Philosophy of Teaching

Stephanie Arroyave Gil

http://stephanieenglishteacher.weebly.com/

Being an English-Spanish teacher is an arduous job, because it encompasses not only the
teaching of content, but also the integral education of students. I am aware of this due to I
remember when I was at school and my teachers were committed, from all aspects, with students
e.g., they had to prepare, assess, assign and correct tasks; give feedback, coordinate parents and
teachers meetings, research, and so on. What can move someone to be a language teacher if it is
not passion? This is the main essence, which embraces love, courage and a complex surrender to
the learners; being a teacher is a gratifying lifestyle, by virtue of that every day I have to be the
first political role model to train citizens that are able to impact and transform positively society.

Likewise, one of the most paramount aspects that I have observed as a teacher is that we are the
hope of students; we are who motivate daily students lives, and lead their goals and projects.
That is, we are like their second parents. There are in our hands are the future managers, doctors,
engineers, chefs, artists, singers, etc. They have to cope with multiple challenges of life, and
nowadays students are afraid of making mistakes. Therein lies my role as a teacher, because it is
common to make mistakes, but how do we learn from them? I have to teach students that making
mistakes is not something wrong; it is an opportunity of change.

In this sense, I believe that education is the vehicle for building a more democratic society, for
understanding our realities. This can only be possible if I as a teacher grasp the commitment of
educating not only in content, but also in virtue. That means to ask myself an interesting
question: which is the motivation I provide to students for learning? I must teach to love the
learning, more than teach to pass an exam. This issue has to do with promoting autonomous
learning, how teacher orientations motivate the students to learn beyond the classroom? In the
same line of thought, when students are autonomous they become critical people, with a political
perspective to contribute society.
One of the best strategies I can apply within the classroom is the cooperative and collaborative
work, being the former aimed at pursuing different goals by learners, but taking into account that
they offer help; the latter is aimed at achieving the same goal by learners; It is important to
clarify that vis--vis the two forms people help others. The project work is a methodology I can
use to apply the previous strategies, because it plays an important role in the construction of
knowledge in both avenues, individual and collective. This is a prominent strategy which ought
to take more place in classroom. Why? because my vocation of language training is focused on
teaching languages by means of my desire of building a bond of unity among different people
around the world. I believe that teaching and learning a language adequately helps students to
overcome the major barriers that arise through the forces of ethnocentrism. It is all summed up
in one thing, interculturality, conceived as a proposal that accepts the diversity through inclusion.
Everyone is different, everyone deserves respect. The classroom is the best place to foster this
value, and the dialogue as the vehicle for attaining it.

My teaching style comprises some specific characteristics such as flexibility, enthusiasm,

motivation, autonomy, creativity (to teach any content), curiosity (new projects, new ideas),
dialogue (when facing situations), patience, leadership, confidence, and mostly, I possess a sense
of trust of what students can do, I believe in their capacities, I believe that they can do everything
I propose for them.

On the one hand, it is important for me to recognize and to appreciate the students needs, how?
It happens when I have the capacity to know who they are. Thereupon, I can apply the most
significant methods and procedures considering their context. I like to use the suggestopedia and
the TPR because they enable me to reach and accomplish my teaching principles and goals I
mentioned before. These methods help students to improve their anxiety on learning an unknown
language. On the other hand, I can use other meaningful strategies such as the use of
technological tools to foster the communicative competencies; these tools can increase the
interest of students towards the language, because the class would become an innovative space to
learn. For instance, I have designed a WebQuest about music, which is designed to foster the
listening skill. I passionately believe in the multimodal proposals such as videos. I think they
encourage students to improve different skills.

I have had the experience of taking part in a hotbed of research on children literature and in a
program with a newspaper in which I am the workshop facilitator of the program Prensa
Escuela. The two projects have contributed to my personal and professional training, because
both of them are ways to engage students to different realities and ways to participate in the
construction of social dimensions. Being a teacher is the job in which I learn each day to think
how to be a better teacher and a better person in order to be the most inspiring for students.