Experiences of a teacher of English

  A lot of us people want to learn a language – I teach English and keep learning it! – and we have to practice all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.  For me and many of us listening may be the most difficult skill to acquire, but with practice you do improve a lot, believe me.  Anyway, today I would like to tell you especially about reading. Reading books, articles, websites. And also believe me, it’s a great skill to practice.  Stephen Krashen stated that by reading books you can learn a great deal of a second or foreign language, and I can assure you it’s thus. I have no big problems to read any text in English: fiction, non-fiction … except Joseph Conrad’s books perhaps, for they show to be extremely difficult for me to understand – even I had an Irish friend, Connor by name, who told me also that for him it was tough to understand, and he said that he read like one page per day, of his books. It’s curious, Conrad was Polish by birt...

  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...

  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....

This job of ours, teachers, is so great, you know? It’s hard, sometimes tough, but what job is not hard?  We as teachers have to personalize the education we implement. In accordance to and with the kids’ parents, ok? Because the school is a prolongation of the families’ homes, ok?  Thus we teachers should teach, educate, and love those kids, with benevolence love, which is seeking what is good for those persons we’re educating and teaching.  Thus also we will be recipient to what those students tell us. Aside and individually.  In the classroom or by remote teaching we are the adults they have as a reference… so what a responsibility we have!  We will listen to them carefully and attentively by… how should I say in English? In Spanish we say “hacerse cargo”. I would explain it: yes, here we are: listen to them, empathize with them, reckon what they’re telling us, bear in mind what they’re saying, realize about what they have in mind and in their hearts. With pr...

We second language teachers do wish our students would learn that language, right?  In my opinion the communicative approach is the best one to teach/learn a language. Even better we could follow a more eclectic approach, by taking from different language-learning methodologies.  If we want to follow a communicative method we have to create chances for real communication in the classroom.  As well we could try to implement activities where our students have to carry out diverse tasks. In those tasks the students have to use the second language in order to fulfill those aforesaid tasks.  In that way they can learn and acquire that tongue: They have the necessity of using the target tongue.  Thus they will see they are carrying on an activity which is worth to invest their best efforts in: They will feel they are doing worthy and meaningful exercises, and eventually they might get pretty motivated.  In other words: They will feel the ...

Teaching is… great, once again. And watching and observing how our students are progressing or not very much… - so far - is also great.  We have to plan our lessons with our students in mind. But I can also see and perceive that I have to keep on improving my teaching. Once and over again and again. No problem. If you've been teaching for some quite many years, you can discover and find out what your students are in need of.   Well, my students try to do their best. I teach English as a second language. This morning my students were saying what some words meant, from a worksheet with sentences and one longer text. That was one of the activities we were carrying out.  That was good practice and I intended for them to notice and reckon that: that was good practice.  For next class I will also say what those words mean, and thus I can mold the exercise for my students to have some more examples to imitate or to build up their definitions upon, ...

Why did you become a teacher? There may be several reasons. What is clear is that being a teacher is great. And being a teacher is kind of a service vocation.  The teacher has his schedule, of course, but in some way he’s open to serve people at any time, or nearly that. He has to be open to solve a student’s problem or trouble when addressed along a school hall, or before a class he can be addressed by a popping up student with an impending urgent question, which has to be answered according to that student’s hurry and haste.  Who has not been addressed by a bit of a tiresome student before a class? I do not mean tiresome because any student deserves our respect and attention.  Or otherwise some parent may require your presence about another student’s impending problem on the phone or even present at school.  Being a teacher is a service vocation. But remember that you, teacher, have to dedicate your time also to your family, and you have your p...

Lessons or classes in a classroom should be student-centered. The students are the protagonists in the classroom, but also the teacher.  If we want to have student-centered lessons or classes we also need teacher-centered lessons or classes.  The teacher helps and makes the students learn. The students need a lot of input and intake from their teacher.  For example in second or foreign language classes the students need a lot of input and intake from their teacher. The teacher often is the model. And he will have his students participate a lot. He will have his students speak a lot of time, both by small contributions and with long ones as well.  If we want the students would say many things in English – the target language –, firstly they need a lot of speaking by the teacher. When listening to their teacher they’re learning and also acquiring the tongue. They need a lot of English heard and listened to, before they produce English. But anyway d...

We teachers have to plan our lessons and carry out our job by doing our best. I know most of you do so.  We teachers have to be loyal to our students. I have met teachers – male ones – who were friends of their students’. And the same in the case of female teachers.  They were in-some-way friends. They used to listen to their students.  They won their students to, for example, working well or trying so.  This being friends does not mean they were lenient to their students or they were their buddies. Not at all. What they did was getting to know their students. They were interested in getting to know the students they have in front of them in the classroom.  They in some way donated or dedicated to their students. And thus they got happy in their generosity and made their students feel happy too. They ran the middle of the way to their students so their students had to run the other middle way.  I mean it: they were not their bud...

I learned in my former schools to treat my students not just as students and that’s all, but somehow friendlily.  By no means do I intend I’d be my students’ buddy.  The point is respecting them and treating them as human persons, and not merely as clients of my teaching.  As well today’s trends in education is conducting and leading that way.  Therefore I would treat them all with exquisite respect and deference.  Another consequence we could draw is we should listen to them seriously.  You know, they have a great dignity as persons, some biography, some way of being and some personality, some family, some personal context and circumstances… they deserve all my respect, both if boys or girls, both men and women.  Another consequence would be teaching them in the classroom with also exquisite respect and deference. In the classroom, I mean it. They are intelligent persons and merit some teaching that should be improving...

  If we want to be good teachers, and we want to!, we have to be very human. Otherwise we would not hit the target of teaching and educating our students, whatever age they are. We have to be cordial. Which is not an obstacle to hold some nice discipline in the classroom. Even more we will only reach nice discipline if we’re good teachers. Saying that you’re a good teacher is something great. Also we have to be honorable and upright, otherwise we will not educate nor even teach. We have to be human and people who listen to their students. I knew a teacher that knew how to listen to, and he was great, yes he was! All that attitude educates a lot. It is very formative. We teachers have to live for our students. They’re one of the main reasons for our living, not to mention our working. In some way we have to be like a mom or a dad to our students. In that way we’ll know how to forgive our students and we won’t keep rancor. That teacher I knew achieved to keep t...

  We’ve already started the new school year. Things are developing. We try and do our best, is that so? I guess so, because you’re committed teachers. Nevertheless we may be a bit anxious. Yes, because we may feel like we were not doing our best, and thus we may feel this anxiety. Some posts ago I told you all that it is sensible to specify a goal per class. Just a goal. A realistic one, and not naïve, because we may be somewhat experienced teachers. Think of a goal that is suitable to your students. And which one will boost their learning process at least for a bit. Many bits together make up a lot, quite a lot, right? Something else today. If we’re second or foreign language teachers we should vocalize in the classroom to convey clear messages, and at a level which is a bit above the students’ one but not too much above: the class is a chance for our students to learn and advance and not to show off how much English we know! Our students are also protagonists. A...

I’ve discovered that beauty can be very educative, well, better said, I found it so quite many years ago. An activity I implement in my lessons is describing pictures for example of beautiful sceneries and landscapes, from magazines. They’re both interesting for describing them in the target language, which is English, and also to make our lessons more human and humane. A picture of a scenery is kind of a window that’s open to nature, often beautiful nature. After one student has described it he may show the picture to his classmates, who have been trying to imagine the landscape as the first student was telling what he could see. Our students, I’ve observed, need to learn from beauty, and watching landscapes can be very instructive. Also we could project a video and pause at sceneries to describe by one student, and the rest of his classmates can add something else, from what they can see. As well they could describe what one or several people are doing, from a pictu...

  How to empathize. This is sheer important for us teachers. And for many other people, but I’m focusing on us teachers. We deal with… people every day and not with goods! Okay then, we should put in our students’ shoes. How? Let’s see. It springs from the person’s interior, first of all, first premise. It’s a nice trait we should have or gain anyway. We’re concerned about the students, and their lives and biographies and learning processes. Second premise, let’s listen to them whenever they’d like to tell us something, albeit we could be in a bit of a hurry: be careful, because one of the most important points about our job as teachers is raising all those kids. Whatever we do and whatever we don’t influence on them. When they’re telling something they’re interested in that thing is quite important. We should listen. And we could paraphrase as they’re telling about their problem. We can paraphrase as they’re telling us that point. Also it’s kind of benevolence l...

  We teachers cannot forget we work with people, with singular persons, with singular human persons. It’s evident but let’s think of it. So when we plan a lesson, which is something we must do, planning lessons, we should have our real students in mind, our actual students in mind, with their needs, their expectations, with their ways of being. Also something pretty enriching is the dialog with them in the classroom, for example when there’s a small conflict or any tension. We teachers have to learn how to listen to them, although immature we may think they are still. What’s important for them should be important for us their teachers. Reading books and novels is enriching but dialoging with human persons and coexisting and loving them is much richer, is this so? And let’s be human and humane for we could have refugee children or kids among our students: let’s be affective and attentive to their special circumstances. Let’s meet their parents and families and let’s ...

  I’ve often said that we teachers should create immersion into the foreign language at classes, okay. And also that we should speak in English all the time – the target language. Even announcements. And that we may present grammar in Spanish anyway, but only grammar: the rest should be in English – Spanish is both mine and my students’ mother tongue. And how can my students understand what I’m saying? Okay, by speaking clearly, vocalizing, speaking slowly if necessary, by using cognates (words that are similar to Spanish ones, like “preoccupied” is similar to “preocupado”, although I will also say “worried”), also by using our chalkboard or smartboard, by drawing pictures and diagrams if necessary, by repeating the core idea, by paraphrasing, by means of gestures, etc. And the students will understand more and more, and classes will be a special time and atmosphere when English is the natural communication vehicle. If we do all that we will view astonishing results! A...

Just something cool. We teachers should be prone to listen, and empathize with our dear students. Also we should listen to the families, and the colleagues.  Students like to be listened to by an adult. And they also need to give vents to their age conflicts, don’t they?  We should listen to them, in groups and individually. All they say is important to them. If only there were individual tutoring sessions at schools…!  There are in some schools I have worked for.  Even we can learn from our students! Better if boys talk with male teachers and girls with female teachers. We should love our students with love of benevolence, this is, to wish good and benefits to them.  And bear their problems and also joys. Listening to somebody is the best way to start to love him or her. It’s a kind and nice way to love people. Good listeners receive each word with a sane and mild proud, ponder about that word and learn something new, even from studen...

I’ve said that also adult students can acquire English or another language and not only learn it.  They can make English something of their own. But for that they need a lot of input and intake.  We teachers have to speak and read out massively, and in the meanwhile they’re acquiring the language. And they may be not aware of the process.  So before the students’ speaking there must be the teacher’s speaking. This doesn’t mean they have to be quiet and silent, in no way. / Photo from: awesome-horses-running buzzsharer com. this is just a nice illustration for the post

I would tell you that it is sound for you teacher of English to speak rather slowly, a bit slowly, not too much, and clearly to your students.  In this way your students get used to listening to English.  Later on they will understand a native speaker talking at a normal pace and rhythm, if they keep on learning and acquiring that language or whatever language. / Photo from: appalachianmagazine org 

When learning and acquiring a language, like English for example, if we have to listen to some presentation or speech, we use intuition, to make out what she’s saying, for instance.  We can use intuition regards body language, as I wrote on post # 2425.  We listen perhaps and we just understand the words but we can’t make up the message. I’m referring to an actual and real presentation I saw some days ago on television, a video downloaded from YouTube.  The presentation was about body language. The captions were in Spanish but I preferred to listen to the girl and try to focus on what she was saying. She was speaking too fast anyway.  The rest of the audience at home did not understand English, and so tried to read the captions. / Photo from: o-MOTHER-TEEN-SON-facebook www huffingtonpost com