Home > Mission to Amsterdam > Archives > 2008 > August > 30 > Entry
Those who can’t teach, Don’t
I have heard the expression, “Those who can’t, Teach,” and even used it myself in the past. Now that I have taught, I might be inclined to smack the next person who uses this phrase in my presence.
When I came to the student center, I was told I would be teaching English classes. For the past few years, I have wanted to try this job, but I had thought I would be certified or trained before taking on a class full of impressionable foreigners…
“Are there any resources I can use or anyone I can ask for advice?” I inquired hopefully. I was pointed to the English teacher who just finished, another college student from the states. Her advice; play lots of games. “Well, it’s a start,” I thought. But somehow I knew I would run out of games for 3 hours a week, two classes, for four weeks.
Never before have I been so thankful for the Internet. Type in ‘ESL resources’ and Google will guide you to the Holy Grail of ideas, theories and games!
I am also indebted to my students for the mercy and patience they showed me when I changed my mind because an activity was boring or when I completely didn’t have enough things to do. Often I just drilled them on their week so they would practice the language.
One of my favorite classes went more like a girls café outing. I had three girls in my class that day, and we started out with an activity about the Olympics and the vocabulary usually used for the Olympics. We played a game with our vocabulary and talked about our sports aspirations.
Then we transitioned to talking about names and the meanings behind names. Girls don’t stay on one topic for long. We discussed common Ukrainian names and the meaning behind them and then we started talking about what we would name our children. All of a sudden one girl asked what color of wedding dress we wanted and we all burst out laughing. Somehow we had gotten from the Olympics to marriage. We were such girls. The reverie was short as we discussed the pros and cons of waiting to get married and the girls shared their dreams of careers and various lifestyles. I looked down at my watch and realized we were way past the end of our class time. By the time the girls left, we had a 2 and a half hour class.
These are moments I cherish, in the midst of the learning process.
As I prepared to leave, one of my students and I took a walk around L’viv to see some of the churches and sites I hadn’t gotten to. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed spending some last moments with sweet-spirited Halya. When we finished our walk and split ways, Halya smiled and said, “Thank you for ‘Oh my Goodness,’ and ‘Gotcha,” and for being my teacher.” I laughed so hard. She had picked my slang up along the way.
Perhaps I didn’t turn out perfect English speakers, but I had a lot of fun hanging out with Ukrainian college students and passing on my bad habits. We now have a bunch of Ukrainians who can put “Ya’ll” in its proper place.
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