English teacher's dearest wish

Автор: Сергеева Елена Евгеньевна

Организация: ГБПОУ «МССУОР № 2» Москомспорта

Населенный пункт: г. Москва

Dear Santa,

          I hope you remember me, it has been a long time since I wrote you last. I was a little girl back then and kind of believed in you. I told you everything about my schooldays and my friends, didn't forget to mention that I had been behaving myself during the whole year and revealed my dearest wish - a giant violet stuffed poodle. Of course, my dream came true and I got the toy poodle. Not as giant as I'd expected but surely as violet as the naughty girl from the "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". I wish everything was as easy as it was thirty years ago, but it's not.

          Actually, I'm a grown up woman now and I am a teacher, can you imagine? I teach teenagers English. So, what does an English teacher want for Christmas? The first thing that comes to mind is the whole class of excellent highly-motivated students who catch every word of yours and do all the task perfectly on time. What a pleasant image! But, wait a minute, I guess one of the most rewarding aspects of a teaching profession is the spark appearing in the eyes of a falling behind student  who has REALLY understood the topic for the first time in their life and who is eager to open the door to the amazing world of foreign languages. No, no, no...Having a whole class of A-students would be so boring.

          What else can you think of? Well, having 48 hours day would be rather helpful, given the fact that an English teacher is always busy creating new materials, generating ideas, as well as reading, marking, evaluating and preparing for the lessons. Just imagine, twice as much time not only for work, but for relaxation and a break from the school routine. Who am I kidding? We both know that the part that is going to expand is not the "relaxation" part, right?

          Ok, let's try once again. Wouldn't it be nice for a teacher of English to know every meaning of every English word in the world? To remember all the exceptions, all the meanings of the phrasal verbs and all the expressions with different prepositions. In that case, you can even match Google Translate at some point and overshadow Oxford English Dictionary. The problem is that constant learning and self-improvement are the essential factors of  being a good teacher as it's impossible to teach your students the language without translating your own studying experience to them. So, this is not going to be the path to go, too.

          You know, I've been thinking about it for a while and I've come to the conclusion that the only thing that any teacher wants for Christmas is peace in their souls and peace in their homes. So, I'm going to search my closet and find my violet stuffed poodle,  hug my family and hope for the best. That turned out to be easier than thirty years ago, after all, I suppose.

 

          Take care,

          Alyona

Опубликовано: 06.02.2024