Why do I teach English?

When I was about to start writing the essay I faced two problems. The first one is following: shall I write it in English or in Russian because there was no restriction as to the language. What about the second one it is connected with my doubts about the key word in the very phrase “Why do I teach English”. Indeed, I have found the answer to the questions easily; it lied deep in my heart that was eagerly beating when my eyes were browsing the Internet pages and actually it beats every time when I think about English. It put the matter straight. English is not my native language but I love it very much and each word pronounced in it for me like a sound of pure pleasure.

Why for me, the speaker of the other language, English became so special? When I took my first steps to learning the English language I opened a magic book for me. So, my story grew into a huge love story which is still going on. To learn a language is enjoyable but to apprehend the great importance of such learning then of teaching is even greater. The most important sides of life are connected with the English language: communication with foreign friends, business partners, the opportunity to travel without boarders and so on. Perhaps every pupil would name even more reasons be it the topic about learning English. As the language of intercultural communication English comes to be an indispensable tool for everyone who lives in the global world. I am happy to teach people to possess such an important tool of a XXI century person. My lifework is a real vocation for me: both valuable and enjoyable. Evidently, a teacher is a special person who perceives life in an unusual way. I believe that I am proud to say that I am a very special teacher because I teach English and that means I stand on the crossings of cultures being a kind of a thread connecting people and leading them to intercultural communication showing them lives different greatly from theirs.

Though I am a young teacher my first years of teaching English allowed me to deduce some rules of a successful English teacher I try to follow. These rules are imperative for me, containing all the magic that an English teacher possesses.

1. To be a good teacher you should love the subject you teach as well as the people you teach.

I have already been outspoken about my love to English. It is the thing I love to do and I strive to perfection in it. But a good teacher is nothing without pupils who actually make a good teacher. I try to believe in success of every pupil, to respect him or her and to do everything I only can to make this pupil gain success both in language learning and in life.

1. He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches (G.B. Show).

It is a stereotype - if one has a good command of a foreign language than one is an interpreter or a tour guide but not a teacher. A teacher masters within the boards of a tiny classroom so his business is almost invisible. It will be evidently seen in years when the pupils show themselves people who achieved success mastering such a tool as the English language once given to them by the teacher in the tiny classroom. Well excellent knowledge of the language is just a small constituent part of a good English teacher.

1. Zest for life is everything.

A good teacher is full of beans. He or she is a producer staging the musicals at school, a philosopher discussing with pupils the quotations of their beloved English or American writers and poets, an actor carefully imitating the true English accent and so on. He organizes holidays like in the UK, the USA, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand or Canada because to taste the language is to taste its culture. Such a teacher is interested in everything and infects pupils with this zest for our multi-faceted life.

1. A small piece of learning ever kills nobody.

It is an open secret that speaking a foreign language claims assiduity and hard work. You may speak fluently or know perfectly well the grammar rules but it is all nothing if you are out of trends of contemporary reality. Any language especially English is a living organism apt to be in development and constant growth. So a teacher must catch up with this process first coming to be a constant student then a teacher.

1. Practice is a genuine criterion of the Truth.

This is actually my last rule but not the least in its importance. Practice… it is the main reason why the knowledge put in you by many teachers can`t but be essential. A teacher may carry on speaking brightly about the importance of learning English as the language of real opportunities and do not succeed in that kind of speaking. A pupil is a just a child for whom English is a difficult subject at school that claims too much efforts and memorization. This pupil may have no interest in English thinking that he at the age of eleven will never visit a foreign country as he has not just the enough sum of money, that he will never speak to a foreigner as he has his peers to communicate with in the mother tongue. What is all this diversity for? I believe that here comes a good English teacher to show in practice that life may be different. Letting the language through seems to be the way out. Why not celebrate St. Patrick`s Day? Or why not speak on – line with English-speaking teenagers? So a pupil in an English classroom is an active doer first of all to be an active speaker, motivator and traveler in all aspects further in life.

In conclusion I want to say that these five rules are five answers to the question “Why I teach English”. I am proud to be a teacher but the realization of the fact that I am an English teacher makes me even more proud of my vocation. I believe that to do something useful that may help people cannot but be important.