> My dear teachers, it is a given that nobody is perfect, but that only means that being imperfect takes no effort. To strive towards becoming our best as teachers is not only an aspiration but a responsibility. We owe it to our students to give them the best we have; not just because they pay us, but because we are morally obligated to teach.
Please do not throw around the word mentor like a mentor is anything less than a teacher. A mentor is a teacher.
Do not buy into excuses like: I do not know pedagogy, but my students love me. I do not know grammar, but my students love me. I am not certified, but my students love me anyway. These people are trying to justify the fact that they cannot give because they do not have; they are too complacent to strive.
Do you love your students? Or do you love money? If you genuinely love them and respect what you do, you will give them the best of you.
We are teachers. We build generations. Our shortcomings, if we wallow in them, will not only affect this generation but the coming ones.
So, do not dare call yourself a teacher only to tarnish this calling. This is a noble profession that has seen the worst, yet teachers continue to fight ignorance. Do not say you are one of us, if you know what your shortcomings are and you would rather say, it's ok. My students book me anyway. That is BS of epic proportions.
This is not a matter of "your opinion" and "my opinion." As ugly and as painful as the truth is, many people today are stealing from others by posing as teachers.
Let us not add to their number. Let us continue to strive to have so we can give. Let us be better teachers and dump the excuses, especially when our peers are here willing to lend us a hand.
Arrogance is a mark of a feeble and insecure mind. It is arrogance to justify one's ineptitude by saying 'I teach English, but I do not have knowledge of grammar and pedagogy. My students love me anyway."
My question is do you ask your students to learn? Then why don't you? You cannot ask what you cannot give.
7 Replies
I agree 💯%
An instructor in the TEFL course that I enrolled in said “you cannot teach what you don’t know”, so we teachers need to learn and always find ways to improve and not get stuck on the same ground or hide in the saying “I am not perfect”.
This is true. I'm just a silent reader here but I've learned very much from here. Before, in my company, I idolized Master B or Top Tutors telling us "Our student loves us. Our student really booked us." But their teachings are just "shallow". I may not an Educ grad but whenever I teach, I will consider also the student's learning. Some of the tutors really don't care, what they care is how they are fully booked or anything else. This is so sad. I have a student that in the long run of her tutors have no idea what is a sentence, a noun, a pronoun, etc., just how o read, pronounce, and utter English words.
I saw that "post" and read it in its entirety. It is a humble brag post. I am not sure if the teacher was just doing it for self promotion or trying to make a statement. Either way, I admire the confidence to post something like that but it was unnecessary.
The employer was not able to respond to you right away so what you do is you go and say all kinds of stuff on the thread? What? Trying to make some noise to attract attention? Do we really need to be disrespectful just because of the low wages of these companies? Many of you came from these companies. If not for them, you wouldn't even have the chance to teach or develop the skills that you have, in the first place. These companies might not be fair and that is how it will be. But we can at least be professional and not be immature. If I was the employer, I definitely wouldn't hire you, even if you have all the credentials in the ESL world or you teach well.
Your attitude itself is enough reason for you, not to get hired so act like a proper professional. The advocacy of this group is good but teachers like you make it look bad. Sorry, I just had to let it out guys. So irritated with these noisy teachers....
I couldn't agree more!!
Agreed. Some people nowadays tend to romanticize stuffs about teaching including relation of students from their teacher which was out of bounds at times. Teaching requires skill not feelings imho. We teach them to learn and to implant knowledge. Exhibiting cordial treatment is a must but we shouldnt forget our commitment to impart what must they need to know in class.
ESL companies require highschool graduates and atleast 18 years old.That is why it is hard for us to negotiate for these companies to raise the salaries of teachers.
I am a business major, but when I got to teaching, I felt guilty to not know things about English teaching. So, I enrolled for TELL in grad school, to give the student the correct way of learning the language.
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