A teacher's rebellion

It is a common belief that young people are best suited to question set ideas, to challenge the status quo, to long for the revolution that will bring everything down and build the world from scratch. Maybe so.

However, I feel that no revolution can compare to the informed one, the revolution of those who know where they come from and what it is they are rebelling against.

Do I feel rebellious? I certainly do.

As a teacher of a few decades, having spent long hours with children of 7 to 17, I feel that almost all  the exams for obtaining  language qualifications do injustice to the different talents and abilities of students.

Think, for example, of all the research into language acquisition, of all the different methods which will allow people of different intelligences to approach a foreign language in a way that will help them assimilate structures and words. On the other hand, think of all the exam materials available for preparing successful candidates.

Now try to figure how much fun and how much real learning exam requirements enable. Am I the only one to think that nobody will be asked to write a film review in real life unless they pursue a career as film critics?

Am I the only one to think that completing two writing tasks of about 300 words each in 1 ½ hours is pointless and does not really allow the candidate to focus on either. Nor does it give the examiner a better understanding of the candidate’s proficiency in the language than just one would.

Am I alone in getting frustrated when two totally mismatched candidates try to interact in a speaking test and only succeed in ruining each other’s chances? What is the point in interaction if one has not made sure that the two candidates fulfil some basic requirements? And what is wrong with individuals examined separately?

When I work with dyslexic people and try to catch up with them trying out so many different answers in their heads—sometimes aloud too-- so they can get to the right one, I am at a loss. I couldn’t process half of this information so fast. Is some extra time thrown to them for accomplishing the tasks going to even give the examiner an inkling of the effort and the thinking process at work?

Please do not ask me what is to be done and should we do away with exams. I only know this one thing; I have reached this point in my teaching career where I feel an irresistible urge to rebel, to join ranks with my students.

Teaching: a journey through life

I have always looked upon teaching as a fascinating and unpredictable journey in more than one way. For me it has been a journey of self-discovery, which has brought me out of my shell and provided me with plenty of opportunities to relate to people of all ages. I imagine for my students it also means  many different things.

An example of a preconception about myself which was  proved wrong thanks to teaching people of different abilities with different approaches to learning is that I am a left-brained  person. By trying to understand and reach out to people with a dominant right hemisphere, it occurred to me that I had left untapped my right hemisphere potential for quite a long time, wrongly believing that left-hemisphere thinking was the only access to knowledge and understanding that I had.

 Of course, this brings me to the next issue that rears its ugly head many a time: and that is our educational system encourages and rewards mostly people with logical analytical abilities, sadly excluding all those who struggle with a system totally unsuitable and out of tune with their talents and needs.  

When we learn a foreign language we make constant hypotheses, which, in due course, become tested and either confirmed or disproved. Accordingly we continue to use what has been confirmed as correct or decide that some of our assumptions were incorrect and seek the right answer. Our hypotheses are based on our knowledge of the foreign language at the given time, our knowledge of the world and, significantly, on mother tongue interference. It is a mind-boggling and convoluted tangle of particulars, which can only hint at the endless possibilities of interpreting new language input.

By observing the students and making a mental note of their understanding of different items and their subsequent production of the knowledge acquired, a teacher can gain valuable insights into what is at work when learning takes place.

This, to my mind, is the most exciting part as the teacher in their turn will make some hypotheses about how their students learn and try to apply a relevant method the next time or, to put it in a different way, customise their teaching. The hypothesis could be verified or contradicted, which will lead to the next hypothesis and so on.

 To cut a long story short, learning takes place on both sides: the student’s as well as the teacher’s. It is a never-ending process.