My Teaching Philosophy

"Education, therefore, is the process of living,
and not a preparation for future living".
Paulo Freire

Learning is living, and as long as you are living, you are learning. I believe that learning is a lifelong process. It not only encompasses academic learning, but rather learning all the necessary skills needed to live, laugh and love. I want to encourage my students to commit to their learning process, to strive for excellence in their academic goals and to be sensible and empathic in their social life.
As an English teacher I would like to provide a strong foundation for my student's lifelong learning. The skills, concepts and strategies I am teaching my students are the basis for their personal and eventually professional growth. Among my teaching goals: teach my students the beauty of the English language, foster their critical thinking and encourage a broader interest to learn other languages. In my English class I facilitate the learning experience by inducing the students to learn to think, act and react with confidence to their day to day situations. I want my English language learners to feel comfortable to communicate in the English language, to understand and be able to use the language arts to communicate effectively in their personal and professional lives.
To engage a student into learning a second language requires a lot of imagination and creativity. The main objective in my English class is to engage students into learning English, and hopefully to eradicate the anxiety and fear to speak English from the learning scene. I particularly like to use a variety of methods and strategies, given the fact that each student learn at a different pace, and their learning interests are also different. The teaching method I use the most is the communicative language approach. It allows the student a more flexible learning atmosphere, as it permits the use of the native language to communicate hard to express ideas and concepts. It also allows translation to the native language to benefit the students understanding of the information. Through writing exercises, reading of pertinent stories, music and poetry appreciation I hope to give my students an opportunity to think critically, and develop their ability to communicate their ideas, feelings and emotions effectively. Fortunately, I am teaching in the technology era, which means I have the advantage to use one of the most powerful tools available to a teacher: computers and all of its variants. The use of interactive practice exercises, parts of speech games and readings also enhance and facilitate the learning process.
To conclude, my personal goals in teaching have been strongly influenced by my belief that learning to teach and teaching for learning are lifelong endeavors. I became a teacher motivated by the excellent teachers I had and by the strong desire to be able to impact in turn other lives as mine was impacted before. I strive to be not the best English teacher, but the best mentor any student might have. I continue to learn new ways to teach ( actually I am studying to complete a Master's degree in English as a Second Language) and to be a better human being.