SHARING OUR BEST EXPERIENCES

My name is Libby Selman and I've had a great career for forty years in teaching English to speakers of other languages. I must have passed on my enthusiasm - two of my three sons are doing the same job (but I don't know if they'll stick it for so long....)



You'll have noticed a common and annoying feature of older people - that is, they want to tell you about their life experiences. You could just doze through it and say yes, mm, interesting, at the right times....! But that's not my aim. Can we share our best and most productive experiences in the profession? (and, yes, forget the rest - forget the wet Mondays, intolerable Directors, shameful exposures of our ignorance etc etc ).


The picture is of my husband and me beside the priest at an amazing underground church in Lalibela in Ethiopia a few weeks ago. This was on holiday but I had already had a year working in Ethiopia and plan to return to work next year. To me, one of the best aspects of the job is the opportunity to travel - and / or to teach people from many different national and language backgrounds. It seems an incredibly rich life that we can have. But how does it feel for those who teach English to speakers of their own mother tongue? What are the best aspects for you?


We're not always travelling - home is a friendly terrace house in Newcastle (the north east of England, the friendliest bit) where we often have parties for friends and students from many countries.


Here's the buffet from the last party when Maria, a Greek friend, celebrated her PhD.

And one member of the family - Phoebe the cat, the family totem - never travels!































POSTING 2


The best things that happened in last year's work

What were you doing last year?

Last year and the previous one were a wonderful opportunity for me to work in Romania - the European Union project "Access to Education for Disadvantaged Groups" focused on in-service work with teachers, encouraging inclusive and interactive approaches to teaching. The idea is that these approaches should help teachers to include Roma pupils or those with special learning needs. My colleagues and I planned and delivered training courses to introduce and model these approaches and then made visits to all the participating areas so teachers could show us their developments.


I love the country - I'd been visiting most years since 1991 to teach short courses in universities - and this year I had the chance to see so much. Some teachers, despite poor physical conditions in the schools, (such as unbearably cold classrooms in the January snow) made their classes lively, active and participative, welcoming to all their pupils. We could spread and share the good ideas and activities we saw. (And warn about less positive experiences).


Some schools were very remote and not used to visitors - even local drivers got lost trying to take us there, and snowdrifts or mudbath tracks blocked us at different times of year - but these schools appreciated the interest. It was great when one could genuinely praise a teacher for doing the job so well. Two ladies, who had evidently been teaching for many years, hugged me and wept because they were praised. (I don't think I would myself, but it was moving because they cared so much.)
This is the track to one of the remotest schools. In the break at this school the kids were delighted because there was nearly a serious accident by the schoolyard - a horse-cart driver (the usual transport) was almost thrown when his horse bolted; he stopped it skilfully and the kids loked a bit disappointed.
I have millions of great photos of children but I didn't ask for anyone's permission to share them so I'm sorry you just get landscapes instead!


And this is the town of Iasi with its elegant theatre and parks, a great place to come back to after a long day in the countryside.















What about your experiences of last year? What comes to mind as the most satisfying?















POSTING 3

What's good at the moment?
What are you doing now?

After the Romania project finished in September I have had a gap before the next work starts in Ethiopia again (February 2007) which has been partly filled in an an attractive way by the ICT in the Classroom online course, partly by examining and moderating for Trinity College London and partly by mentoring for the Refugee Service. I had worked as a teacher with asylum seekers and refugees before and so volunteered to do this and received training, because it is as much befriending as teaching. It is so good to work with just one person at a time, to focus exactly on what that one person wants to know. When I was training teachers we always talked to them about Needs Analysis for learners new to them - but it's a bit unrealistic with large groups and set syllabi! In fact, I accuse myself of hypocrisy because I preached needs analysis but I had already planned lessons as if everyone had similar needs...
So one to one work is the perfect reparation. To know that my "mentee" who came yesterday is interested in the names of spices and cooking methods and recipes gave me the basis of a personalised lesson that was very rewarding. Of course, she taught me too as her cooking methods are better! Just as in earlier weeks she's made me look afresh at the market because she wants to buy different things than I go for. It's teaching at a very simple level, but so pleasant to tailor activities so precisely. I haven't got a suitable picture yet but later I'll put in a photo of the Christmas cake we're making!

And you? What's good at the moment? Anything new or unexpected?