Miguel Angel Rivera Calderon (Mike)
Philosophy.
I
am very grateful person because I studied the profession which I always wanted
to have in my past, in my present and in my future as well. I had not the opportunity to learn English
while I was studying in primary education, in high school it was a little
different, and finally at third level education I combined my passions: The Teaching
and English. Before graduating from university
I began to work in a private primary school, next year I got my degree and I taught
English in the high school where I studied. Since those days I have been working in different
private and public places. Living here or abroad my teaching philosophy always
goes with me. All learners are
individual, their learning experience is like “boards”, and we as teachers must
provide them with “the right materials” for making them write their best
“English learning stories”.
My History.
I discovered English from a friend
who lived in my neighborhood. Lucho disappeared from there for a lot of time,
and when he backed to Calceta brought a new language with him. “It is spoken abroad” he said, but he
never could write it; many times I invited him for teaching him to write but he
never came. At the beginnings of 1990s,
teaching English in Calceta schools was strange and complicated, in those
times, teachers never taught more than five notebook papers for year. It was frustrating for me as student, but I
understood that learning is not only teachers’ matters but is it also
students´.
My first learning was very simple
and traditional, just isolated vocabulary and alone phrases, so when I began to
teach, I promised myself to teach English in the way I would have liked to
learn. I worked very hard on my
knowledge, for example, I remember reading a researching about Stephen
Krashen´s theories (Krashen S. , 1985), it was about the input hypothesis and
second language acquisition, in that moment I understood what my friend Lucho
got living in US was unconscious. Some
of my students also had the similar situation, so I worked for increasing their
learning in a formal way, I used their prior knowledge to meet them better, background,
families and connecting these facts with new inputs, they understood the sessions
of classes, they did activities and learnt better; social constructivism took
part and according to Vygotsky´s theory of learning (Vygotsky, 1978) who said that interaction between
teacher and learner attaches a great meaning to languages activities, and this
constructivist view will make the learner construct his/her internal learning
world better to increase it just in the right path.
My Teaching Philosophy.
I believe that my students are going
to remember me not only for my name, but for the responsibility of a good
teaching and learning process done with and for them. I like thinking about it,
and as Walt Disney said "I always
like to look on the optimistic side of life”, even though I think I am more
realistic these days is a good utopia for my soul to have these kind of
thoughts; it is because I am an idealistic, and I am thinking all the time in
how can improve my teaching and how students can learn better; it is not just
about English but is it with all the subjects and I want they have their best
living experiences in their lives.
I prepare my classes according to
the curriculum and guidelines which Ministry of Education gives us to the
English Teachers who work in different levels of English teaching; but I always
feel motivated to add my part in my planning such as activities and new
methodology which for sure will make the students engage to the class and make
their learning becomes a long term learning.
My role as teacher is being very
active and confident with students and community. Many times I have been a
doctor, a physiologist, a father/mother or even a friend. I try to create a
comfortable environment in class in order to reduce the anxiety to get the best
results in students´ English making their motivation increase to improve their self-esteem. According to (Krashen S. , 2013) who states that
language acquisition is directly impacted by the anxiety of the learner; if they
learners have low self-esteem, they will not consider themselves as members of
the group and badly could produce and adequate output. I remember a class when I prepared an English
performance for an artistic fair, students were really nervous, they never did
that kind of job before; I invited their parents to come school and I began to
train with them, when students saw parents´ acting in English without any prior
knowledge they felt capable to do all the job, and learn the scripts
immediately. They understood that
predisposition for learning is the best battery to accomplish our goals.
I am an autodidact
person. I strongly believe that all
people who wants to get something has the possibility to get it, we only need
the predisposition to reach our goal. I
became in an autodidact for my close friend Julio who is studying his PHD in
York, UK. He is the kind of person who
always is learning new things, a few days ago he wrote some messages in
Portuguese, I think it is a little soon to learn that language but I will put
it in my bucket list.
I love to teach new strategies
to students, I love students try new learning and roles, debates, conferences,
round tables, conversation clubs. Spreading English is the mission to
accomplish. I am very pleased for
increasing my knowledge and preparation that is why I am studying in this
Master program which I loved since the minute one; and I am trying to do my
best possible because this will be a step in my professional growth. I want to
be involved in issues concerning to English teaching and learning.
Cited Literature
Krashen Stephen (1985) The Input
Hypothesis. Issues and Implications.
Krashen Stephen (2013) Second
Language Acquisition Theory. Applications and some Conjectures.
Vygotsky Lev S. (1978). The Mind in
Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press.
