Philosophy of Teaching
Helping Students Challenge Themselves to Make Their Dreams Come True
I believe the goal of education is to help students make their dreams come true. It is important to have goals in life because they allow us to be motivated and achieving them beneficially improves our own life and also the community that we belong to. Education has power to help students reach their goals. Therefore, I believe it is one of my jobs as an educator to help my students to set and strive to achieve their goals.
When helping students set the goals, I believe the goals for a big picture of their life should be beneficial to themselves and as well to the community while the small goals should be steps for achieving the ultimate goal and be attainable so that feeling a sense of achievement after succeeding in each step holds their motivation.
Goals students set in a language classroom will likely to be small goals, compared to their ultimate goal. However, it will still be challenging. Through overcoming these challenges and eventually achieving them, students will learn and obtain a great tool, a new language, at the end, which will directly or indirectly support them to achieve their ultimate goal.
Teaching Students a Second or a Foreign Language
In this 21st century, the world is globalized, which allows different cultures to become closer and closer to each other; therefore, communication among the different cultures has also become important. In addition, an Italian film director, Federico Fellini, says “A different language is a different vision of life.” These are why language learning is important nowadays. By learning a different language, students will be able to bridge different cultures and dream bigger. To help students have this great tool, I as a language teacher have to be effective in teaching. And here is a list of what I believe is important for effective language teaching:
i. Being a Facilitator
I am a facilitator who inspires students with passion and enthusiasm so that they want to learn in my class. Being facilitated and inspired, students will learn to be responsible for their own learning and keep having academic curiosity to study further. Thus, I make my class be fun, engaging, student-centered, and challenging to inspire them.
As a facilitator, I also make my class be a place where students can practically practice the language, rather than just learn about the language. First, I help students be able to access to information themselves, rather than giving the information. I provide relevant outside resources for students to get a chance to access to it by themselves. Then, I give them directions to guide them towards the next step of learning. In the meantime, students utilize the information they have in my class so that they can practice the authentic use of the language, rather than collecting information only. I develop student-centered activities with authentic materials for it.
ii. Being Patient and Flexible
Language learning requires much patience since it is a life-long journey of learning, which demands much time and effort. Understanding this, I am a teacher who can determine if students need more practice and time or a new method to learn. If students need more practice and time, I patiently wait for them, providing more materials to practice with. If students need a new method to learn with, I do not hesitate, but make changes to the way that I am teaching so that students with different learning styles can learn as well.
iii. Keeping the Balance of Learning
Balanced learning must occur in class. First, four aspects of language, such as speaking, listening, writing, and reading, which incorporate vocabulary and grammar, must be covered with balanced attention and emphasis on each (although one can be more emphasized depending on the needs of the students and the purpose of the class). Second, different teaching and learning strategies must also be used in a balanced way so that different students’ learning styles and needs in one class are satisfied.
iv. Creating an Anxiety-free Environment
Students learn a lot from practice and also making mistakes in a language classroom. In fact, I believe errors are evidence of learning. Therefore, I always try to keep my classroom become an anxiety-free environment, especially with error-making, by not correcting every single error. This way, students can freely practice the language with lowered anxiety. I also understand that errors are commonly occurred in native speakers’ speeches. Therefore, I emphasize communicative aspects of the language in my classroom, considering pragmatics, by allowing language practice with errors in it.
However, this does not mean that it is okay to keep making the same mistakes. I help students to notice their errors and to try to be more proficient. To accomplish this, I make students compete with themselves, not against classmates, and mutually help each other in groups so that they can learn from each other and the classroom can become a friendly environment.
v. Using Effective Materials
I believe appropriate materials enhance learning. To be appropriate, materials should be fun, authentic, meaningful, and reasonable (in terms of amount). Therefore, when I choose materials, I consider students’ perspective, authenticity in terms of incorporating linguistic and cultural aspects, meaningfulness of the required language use, and amount. To find engaging and up-to-date materials, I use technology when it is relevant.
Satisfying all above, I see myself as a teacher who enjoys my job and is passionate to encourage students to set a goal and to help them achieve it.
I believe the goal of education is to help students make their dreams come true. It is important to have goals in life because they allow us to be motivated and achieving them beneficially improves our own life and also the community that we belong to. Education has power to help students reach their goals. Therefore, I believe it is one of my jobs as an educator to help my students to set and strive to achieve their goals.
When helping students set the goals, I believe the goals for a big picture of their life should be beneficial to themselves and as well to the community while the small goals should be steps for achieving the ultimate goal and be attainable so that feeling a sense of achievement after succeeding in each step holds their motivation.
Goals students set in a language classroom will likely to be small goals, compared to their ultimate goal. However, it will still be challenging. Through overcoming these challenges and eventually achieving them, students will learn and obtain a great tool, a new language, at the end, which will directly or indirectly support them to achieve their ultimate goal.
Teaching Students a Second or a Foreign Language
In this 21st century, the world is globalized, which allows different cultures to become closer and closer to each other; therefore, communication among the different cultures has also become important. In addition, an Italian film director, Federico Fellini, says “A different language is a different vision of life.” These are why language learning is important nowadays. By learning a different language, students will be able to bridge different cultures and dream bigger. To help students have this great tool, I as a language teacher have to be effective in teaching. And here is a list of what I believe is important for effective language teaching:
i. Being a Facilitator
I am a facilitator who inspires students with passion and enthusiasm so that they want to learn in my class. Being facilitated and inspired, students will learn to be responsible for their own learning and keep having academic curiosity to study further. Thus, I make my class be fun, engaging, student-centered, and challenging to inspire them.
As a facilitator, I also make my class be a place where students can practically practice the language, rather than just learn about the language. First, I help students be able to access to information themselves, rather than giving the information. I provide relevant outside resources for students to get a chance to access to it by themselves. Then, I give them directions to guide them towards the next step of learning. In the meantime, students utilize the information they have in my class so that they can practice the authentic use of the language, rather than collecting information only. I develop student-centered activities with authentic materials for it.
ii. Being Patient and Flexible
Language learning requires much patience since it is a life-long journey of learning, which demands much time and effort. Understanding this, I am a teacher who can determine if students need more practice and time or a new method to learn. If students need more practice and time, I patiently wait for them, providing more materials to practice with. If students need a new method to learn with, I do not hesitate, but make changes to the way that I am teaching so that students with different learning styles can learn as well.
iii. Keeping the Balance of Learning
Balanced learning must occur in class. First, four aspects of language, such as speaking, listening, writing, and reading, which incorporate vocabulary and grammar, must be covered with balanced attention and emphasis on each (although one can be more emphasized depending on the needs of the students and the purpose of the class). Second, different teaching and learning strategies must also be used in a balanced way so that different students’ learning styles and needs in one class are satisfied.
iv. Creating an Anxiety-free Environment
Students learn a lot from practice and also making mistakes in a language classroom. In fact, I believe errors are evidence of learning. Therefore, I always try to keep my classroom become an anxiety-free environment, especially with error-making, by not correcting every single error. This way, students can freely practice the language with lowered anxiety. I also understand that errors are commonly occurred in native speakers’ speeches. Therefore, I emphasize communicative aspects of the language in my classroom, considering pragmatics, by allowing language practice with errors in it.
However, this does not mean that it is okay to keep making the same mistakes. I help students to notice their errors and to try to be more proficient. To accomplish this, I make students compete with themselves, not against classmates, and mutually help each other in groups so that they can learn from each other and the classroom can become a friendly environment.
v. Using Effective Materials
I believe appropriate materials enhance learning. To be appropriate, materials should be fun, authentic, meaningful, and reasonable (in terms of amount). Therefore, when I choose materials, I consider students’ perspective, authenticity in terms of incorporating linguistic and cultural aspects, meaningfulness of the required language use, and amount. To find engaging and up-to-date materials, I use technology when it is relevant.
Satisfying all above, I see myself as a teacher who enjoys my job and is passionate to encourage students to set a goal and to help them achieve it.
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