As I said, it was a nice group, and the ones who persevered along the school year, well, you know, they did have a real interest to learn – so nice people they were.  I’ve been screwing my brain to learn what to do with such people; even I consulted the Internet to learn about such a group. Plus the group was not very much settled, and only a small group stayed with us until the end of the year – I mean us because we were ...

  We well may be finishing one more school year – if you are for example a committed teacher, like most of you are. And we want our dear students would learn a lot, as well as they would be happy.  I was wondering what an ideal teacher should be like. One of the main premises is he or she must be an authority in class. Are you one? Am I one? I guess an authority teacher is the one who achieves their students would actually learn.  I don’t mean those teachers ought to be like a sheer guard in front of a gang of convicts. So let me show you what I’ve seen in some classrooms, and which accounts for being a real authority.  You know, that teacher must treat his or her students in an exquisite way. I mean, they should respect those students in class – I’ve seen it and I’m now thinking of a teacher I had at high school who was an authentic authority – he treated his students – us! – in a tactful way – he never humiliated a kid at all in class. And when he met us out of the...

  Today I would like to point out a couple of points that may help you out, mainly if you are a teacher, like I am.  You know, a lot has been said about the student’s motivation in class, and that’s fine, for our lessons don’t need to bore our dear students and a whole herd of cows alike.  However, if for example a kid in class achieves to solve a math problem, or to write an essay in English (say, his target language), about a given topic, well, he will get perfectly content. There may be nothing better than the student would strive to do things fine, and learn a lot of things from his teacher.  Effort and struggling may also be paramount in class, and alike at home with their homework. I mean, the school and the classroom are not theme parks, as Gregorio Luri says.  Second thing today. I’d also like to pinpoint the use of books, paper ones. Miguel Ángel Martínez-González stands up for the use of paper books instead of a lot of screens. On this blog I’ve said s...