Experiences of a teacher of English

One day teacher of English B said to teacher of English A, “Usually an adolescent is rather closed to an adult, for example, to his or her tutor. The teen will commonly say few words, at your first dialogues with him. You tutor do not ask him many questions at the first interview. Talk about something general, like the studies, and not using long discourses. Be receptive and observant, polite as well. Listen to him whatever he says. Put in his shoes. You know him because he is in the classes and you see him with his friends.” / Photo from: tutoriasparafisica blogspot com

One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “Turn taking is crucial for the conducting of a class. Wait for your students to say the reply to your demand or question. And then you talk again. Set a rhythm in the class where a sequence of interventions is followed. Do not let any mess rise in the class, because one student is distracted, one other is saying the answer, another one is asking you a question. Act calm. They can repeat the pronunciation of words as a chorus, or one after another, you pointing at one specific student. Also dictation makes them get quiet and attentive to what you say, you dictating slowly, repeating each chunk twice.” / Photo from: a friend of mine.

Yesterday I came across an interesting text about teaching and learning languages. The text appears in a Spanish magazine, so it is in this language. It was written by Blessed John Henry Newman. I’ve given up looking it up on the Web, in English. Here I offer a translation into English by me myself – sorry for the likely errors. The text is within his book The Idea of a University . I hope it be any useful to you teachers. The passage is a dialogue between a father and his son. My version is not between quotation marks, for, as I said, is a translation by me, not the original text. / Photo from: writing-man1.jpg valeriefioravanti com The general matter of your composition in Latin, my dear son, has always been of great interest to me […]. The main moral which I would like that you should keep etched on your memory is this: That when you are learning to write in Latin, as in every learning, you should not confide in the books, yet only make use of them; you should not keep like clingin...

One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “A teacher with passion and a sincere interest in his subject more likely than not will teach that subject in an attractive way. As well that teacher carries on learning and deepening in the subject. That teacher will pass on his interest to his students. This transmission of the interest and the wish to study will be boosted by that teacher’s learning HOW to teach, how to present the matter in the class, how to teach his students to learn the matter.” / Photo from: Gandalf blogdecine com Film directed by Peter Jackson, released 1991.

One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “A friend of mine told me a few days ago she began a course of English for adults. She has a false-beginner group and one with certain competence for speaking in English. The point is that this teacher has realized these people, both groups, demand and prefer she hand-out photocopies of worksheets, with a list of specific vocabulary and useful expressions to manage oneself when visiting a foreign country. These adult people like to have something tangible, concrete, material in their hands. And they work on these worksheets marvelously. This teacher started the classes with massive speaking, etc, for the learners to listen to the texture of English, etc., etc. But the students rather like to learn the pronunciation of the lexis and the expressions, and to actually learn those words and expressions (sentences). She is doing a brief replacement for few weeks. The worksheets are concerning ‘The airport’, ‘Shopping’, ‘In the restau...

One day teacher of English B said to teacher of English A, “Working makes the person - parents, teachers, and students - improve as persons, fulfill themselves as persons, perfect themselves. Also because work is helping other people, whatever the work is. The person has reason, a mind, which wishes to master the world – in the positive meaning of mastering. He or she wishes to learn, to get to know, to comprehend reality, to possess the reality – in the good meaning of possessing. Working, doing actions matches the person with his or her way of existing, of being. The person participates in God’s perfection. Well, just you may think of these things when thinking about your everyday teaching English.” / Photo from: adamsmithcollege ac uk

One day teacher of English A said to teacher of English B, “The first concerning of the teacher should be the teacher himself or herself. The teacher is the main source and resource of teaching and activities for the class. The teacher should catch and grip the things he or she notices from what other teachers do in their classes; should read journals; should visit teaching websites; participate maybe; learn from their students’ ways of learning English and from the reactions to the activities implemented in the classes, from the fact whether the students understood or not the presentation of grammar; the teacher ought to invest some time to analyze his or her methodology, some time to think about his or her students.” / Photo from: kenya-safari www kenyaodyssey com