Week 2 - Response to “Is the Great American Teacher Dead?”

01/13/2022


Week 2 - Response to “Is the Great American Teacher Dead?”

    I have never thought deeply about the value of a teacher until thinking to become one. Throughout my life, my role as a student was to be respectful, follow the teacher's guidance, and finish the year ready for another journey. What else could a teacher do besides teach me the subject and grade me? Perhaps, there is not only an answer for this question but I found a path while reading “Is the Great American Teacher Dead?”, written by the professor John J. Ivers from Brigham Young University.

    Definitely, reading and viewing activities from TESOL Pedagogy - The course I am enrolled in at Brigham Young University through online classes - have impacted my life and my perception of teaching English. First, because I just knew Brazil’s way of teaching English, and second, because I never thought that learning about cultures around the world could help me teach English and improve students' self-esteem. Throughout the time I learned and taught English in Brazil, I realized there is a specific aspect of this teaching in this country, grammar, and through grammar, I began my tour to learn this language. My teaching was focused on teaching grammar because I didn’t know how to teach in another way, so I was surprised when I watched a teacher teaching English in Japan. I was even more surprised when I knew she didn’t know how to speak Japanese. Reading about methods and approaches in this course, made me realize there are not only Brazilians to learn English and as a teacher, I also need to know all the resources I have and adapt them to affect students’ learning positively.

    Students in a language class learn the culture of the language they are learning. If we reverse the roles, how much can students offer about their own culture? Sharing their cultures can make them feel part of something meaningfully special, affect them beyond the learning of a new language, and affect them for the rest of their lives. My thoughts about teaching English cannot be just based on the experiences I have lived in Brazil; they are and they will change as long I am preparing myself to teach because I am preparing myself to teach students whenever they are from, from whatever cultures they have, I am not preparing myself to teach number but to teach humans.

    Is it challenging to teach humans? I wonder what is waiting for me in a TESOL class; I can’t wait for it! Learning a new language is another way to think about the same thing, but how can I make my future students understand it? Teaching the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing is enough to make them fluent in a language, or do they need to change their way of thinking? I imagine the greatest success of a TESOL teacher is seeing students communicating themselves in English even though making mistakes but looking behind and seeing the obstacles students have overcome to get there. This journey they don’t have to go alone. My role as a TESOL teacher is not only to teach the language and grade my students; my role is like some words from the article “Is the Great American Teacher Dead?” by professor Ivers, “Create a positive teacher-student relationship, enhance the feeling of security and a positive self – concept in one’s student, encourage deep and critical thinking dance, play and make jokes, potentially transform one’s world view from one of uncritical acceptance of cultural dictates to one of deep, reflective, and compassionate thinking”.

    It seems to me not only that the great American teacher is not dead, but that great teachers around the world are not dead. They are preparing themselves to teach future students, they are in a classroom, they are teaching through online classes, they are teaching from home and they are “the troops” as mentioned by professor Ivers in the same article above, they are the troops to be taken care of to awaken the greatness within themselves and complete the mission of teaching with honor leaving a legacy.

Lilian Perez.

My last day teaching this group in Santos, Sao Paulo - Brazil.
I hope I left a legacy for you, my dear students.