Beeing a Teacher

Awaken people’s curiosity. It is enough to open

minds, do not overload them. Put there just a spark.

Anatole France, a French writer

Teaching was my ambition from young. I have always taken a strong interest in human psyche, interrelations, learning something new, foreign customs. As a result, I’ve chosen the most wonderful job of the world – the job of a teacher. The fact is that teaching is a precious skill, a gift, an avocation, a challenge. And being a teacher of foreign languages is even more difficult and interesting at the same time, because you are teaching not only another language that covers all the aspects of life but a foreign culture that covers even more than objective reality.  Culture is deeply connected with the soul of  each nation.

I truly believe that before you start teaching the others a foreign language you must be sure you understand the language and the culture of the nation whose language you are going to teach. While teaching I try to speak and act from the heart. I think pretence is impossible because teacher’s actions speak louder than words.

What’s more, most of students сonsider their teachers to be good examples for them. They expect their teachers to know everything, to be able to solve any problem. That’s what I can tell you by my own experience. I teach by example and have positive outlook on life. I’ve been working as an English and German teacher for 15 years. I feel I am not getting older. I am getting wiser. Frankly speaking, I wish I had more experience because I feel experience is my wealth. It is really valuable.

When I have a night off I prefer surfing the Internet for some useful information and books for my self-learning. It goes without saying that modern teachers must use different Internet resources for their lessons and selfeducation. It’s worth doing because when you see how interested and excited your students are interacting in your classroom you are rewarded.

On the other hand,  teaching lots of students can be stressful.   I often have to deal with students who misbehave or act against any reasons. It’s a challenging task for me to involve such students into classroom actvities. They need special attention of the teacher because they lack it at home. Some of those students have problems in the family. That’s why I try to provoke their curiosity, make them trust me just talking about things they are interested in. It’s important to give them a sense of optimism and hope for better results. They may fulfil simpler tasks than the rest of the students but the tasks  must be given according to their possibilities. As teachers we should constantly reflect and look for better teaching methods, implement new ideas that will touch the minds and the souls of our students. Speaking more of my students, I have to say that some of them are far better users of computers, tablet PCs and i-phones than me. They are willing to give me a piece of useful advice on computers and the Internet. All in all we get along with each other.

I also work with primary school pupils. They are very active, curious, hardworking. I can implement a variaty of methods of teaching at the lessons in primary school. I think I use flexible and interesting methods of teaching which meet my primary students’ needs. Almost all of these methods contain elements of games. We like to make up  new language games with movements together. It helps make contacts, teaches students co-operation. I think productive methods of teaching are those which develop children’s minds, enable them to create their own ideas, inspire them with the wish of self-learning.

Working with young learners as well as with teenagers teachers are in for a surprise. Students are often unpredictable. That’s why I love them. It’s amazing to witness the growth and positive changes in students. Indeed all  children are teachable and it’s the teacher’s responsibility to find the right way to reach their souls so that they can benefit from the lessons.

In conclusion, it is important to  note that in teaching we cannot see all the results immediately. Sometimes this process is invisible, it needs time to ripen. So we have to be very patient and teach it  our students and their parents. Students are the wealth of each nation. We should take our responsibility of training the young minds. I am sure there are no bad students, there are bad methods of teaching.

Tarovatova Natalia

English teacher, school 10, Volgograd, Russia

(Тароватова Наталия Викторовна. учитель английского языка

 МОУ СОШ № 10  Центральный р-н,  г.Волгоград)

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