Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty. (Albert Einstein)
Teaching English has been my passion. As a student in elementary school, I used to think that teaching was probably the best job in the world. Teachers did not have to work on assignments, and they seemed to know everything in the world. Since then, I already had the idea that I would be standing in front of the classrooms.
When I was still in my undergraduate, I worked as an English private tutor for elementary and junior high school students. Besides, I was a professor’s assistant in the university. That was when I really realized that being a teacher is a very challenging decision one has to make. Teachers should prepare themselves before coming to class, and the preparation includes detailed lesson plan and materials. During the class, teachers play a key role in the success of the teaching and learning activity. Even in the most communicative classroom situation, teachers bear the difficult task that is to make sure that students learn something. After class, teachers’ duties are still continuing. They have to reflect on the previous classroom activities and also give essential feedback to students’ work.
However, it was not until I worked as a full-time English lecturer in the University of Muhammadiyah Malang had I understood the challenges of teaching English. I was assigned to teach seven classes each semester. Some of those classes were big, meaning that it consisted 40-50 students. Students had different language competencies, and they took the classes only because they were required to. As their teacher, I was always challenged to raise their motivations and find materials that can fit the heterogeneous classroom environment. It was not easy, but as Albert Einstein said, teaching should be regarded as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty. I fall in love even deeper to the field of teaching English.
Benevolence alone will not make a teacher, nor will learning alone do it. The gift of teaching is a peculiar talent, and implies a need and a craving in the teacher himself. (John Jay Chapman)
I believe that my further study in the field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in the Ohio University will allow me to advance my credentials through balanced theoretical and empirical coursework. I believe this training opportunity will be a life-changing experience that will improve my quality as a teacher, providing me with new knowledge and lessons that can be applied to my students and shared with my colleagues in my home university, therefore making a difference for education in Indonesia.
This quarter, I took the LING 580 which provided an introduction to the theory and methodology of teaching English to adult speakers of other languages. The course showered me with comprehensive activities related to TEFL theories; lectures, readings, group work, presentations, in-class and electronic discussions, classroom observations, and also teaching project. Throughout the ten-week course, I feel that it had helped me define several points that I would like to emphasize in my role as an English teacher.
Creativity
It is very important for teachers to be creative and make each lesson a different experience for the students. When I observed an OPIE class, the teacher, Ms. Dee Gephart used lollipop candies to break the ice in the beginning of the class. And then she linked the word sucker that could be used to refer to the candies with the slang words they were going to discuss in that lesson. For me, it was an interesting approach in which the teacher attracted students’ attention by being creative and casual. Teachers may not always begin the class formally; doing it differently can be fun.
Authenticity
Authenticity in the teaching and learning materials is a big issue in my home country. Several conferences that I joined back home had attempted to emphasize the importance of having authentic materials. In this class, I learned that having authentic materials is not the main elements of success. Discussing authentic materials in classroom is good, because students will feel as if they are engaged to the real life. However, using pedagogical materials can be more helpful as they are designed for pedagogical purpose. In my classroom, I prefer to combine both of them.
Familiarity and Love
I need to know my students personally. And the first step is to know each of their names one by one. When I was a student, I was always happy when the teacher knew my name, and that impression is the one that I would like my students to have about me.
Endurance
I have seen some of my friends struggling so hard with Linguistics and TESOL. I have to admit that I was shocked when I found out that some of them decided to change major. Somehow, this has proven the challenge of being a teacher. We have to have a big courage and endurance in order to stand in this position. Teacher as a profession does not offer you with fame of amazing experience to travel around the world. But it is a very respectful profession, as depicted by an Indonesian song entitled “ My Teacher, a Hero without Medallion.”
Enthusiasm
Being an enthusiastic teacher is important. Through several videos that were shown in the course, I come to realize that teacher’s personality can build interesting classroom environment.
Interaction
A good teacher should interact with their students as well as their peers, the other teachers. It is important to always have discussion and fill each other in with new approach that may work in the classrooms. The discussions and group works that I experienced in this course had shown me how important it is to listen to others’ opinion. They have helped me see things that I would not first pay attention to. My classmates always came up with different analysis and opinions towards a lesson, and for me, personally, is such an insight to make me a better teacher.
Teaching English has been my passion. As a student in elementary school, I used to think that teaching was probably the best job in the world. Teachers did not have to work on assignments, and they seemed to know everything in the world. Since then, I already had the idea that I would be standing in front of the classrooms.
When I was still in my undergraduate, I worked as an English private tutor for elementary and junior high school students. Besides, I was a professor’s assistant in the university. That was when I really realized that being a teacher is a very challenging decision one has to make. Teachers should prepare themselves before coming to class, and the preparation includes detailed lesson plan and materials. During the class, teachers play a key role in the success of the teaching and learning activity. Even in the most communicative classroom situation, teachers bear the difficult task that is to make sure that students learn something. After class, teachers’ duties are still continuing. They have to reflect on the previous classroom activities and also give essential feedback to students’ work.
However, it was not until I worked as a full-time English lecturer in the University of Muhammadiyah Malang had I understood the challenges of teaching English. I was assigned to teach seven classes each semester. Some of those classes were big, meaning that it consisted 40-50 students. Students had different language competencies, and they took the classes only because they were required to. As their teacher, I was always challenged to raise their motivations and find materials that can fit the heterogeneous classroom environment. It was not easy, but as Albert Einstein said, teaching should be regarded as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty. I fall in love even deeper to the field of teaching English.
Benevolence alone will not make a teacher, nor will learning alone do it. The gift of teaching is a peculiar talent, and implies a need and a craving in the teacher himself. (John Jay Chapman)
I believe that my further study in the field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in the Ohio University will allow me to advance my credentials through balanced theoretical and empirical coursework. I believe this training opportunity will be a life-changing experience that will improve my quality as a teacher, providing me with new knowledge and lessons that can be applied to my students and shared with my colleagues in my home university, therefore making a difference for education in Indonesia.
This quarter, I took the LING 580 which provided an introduction to the theory and methodology of teaching English to adult speakers of other languages. The course showered me with comprehensive activities related to TEFL theories; lectures, readings, group work, presentations, in-class and electronic discussions, classroom observations, and also teaching project. Throughout the ten-week course, I feel that it had helped me define several points that I would like to emphasize in my role as an English teacher.
Creativity
It is very important for teachers to be creative and make each lesson a different experience for the students. When I observed an OPIE class, the teacher, Ms. Dee Gephart used lollipop candies to break the ice in the beginning of the class. And then she linked the word sucker that could be used to refer to the candies with the slang words they were going to discuss in that lesson. For me, it was an interesting approach in which the teacher attracted students’ attention by being creative and casual. Teachers may not always begin the class formally; doing it differently can be fun.
Authenticity
Authenticity in the teaching and learning materials is a big issue in my home country. Several conferences that I joined back home had attempted to emphasize the importance of having authentic materials. In this class, I learned that having authentic materials is not the main elements of success. Discussing authentic materials in classroom is good, because students will feel as if they are engaged to the real life. However, using pedagogical materials can be more helpful as they are designed for pedagogical purpose. In my classroom, I prefer to combine both of them.
Familiarity and Love
I need to know my students personally. And the first step is to know each of their names one by one. When I was a student, I was always happy when the teacher knew my name, and that impression is the one that I would like my students to have about me.
Endurance
I have seen some of my friends struggling so hard with Linguistics and TESOL. I have to admit that I was shocked when I found out that some of them decided to change major. Somehow, this has proven the challenge of being a teacher. We have to have a big courage and endurance in order to stand in this position. Teacher as a profession does not offer you with fame of amazing experience to travel around the world. But it is a very respectful profession, as depicted by an Indonesian song entitled “ My Teacher, a Hero without Medallion.”
Enthusiasm
Being an enthusiastic teacher is important. Through several videos that were shown in the course, I come to realize that teacher’s personality can build interesting classroom environment.
Interaction
A good teacher should interact with their students as well as their peers, the other teachers. It is important to always have discussion and fill each other in with new approach that may work in the classrooms. The discussions and group works that I experienced in this course had shown me how important it is to listen to others’ opinion. They have helped me see things that I would not first pay attention to. My classmates always came up with different analysis and opinions towards a lesson, and for me, personally, is such an insight to make me a better teacher.
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