Experiences of a teacher of English

What teacher does not wish to be the best one or at least a very good and professional one? And all this in today’s circumstances, with the coronavirus thing, when quite many teachers keep on tele-teaching in some way or another.  Okay then, we can have the best teacher ever, but if his students do not want to learn, we have no learning at all!  A good teacher in some way tries his students should work hard and learn a lot. The teacher’s main aim is also having his students learn. That is his main purpose: His students should learn and wish to do it so.  That teacher in some way or another will try to help his students become autonomous learners.  And even more now, when face-to-face teaching is not possible – we have a great portion of the world in quarantine.  I can think of a marvelous teacher who passes on his own enthusiasm to his students. That teacher passes on the itch for learning to his learners. His students in that way might not ...

So many good things are happening in so many homes throughout the world, when so many places are closed to fight off Covid-19 or Coronavirus.  For example, so many parents are trying nice to entertain their children. Even more, not only entertain those kids but also try to educate them. For example in Spain nobody can get out of their homes – only in few cases. So many parents are being heroic.  Today I wanted to tell all of you readers that we second language teachers have to provide with many chances in the classroom for real and authentic communication.  We cannot confine to presenting language facts but also we should nicely produce many opportunities for the students to have actual communication.  Are you teaching a second or a foreign language? Yes? Well, the class should be a marvelous chance for communication, whereas the grammar and the vocabulary are just tools for that communication.  Or in other words, those vocabulary and gramma...

All throughout the world or at least in many many parts of our dear planet we are suffering this pandemic.  Angela Watson says something which is very sound, “When we are stressed out, anxious, and sleep-deprived, our immune system weakens. We are less able to fight off infection”.  So please calm down and relax. Some of us are tele-working, but let’s not press our students and their families too much. Also this was taken from that expert quoted above.  Something else I’m doing regarding my students is praying for them and their families alike.  Today Monday, March 16, 2020, I wanted to tell you the following message.  All of us have drawbacks and defects at working. Yet we may be trying to improve as professionals and persons. Something else we can do is to try to reduce those defects by potentiating and putting up our strong points.  You may know people that have drawbacks but they strive a lot to put up all their good qualities. ...

We teachers carry out a very human and humane profession. We also have to teach our students how to learn. And we second or foreign language teachers facilitate something very human and humane: communication among people. And we will attain all that if we love our students with benevolence love: by seeking what is good for those persons.  Our students will learn that language if they get exposed to that language. It’s ok we should present grammar points and such, but we have also to expose our students to tuned speaking in the language we teach. Even some authors state that language learning will take care of itself. We can teach the language but its learning boosts more learning.  The learners get the language if exposed to tuned language in the classroom.  As well we have to better teachers themselves. In no way do I mean that most teachers do not carry out their labor well, but I mean that expertise, time, learning from everyday work, and reading experts c...

We teachers want our students should read massively and intensively, right? That is crucial, both if our students are young people and if they are adults.  It is not enough we would say to them whatever their age is that they have to read a lot. We should rather help them and teach them how to read well. Even whatever the subject we teach is.  If our students learn how to read well, we teachers will have reached pretty far concerning teaching them.  For example, when reading, the reader has to grasp the meaning of what he’s reading. And thus he should get the gist as well as the main ideas of the text.  Actually I’m an English language teacher, and I tell my adult learners they have to read simplified readers to learn and acquire English. They’re abridged and simplified books in accordance to different levels of difficulty and mastering of the language.  Also something they do not have to do is to translate the texts into Spanish, no, no way...

Teaching is great, tiring though. Currently I teach adults. And at the beginning of the lesson, as a warmer or warm-up activity, I do what I tell you now. I teach English as a foreign language. First I write on the whiteboard today’s date, and we have a brief discussion on today’s weather.  Then I tell them about learning English: tips which could help them learn English, from some scholars and experts like H. D. Brown, Jeremy Harmer, Rebecca Oxford.  My purpose is for them to get aware that it’s the student who has to be like a powerful learning-engine! Each learner has his or her own personal learning style, which it’s them who have to find out about.  The learner is the main responsible one to learn.  You wish to learn, you will achieve it. You don’t really want to, no learning is accomplished. There’s effort, there’s a step forward. Each item learned, one step forward. Each effort invested at communicating in English, one step has been walked for...

All of us teachers need a class with our students in a peaceful environment, right? We wish that environment!  Well, we have to set that peaceful atmosphere, but it’s a business of our students too: not all depends upon us teachers.  If our students get engaged in the activity, more likely they will work, and work in a gentle way. So, it’s important our students would get engaged. Demotivated students may be disruptive, so disruptive.  Also, if they know how to work that activity out, they may get engaged. Otherwise they may distract their classmates and us their teachers! If they understand the activity, they can work fine. Moreover, in that way they will have some nice self-esteem. If they don’t understand the activities, they may feel bad and eventually also their self-esteem can fall down.  As well we have to make them participate and contribute to the class, for they together with us their teachers are the protagonists of the class! So, class ma...