I had my first English class when I was 7, but I could only realize how important that was to me some years later that time. I was at church when I had the first talk with a foreign person. She was american and everything I had learned all those years, I could put into practice talking or trying to do it with her. From that moment on, I realized how important English was and then started a new journey in my mind to reach some goals. I did not have them very clear yet, but I knew I would some day use it for real in my life. So, here I am. I've been teaching English for more than 15 years. In the meantime, I had a lot of teachers,, some of them good, some not. Among those who were good, there were the "inspiring teachers", and I must say that I became a teacher because of them. I could see the motivation, the hard work, all the different activities they brought to classroom to entertain and teach my friends and I. I was aware of that.
Recently, I've seen lots of discussions about what teachers should do, what approach to follow, Dogme vs.Unplugged, and many other questions related to the teaching profession. Taking my inspiring teachers as examples, I could say that, if you love teaching, you will find an effective way to make it work, it doesn't matter if it is Dogme, Unplugged, Communicative Approach, Lexical or whatever. Of course we have to know all of them to be aware and see if it fits in our classroom and maybe once give it a shot to see how students respond to it, but teaching is different from everything.
It is priceless to see your students improve their skills with your guidance, with having you as a facilitator, helping them deal with their problems and then solve it. It is priceless to get to school and have your name shouted as a sign of happiness because you've arrived and the class is about to start. It is priceless to see the happiness on their face after a hard work in class finished successfully. It is priceless to see a real good presentation of students who were struggling to speak English in the beginning of the semester, and I couldn't number here all the wonderful aspects of being a teacher. If there's one thing I must say, that is I've been trying to reach the level of those 'inspiring teachers", and give my students my best to make them improve and not only show a "blue report card" at home, but help them become in real life, citizens of the world. I hope all of us teachers can work together to make their world and ours better.
It is priceless to see your students improve their skills with your guidance, with having you as a facilitator, helping them deal with their problems and then solve it. It is priceless to get to school and have your name shouted as a sign of happiness because you've arrived and the class is about to start. It is priceless to see the happiness on their face after a hard work in class finished successfully. It is priceless to see a real good presentation of students who were struggling to speak English in the beginning of the semester, and I couldn't number here all the wonderful aspects of being a teacher. If there's one thing I must say, that is I've been trying to reach the level of those 'inspiring teachers", and give my students my best to make them improve and not only show a "blue report card" at home, but help them become in real life, citizens of the world. I hope all of us teachers can work together to make their world and ours better.
Happy Teacher's Day!
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