Jewel (not her real name), my 46-year old student was absent for a week. I was informed that her father was gravely ill and she needs to attend to him.
She is, currently, my greatest challenge since I started teaching for JC-APE, a Korean institute devoted to ESL learning.
An absolute beginner, she was my most unique student since the only English words she can utter are just YES and NO.
It was a good thing that I learned Hangul from my previous employers so I thought that teaching her is as easy as ABC. My colleagues were quite impressed on how I handle my students in just a click of my hand, constantly asking me for strategies on how to teach efficiently. Jewel was doing a wonderful job in her lessons. Day after day, I saw her improvement and I felt so happy.
I was so excited to see her on my roster and made a note to prepare a special lesson plan for her.
At the end of our meeting, I was flabbergasted.
I spoke with her and asked "How are you?", she answered, "How are you?"
I repeated my greeting, and twice she answered the same.
I told her, "Jewel, I am asking you a question. Please answer it." in Hangul.
And thrice she said, "How are you?"
"Okay," I muttered. I don't know what just happened but it seems my student had a sudden case of short-term amnesia and forgot everything that we had talked about.
I went through our lesson anyway. It looked like she needed a little bit of refresher. But as time passed, a realization struck me that not even a bit of our lessons were remembered.
So I told her in Hangul, "I'm sorry sweetheart, but it looks like we'll have to start our lesson from the beginning and I don't care if it will take us a year to learn the basic grammar."
She understood, thank goodness and told me in fragments that she'll study hard. "I'm sorry Erica. Tomorrow, I studying very many."
Agreed.
Because no matter how much effort I put in teaching, if the student is not willing to take an extra mile to learn, I can't do anything.
Let's see.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
I am
When I was still a student, I have always believed that I will be a writer, a lawyer
Or working closely somewhere between public relations and media.
I have, never in my life thought, that I would become a teacher.
I have kept my grades up, but never became a role model.
Never a "do-gooder" ~
Nor someone you could call a teacher's pet.
I got close encounters with the guidance counselor, consistently lecturing me of the things a Catholic schoolgirl must do and don't. It's not that I disrespect teachers, but rather, I find them stagnant. They truly lead a boring life, spending almost half of their lives doing one of the noblest career in the history of mankind. So to make their life spicy, I created some nonsensical immaturity that one cannot grasp.
It's up to you to imagine what I was. That was me.
And in the end, just when I hit my mid-twenties, I became an educator.
To everybody's surprise, I am loving it.
I never realized that when you become a teacher, it's just like hogging all the career this generation has to offer.
You get to become a master of psychology, trying to rationalize why your student is acting crazy.
You can also become a scientist ~ inventing theories and methods you can apply for better learning.
A teacher can also become a marketing executive ~ conceptualizing strategies to make the foundation of an institution stronger. Your school's gain, is yours too.
And add PR Executive, you get to talk to the parents for updates and surprisingly, they listen to you intently.
These are just few careers a teacher can do in just a blink of an eye.
In becoming a teacher, one must have the flexibility and an open mind to learn new things.
One has to have a quick mind to be ready for spontaneous queries and make sure that the answers are reliable.
One has to be wise, able to balance the pros and cons of each situation.
One has to have a sense of leadership, able to herd a flock in lead them to safety.
And one, the most important of all, has to have perseverance, to impart the knowledge to the next generation.
You see, I never intended to become a teacher. Yet it is who I am now.
And it never came to my mind that I have the strong qualities to become one.
So as I am typing this thought, I told myself how lucky I am.
I am a teacher.
And my capacity for learning will never stop here.
Or working closely somewhere between public relations and media.
I have, never in my life thought, that I would become a teacher.
I have kept my grades up, but never became a role model.
Never a "do-gooder" ~
Nor someone you could call a teacher's pet.
I got close encounters with the guidance counselor, consistently lecturing me of the things a Catholic schoolgirl must do and don't. It's not that I disrespect teachers, but rather, I find them stagnant. They truly lead a boring life, spending almost half of their lives doing one of the noblest career in the history of mankind. So to make their life spicy, I created some nonsensical immaturity that one cannot grasp.
It's up to you to imagine what I was. That was me.
And in the end, just when I hit my mid-twenties, I became an educator.
To everybody's surprise, I am loving it.
I never realized that when you become a teacher, it's just like hogging all the career this generation has to offer.
You get to become a master of psychology, trying to rationalize why your student is acting crazy.
You can also become a scientist ~ inventing theories and methods you can apply for better learning.
A teacher can also become a marketing executive ~ conceptualizing strategies to make the foundation of an institution stronger. Your school's gain, is yours too.
And add PR Executive, you get to talk to the parents for updates and surprisingly, they listen to you intently.
These are just few careers a teacher can do in just a blink of an eye.
In becoming a teacher, one must have the flexibility and an open mind to learn new things.
One has to have a quick mind to be ready for spontaneous queries and make sure that the answers are reliable.
One has to be wise, able to balance the pros and cons of each situation.
One has to have a sense of leadership, able to herd a flock in lead them to safety.
And one, the most important of all, has to have perseverance, to impart the knowledge to the next generation.
You see, I never intended to become a teacher. Yet it is who I am now.
And it never came to my mind that I have the strong qualities to become one.
So as I am typing this thought, I told myself how lucky I am.
I am a teacher.
And my capacity for learning will never stop here.
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