You Can't Teach This

Day drinking
Our Thanksgiving Feast
Thanksgiving in the summer!
Jackie and Carly on the bus to Creamfields
Fro and I in the entrance to my favorite restaurant in Santiago

Part of being a good English teacher is developing good relationships with your students. Not only does it make learning English a lot easier…but it also makes class a lot more fun. For the most part, I pride myself on being professional, responsible, and making sure that my students know the material. As an English teacher, I want nothing more than for my students to leave class a little more confident than when they came. Psych! Don’t get me wrong… I genuinely love seeing my students improve. But you know what I love more? Being the cool English teacher. What can I say? I love being loved. Teaching English to adults is different than teaching elementary school. 5 years from now these adults won’t look back on their time with me and think “Wow, Stephanie was strict but it was in our best interest”, as could possibly happen with an “uncool” elementary school teacher. Realistically, these adults go through several English teachers a year and if I want to be remembered at all I need to strike a balance between fun and "wow she knows so much about the English language." Considering my very limited knowledge of English grammar terms and my excessive use of words that I have made up, I see nothing wrong with teetering on the line of appropriateness every once in a while to up my fun factor. Is it appropriate to spend an hour of class time teaching “bitch work”, “streaking”, and “threesome” to a group of middle age male professionals? No its not. Will I do it if it means they like me more? Yes I will. Is it appropriate to spend an entire private class discussing fooseball moves? No its not. Does it make me cooler than their last teacher? Yes it does. See how this works? I have recently realized that I will stop at nothing to be liked by my students. What’s that? You want some of the test answers? Well that seems like a victimless crime to me…Done! Coffee instead of class has become a ritual and exchanging inappropriate slang words has become a daily warm-up exercise. The funny thing is…I might just be on to something. I think there is a lot to be said for having a plan when teaching. I love structure, and it’s nice to be able to follow a book. But lets face it, some of the topics in the books are big time lame. Spending 2 hours talking about piggy banks and ways to save money? I'll pass. I will stick to discussing things that people actually talk about, thankyouverymuch. Next week’s topic is still undecided…but I am strongly considering following in Jackie and Carly’s footsteps and teaching “that’s what she said.”