Sociocultural and grammatical contents in Spanish teachers course<

Sociocultural and grammatical contents in Spanish teachers course

Having taught languages, mainly English and Spanish, for more than five years and having developed my own understanding of what teaching is, I have arrived at the conclusion that being a good teacher for every student is not something we, as teachers, should be struggling for. Indeed, there are some other important aspects that should be taken into consideration.

First of all, there is a question: who is a good teacher? Is it a person loved by every student because s/he is funny and never gives homework? Or is it a person who manages to explain ‘the unexplainable’ for the majority of the people sitting in a classroom? I would personally go for the latter. It is not that I put a borderline between fun and learning, but if fun can perfectly ‘survive’ on its own, learning cannot. It needs more than just amusing stories to be told, no pressure for doing homework or enjoying oneself. In fact, learning needs it all, plus plenty of other methodological, structural and organisational elements.

Secondly, it should not be forgotten that as there are many different students that come with their own necessities, concerns or even personal problems, there are not fewer teachers. But being a teacher is much more difficult than being a student, since one has to accommodate to the environment and adjust the environment for everyone. And sometimes, when you think that you have managed to do your best and every class participant should be satisfied with the information, the method of teaching and the very teacher (whatever that could mean), you realise that there is someone who does not actually care. And here comes another question: should I direct myself to that person or continue what I have been doing knowing that 99 percent of the students is happy? Here there are a couple of options to look at: (1) you start feeling guilty and think that there is something wrong with you; (2) you stop being confident in yourself and your teaching methods and immediately jump into a new methodology without actually knowing what it would bring; or (3) you admit that since there is no official or legal obligation to like all your students, it is fine if you are not liked by all of them. After all, we are just human beings, and being a teacher does not have to mean that we stop being people.
To sum up the point that I wanted to make in this brief blog article, I am totally aware of the fact that being a good teacher is possible, but I guess it will not happen with every class and every student you have. And if (after your own uncertainties and doubts) someone says that you are a good teacher, you can be sure that you have managed to find your perfect audience that will always like you. And all the rest are just your students who can love you or hate you, but they will always see you smiling, prepared and ready to answer their questions about a dive into the sea of a new linguistic and cultural reality.