L is for Language

English is a significant part of my life; not only is it my first language and my nationality, it is my livelihood and a passion of mine. I enjoy learning about language and teaching other people how to use English and correcting the ones who should know how to use it (yes, I am referring to native speakers who make those Dunglish mistakes!). I like words and expressing myself in writing is often easier for me than verbally; not surprising then, that I'm blogging!

I'm actually surprised that I am still teaching and how much I love it. When I first started in January 2005 in a small language school in Liberec, The Czech Republic, I hated it! I mean, hated it with a passion, I had no confidence, and the students fed off that, as well as me blatantly not really knowing what I was doing! I remember taking over one group from a teacher who had left; she was obviously the holy grail of teachers and had a lovely evening class of about 15 students. After the first lesson it was clear that they did not rate me and were asking where their previous teacher was (I think she had just left during Christmas holidays without any warning). Great! During the following few months, the class dropped to a core 4 or 5 who came regularly.. and I know that was down to me and my lack of experience. That was just one class, there was another class which I ended up giving to another teacher because the students told me they thought I was afraid of them (I was!) so a male, more experienced teacher took over. I also had to go to primary schools and give lessons to small groups of different ages after class. Not speaking any Czech and with very little experience of teaching young kids, that was also horrendous! All in all, not a great 6 months! Of course, it did get better in those 6 months, I made so many mistakes that I couldn't fail to learn from some of them. Obviously I persisted and learnt more from each experience and each teaching assignment and I am still learning. I really hope that I have the opportunity to continue.

Since I've been diagnosed I have hardly worked; I have the odd private lesson here and there, but basically I'm not working and I have come to realise how much I get out of teaching. I miss the contact with students, I miss planning lessons (never thought I would say that... I could still plan lessons if I really wanted to!) I miss the buzz of having a good lesson, I miss challenging myself and trying to make classes more interesting or learning new things about the language or ways of bringing the language across. I even miss the 'difficult' students; these come in many shapes and sizes and since I've got the time (!) I have categorised them:

1) "I've taken a vow of silence": it's like getting blood out of a stone trying to get them to utter more than a yes/no answer

2) "This is all beneath me": these students demonstrate how little they value you/your lesson/other students/the activity in no uncertain terms by their body language and facial expressions.

3) "The eager beaver": bless them! You can always rely on these students to have a go and try and answer a question, (regardless of whether they have any clue or not). They have good intentions, but they can prevent other students taking part and it can be distracting or disruptive.

4) "The challenger": It feels like their purpose in your lesson is to catch you out! Either they challenge you on a point of grammar or vocabulary, or on some other fact which comes up as part of a lesson. They relish questioning the teacher, and often other students as well. When I first came back to the Netherlands to teach, I put all Dutch students in this category because they are so different from students I had taught before (Spanish, Italian, Czech, German, Chinese, Thai). Of course it is a generalisation, but Dutch students do not accept something just because the teacher says it! In principal this is fine, teachers do not have a monopoly on being right (well, I do, because I'm female and a teacher!) but it seemed to me like questioning the teacher was a prerequisite and all students were in on the act!

5) "The intellectually challenged": it's not very politically correct, but some students just aren't very quick, they are not good at their own language, let alone another so even getting them to understand how to do an exercise or what the aim of an activity is, can be very challenging.. and draining!

6) "Grumpy and Lazy": These students are mainly of the teenage variety who have much more interesting social activities to be getting on with and sitting in a classroom is, quite frankly, interrupting their life. Often they do not get enough sleep due to going out partying or being antisocial and playing computer games until the wee hours. The challenge with these students is first and foremost to keep them awake and in the room mentally as well as physically. Actually getting them to do any productive work is almost impossible.

I'm jealous of Ed going out to teach; I wish that was my life again. Just 2 months ago my main worries were about juggling hours, sorting out freelance contracts, planning courses and how to fill lessons which I hadn't really prepared for! Now, these are distant, insignificant issues. I really, really wish they weren't and that I was complaining about something related to teaching (the students, the lack of wi-fi in the classrooms, the inefficient administration staff etc.) with colleagues or sharing anecdotes about students with other teachers! Here's one of my favourite anecdotes from the last year:

We were doing a lesson about cities you would like to visit/live in and why. When it was the turn of my less than animated Ukrainian student, he said London, because he loved London, the buzz, the shopping, and as a final flourish (and with no hint of a smile) added "I don't like English people, but I like Russians living in London". I smiled and some of the other students had a look of shocked amusement on their faces. I responded in my usual, vaguely sarcastic fashion "Well, don't worry Anton, I won't take offence"... which got a few giggles from the other students and a stony face from Anton. Classic!