Week 5

Classroom Talk/ Teacher Talk

I will begin this posting by recalling from my experiences as a student. I wcan say that I remember having a favorite English Teacher and one I could not stand. I can honestly say that the reason why I did not like the latter teacher was because of the way she spoke and pronounced her words. Honestly, I believed I know better English than she did. Up to this day I still think this is true. Her impression on me was a bad one because I was aware of her mistakes. Yet, not I think about those classmates of mine who were not aware of this. It must have been extremely hard for them to learn anything in the class and feel comfortable listening to a 'different' kind of English.

There is no need to explain now that my favorite English Teacher was the one with the perfect pronunciation, choice of words and tone of voice. Class was such a delight.

As I read Long's and Walsh's articles about the role of the teacher in the classroom, I became even more aware of why I felt this way about my previous teachers. As an educator I will try to become a facilitator of the language and not an obstruction to understanding. I will try to expose my students more to different types of English also.

As it was note din our oral presentation, we chose a song for our lesson which had some words that were pronounced in the colloquial way and not in the proper English that's expected in classrooms. if we go back to the cultural and contextual aspect of education, I believe that students should be able to function in the society outside the classroom and this is why it is important to teach the proper manner and the colloquial ways as well.

But going back to my teachers from my childhood. I believe that there was more to my liking and dis liking these teachers than their pronunciation. It was also that my favorite teacher made the learning flow naturally and wonderfully, while the other teacher obstructed the learning process with her other behaviors such as direct error correction of my classmates, laughter, long pauses, tone and speed of speech, use of slang and filling in the gaps in class herself. Class was her 'show' and whomever did not like, or understand it was out of the game.

In my motivation class we talk about how teachers cane be positive or negative examples and influences in our decision to become teachers ourselves. I believe this negative experience influenced me to become a better teacher than she was.
And the readings by Long and Walsh have made it all more clear to me now.

Peace.