A school in Afghanistan is taking applications and one of the items requested is a teaching philosophy. Fourteen years ago my philosophy was five pages, single space. Four years earlier it was down to five sentences. Today, I haven't a clue. But I do I just have to think about it and that, that is an indication that I'm not serious about working anywhere else? God forbid, I need a challenge, not that this present salt mine isn't a challenge.
I took attendance ten minutes after the hour. I know the girls are still snacking on their potato chips and sipping warm pepsi, others are praying the 'isra'. So when twelve of them straddle in after I have finished and closed the computer and explain they're all absent, why should they be upset. This isn't a supermarket, this isn't a farm. Two students decided they didn't want to be here and promptly turned around and left. Who passes, who fails, it's not a mystery.
But ya know, one challenge is making two word verbs relevant. Requests are important. We use modals and request things all the time. Hang up your clothes. "teacher, I have maid, no clean up' Well you can tell your maid, politely, please hang up my clothes.
The temps this week are going up. I don't like to walk when it gets hot. It's the headaches. And my teeth, every day some alarm goes off, a sharp nerve in one tooth, I'm in a pall of sweat. Others ache for no reason, perhaps some barometric pressure fluctuations. I fear the inevitable but what would be good, if I can hold off the pain until I get somewhere where I can trust the dentist to whack away, pull, rip, tear, whatever. A place with palm trees and beach. If I have to suffer, it would be nice to choose the place to suffer.
So what is my teaching philosophy? It involves I+1 and Earl Stevick. Stevick passed away last year, a Christian humanist and looked more at how the learning learn. So much depends on the harmony of the learner. Is this material relevant, am I in touch with my objectives, have I made goals that are reasonable. No amount of tools and methodologies help a language learner until the teacher understands who his or her students are in the process.
A teacher must have empathy. He (let's just say he, ok, though she is implied) understands the girls who sit in his class, the overachievers, the underachievers, those who shouldn't be in the class because the material is way above them, for rejected dejected repeaters it's a challenge to come up with different ideas to the same material. Charisma helps but in the end, it's encouragement. Study tonight, Asma, do something different, that's right, study. No, teacher, no like. You won't pass anything if you don't study. Teacher, help me. I am trying to help, here, this is a worksheet, it's the grammar we just finished in class. Practice. No, teacher, no want. Here are the questions for next week's speaking assessment. Practice with a friend. Asma, where were you born?
Teacher, I born in Aseela. Really? Do you kite surf? What teacher? Time time.
I took attendance ten minutes after the hour. I know the girls are still snacking on their potato chips and sipping warm pepsi, others are praying the 'isra'. So when twelve of them straddle in after I have finished and closed the computer and explain they're all absent, why should they be upset. This isn't a supermarket, this isn't a farm. Two students decided they didn't want to be here and promptly turned around and left. Who passes, who fails, it's not a mystery.
But ya know, one challenge is making two word verbs relevant. Requests are important. We use modals and request things all the time. Hang up your clothes. "teacher, I have maid, no clean up' Well you can tell your maid, politely, please hang up my clothes.
The temps this week are going up. I don't like to walk when it gets hot. It's the headaches. And my teeth, every day some alarm goes off, a sharp nerve in one tooth, I'm in a pall of sweat. Others ache for no reason, perhaps some barometric pressure fluctuations. I fear the inevitable but what would be good, if I can hold off the pain until I get somewhere where I can trust the dentist to whack away, pull, rip, tear, whatever. A place with palm trees and beach. If I have to suffer, it would be nice to choose the place to suffer.
So what is my teaching philosophy? It involves I+1 and Earl Stevick. Stevick passed away last year, a Christian humanist and looked more at how the learning learn. So much depends on the harmony of the learner. Is this material relevant, am I in touch with my objectives, have I made goals that are reasonable. No amount of tools and methodologies help a language learner until the teacher understands who his or her students are in the process.
A teacher must have empathy. He (let's just say he, ok, though she is implied) understands the girls who sit in his class, the overachievers, the underachievers, those who shouldn't be in the class because the material is way above them, for rejected dejected repeaters it's a challenge to come up with different ideas to the same material. Charisma helps but in the end, it's encouragement. Study tonight, Asma, do something different, that's right, study. No, teacher, no like. You won't pass anything if you don't study. Teacher, help me. I am trying to help, here, this is a worksheet, it's the grammar we just finished in class. Practice. No, teacher, no want. Here are the questions for next week's speaking assessment. Practice with a friend. Asma, where were you born?
Teacher, I born in Aseela. Really? Do you kite surf? What teacher? Time time.
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