ESOL Teacher Reflections: purpose

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Let's Share!

In my first years of teaching I was constantly "reinventing the wheel"—crafting activities and materials that were already available somewhere. I just didn't know where. Now, the proliferation of search engines, blogs, youtube, and listservs has made sharing a given. This blog will be a compilation of insights and resources intended primarily for teachers of adult English language learners in a nonacademic setting. Please feel free to comment, especially if what I post here resonates with something you are using or have used in your teaching, either positively or negatively. It is my hope that we can all learn from each other.

Why I Teach

I can’t say I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, but I have almost always loved being a student. It wasn’t until I traveled to Ecuador in 1991 and filled the role of native speaker for EFL classes that I began to think about teaching. Eventually, I went back to the university for my teaching certificate, found my way from middle school to adult education, and finally feel like I am where I am supposed to be.
Every class and every day is new. I continually learn from my students and successes and failures in the classroom. The major and most useful skill I have learned is the value of flexibility. Of going with the flow. Of monitoring classroom activities and changing course when I sense that something is lacking or students’ interests lie elsewhere. It all boils down to a matter of respect and something that feels a bit like… love. And to me, loving what I do every day is the thing that makes it all worthwhile.