My teaching philosophy
When I was a child and went to school, in the 2nd grade we started learning English, as far as I remember, I could not understand anything, it was very difficult for me. I had bad marks and my parents decided that It would be better if I took some English courses. So, during 8 years I was learning English, of course, it helped me to improve my skills, I had good marks and passed the exam with a good mark. However, after some time I realized, that I have been learning English about 8 years and still I did not speak it perfectly. When I was looking for some additional courses I could not find anything suitable for me. I was looking for courses where I would practice English, where I would talk a lot, where I would be taught in an interesting way, without just lecturing. Unfortunately, I have not find anything... When I have graduated from the Moldova State University, with a degree in Philology of Spanish and English languages, I decided to come up with my own English course where I will add everything I could not find in other courses. So, my goal is to teach students in an interesting way, with a lot of practice, so they would not waste 8 years to learn English.
My short term goal is to keep my students motivated and help them with their challenges. My long term goal is to help the students to fall in love with English, I want them to learn with enthusiasm, and I am one hundred percent sure, that in this case my students will have amazing results. I hope, that I will manage to realize my goals and I will help people to expand their limits.
The most relatable approach to my way to teach are Communicative Approach and Affective Humanistic Approach. I usually use Communicative Approach and it appeals to me more than others, because my students are teenagers and adults who want to learn all 4 skills: Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. In my opinion, if the students' goal is to acquire English and to speak it perfectly, then all these 4 skills must be improved. As well, the second approach which is relatable to me is Affective Humanistic Approach, I do really care how the students feel on my lessons. I consider, that if you are relaxed and feel comfortable, it is much easier to process the information. I try my lessons to be interesting, funny and the atmosphere should always be positive. I want my students to come to my lessons, not because the have to, but because they want, they feel good and they are interested in learning English. I consider, that these two approaches help me to improve my students' skills and knowledge, they help me to motivate my students and make my lessons interesting and productive.
I try to make my lessons interesting and various, and some techniques help me with that. In lesson planning I usually use warm-up and 80/20 techniques. In the beginning of the lesson very important thing is to gain students attention, the students have to stay focused on the lesson. The 5-10 minutes warm-up help me to recall previous theme and help me to gain students attention. The warm-up I try to make interesting, I can invent a game or a quiz and students are carried away from the first minutes. The second technique I use is 80/20, in my opinion, when we are talking about language learning, the most important thing is practice. I always try to divide the lesson into parts, one part is explaining new information by the teacher, it takes 20% of the lesson time. The second part is students' acquisition, it takes 80% of the lesson. There are some activities which help students to practice the language. Firstly, I prepare the task, which students have to accomplish in groups, it provides them the experience in team work. Secondly, I provide guided practice where I encourage students to talk more, and I'm always open for questions and help. Thirdly, independent practice help me to understand if the student did not understand something, and what things we have to work on.
For students' motivation, I try to show and explain them, that their results depend on their hard work and their goals are achievable. I plan my lessons to be interesting for my students, and I want my students to come to the class because they see the results and they want to work more and more.
I use warm language on my lesson, because I think, how we present the information and how we communicate with students as well is very important. When I was a students, I remember some teachers discouraged the desire to learn only because of their behavior and communication. I do not want to make the same mistake and that is why I always use warm language in my classes.
I usually evaluate my students once a week, I ask them to prepare the presentation or an essay, as well I can prepare a test, where the student will need to use all studied information. Assessment is very important for me, because I want to understand what the student have understood and what we have to work on, as well it shows the progress of student's learning process.
