Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Dear Kymmenen #4, English

I love anonymous stuff, they get spicy and juicy. Check this one out:

Dear Kymmenen,

You claim to be an english teacher, arent you ashamed of writing an english even worse than that of Burcu's?


It is Easter, not Eastern.

Anonymous



Just for the record:

Unlike many people who think that knowing good English is a synonymous to be an English teacher, I have studied education, graduated as a teacher and form myself in the vast and apparently unknown to many regions of didactics and methodologies.

Being an English teacher, thus, for me, means that I know what's important in learning and teaching a language, and that, anonymous friend, is not to point out a single mistake or misspelling out of 100 words written correctly.

For that, I don't feel that my role as a teacher is threatened by my mistakes.

I encourage my students to be bold and to make as many mistakes as are needed in order to communicate. In any possible way they can.

As a teacher, I'm familiar and comfortable with learning processes, and, more than anything else, I feel that the two most important things I can teach my students are, one, to accept one's mistakes as a natural part of the permanent learning process that constitutes life, and two, to do the hookey-pookey to those who will come and try to make fun of them, because of their accent, their expressions or their mistakes.

So, in short, no. Next!



Thanks for reading this week's answer!

And remember, every Sunday a new question will be answered, creating the opportunity for some discussion. Come on in and send yours to:

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