My teaching philosophy
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Why did I decide to become an ESL teacher?
When I was at the high school level, English was my weakest subject and I hated it. At the end of secondary four, I went to sell chocolate bars to my secondary three English teacher and he offered me the opportunity to participate to a three-month English immersion. A few months later, I was on a ferry to Saltspring Island, a small island in British Columbia. The first week, I had a rough time because I could not understand anything that people said to me. Eventhough it was hard, it became very motivating for me to learn English because I needed it in my everyday life. I realized that there is a culture standing behind every language and I was curious to discover it. Finally, I decided to become an English teacher to show my future students the importance that English has in our society and I want to motivate them as much as possible for them to like it, because I hated it myself.
My teaching philosophy can be illustrated by Thomas Carruthers' quote: "A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary." In fact, I believe that teaching is not only about theory and developing competencies: it is also about teaching students how to become autonomous. I try as much as possible to help students to develop metacognitive strategies. It is my way to make sure that part of my teaching will remain useful in the long run.
When I was at the high school level, English was my weakest subject and I hated it. At the end of secondary four, I went to sell chocolate bars to my secondary three English teacher and he offered me the opportunity to participate to a three-month English immersion. A few months later, I was on a ferry to Saltspring Island, a small island in British Columbia. The first week, I had a rough time because I could not understand anything that people said to me. Eventhough it was hard, it became very motivating for me to learn English because I needed it in my everyday life. I realized that there is a culture standing behind every language and I was curious to discover it. Finally, I decided to become an English teacher to show my future students the importance that English has in our society and I want to motivate them as much as possible for them to like it, because I hated it myself.
My teaching philosophy can be illustrated by Thomas Carruthers' quote: "A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary." In fact, I believe that teaching is not only about theory and developing competencies: it is also about teaching students how to become autonomous. I try as much as possible to help students to develop metacognitive strategies. It is my way to make sure that part of my teaching will remain useful in the long run.