Learner´s Log

The Students There are twenty-two students in my class and their ages range from 12 to 15. Six of them are repeating the year. Either because they exceeded the limit of absences or because their performance was not good enough to pass. Most students come from disadvantaged backgrounds and many of them  lack parental support. They also skip classes very often.The group itself is warm and has always been respectful towards me,  not so much towards one another though. They were a bit reserved at first but have loosen a lot lately.They enjoy normal stuff such as music, films and sports but their tastes are widely broad. They also like games so that is how I usually work to motivate them. All students had English in primary school and the diagnostic assessment showed they were not completely lost and they knew a lot of vocabulary but speaking makes them really nervous and having them to speak the language is quite a challenge. Most girls in the group are more mature than the bo...

                                                        Teaching can be a good mirror Even though there are some obvious differences, I am pretty much the same person both inside and outside the classroom. For instance, humor plays a big role in my  life and I bring it into the classroom for I believe conditions for learning can be improved this way. I also try to be objective and non judgemental. While there is no such thing as pure objectivity and we all see the world differently we do have to strive for it. I do not see myself as someone who molds the young minds either. All in all, I believe my teaching identity is still under construction.So far I have learned I am less patient than I thought I was. 

Why teaching? I have been interested in English since I was a child but I cannot say I have always been attracted to teaching as a career.I did not see teaching the way I do now. There was a time I saw it as too constrained and restrictive. I am not saying all my teachers were like this but even the ones who dared to try something different had to comply with prescriptive curricula and restrictive guidelines.  So I felt there was no wiggle room in education and that if I ever joined it the system would devour me and I would become just another brick in the wall. A bricklayer, actually. But everything changed after a few lessons. I realized there is always some wiggle room and this has given me great joy ever since. I like to think that whether you want to fight conventional knowledge or perpetuate it, education is the way. I also like to think I am with the good guys, fighting ignorance and encouraging students to assume nothing but to question everything.  ...