My Thoughts On Teaching by Ngan

For me, teaching is always a learning experience.

My teaching can help students improve themselves but also for me to gain more knowledge. We are always learning; information keeps getting into our mind every second, hour, day even when we get old.

In terms of teaching, I’ll acquire information from things I teach, from the students, and the environment. I teach students, but they teach me too. It doesn’t matter the subjects of the lesson, they can show me more about life, people or even experiences that I may not know or think about before.

Teaching for me is also a way to express my feelings and thoughts. The way of teaching through books, forcing students to memorize hundreds of words is ineffective and outdated. I prefer teaching with an open mind. Teachers and students can share emotions, thoughts to make each other feel more comfortable. Students can give their opinions and share them with teachers. My teaching will be more like this, sharing and caring. Words may not be applied in our future life, but communication helps us improve our way of living in the future.

The way we teach students has not changed since the era of the industrial revolution, when schools primarily aimed at teaching students to work in factories, and to act like machines. Teachers will teach us topics that we will copy notes for and remember details and learn how to apply that knowledge. In the 21st century, to be able to get a job, you need to be the complete opposite of this and be creative, critical and to be socially skilled. School is failing its main purpose of preparing students for the workforce and teaching students about human culture.

For example, English can be learned by all ages but in different ways. Young people usually understand things and get knowledge faster than people of older ages. Adults are busy with their jobs and their families so it is difficult for them to maintain regular time to continue learning English. Also, their brains may not work as fast as when they were young; It takes longer time to remember things. So for a group of elders, people tend to need communication, sharing more than just grammar. Of course, basic knowledge is required but interaction is more important in our daily life rather than words in books that we don’t know when we apply them into reality.

In conclusion, teaching always makes me curious for some reasons. I want to express my feelings and help students as much as I can, listen to them and receive their feedback. Teaching like machines can never give benefits to students; focusing on what they may need in real life and what makes them feel enjoyable is more effective.

#Ngan

#selfreflect