Thursday, October 26, 2017

EFL TALKS Students' voices


I had taken part in 3 EFL Talks already, when somebody had the idea to organise another one, co-operating with TESOL Macedonia Thrace this time.
So, how could I not take part in such an initiative?
This time I was so very nervous, mostly because I was not alone in this.
The idea was to have my students talk with me. After all our subject was student's voices.
What I wanted to show, was that teachers are appreciated and how the role of the teacher should be.
So I have started with a small dialogue:

My students then started expressing their views. 
You can find Eleni Gkoura's article about the ideal teacher over here
Stergios Gkouras talked about his experiences with teachers:
"As a student of law, I would say that I have grown out of my school-self. I am much more confident and I have found something that I'm passionate about. That wouldn't have been possible though, if it weren't for some teachers.
They helped me overcome personal struggles and they showed me a career path that I never had thought of until that point. When a teacher helps you do things that you had never tried up until then. It gives you confidence, because you feel a sense of accomplishment and pride. And when you feel confident, it's easier for you to develop social skills and that's what happened with me. I had more courage to voice my opinion and stand up for somebody. And as I find out now, this is extremely helpful. 
You also start to see things from a more critical standpoint, as a good teacher's job is to always provide you with great counterpoints for everything you hear. 
Finally I believe that the greatest thing a teacher can be is a role model that can inspire you. I feel inspired by the way teachers conduct themselves, because when they are teaching and most importantly when they provide advice for our more personal problems, following the footsteps of our parents who did the same thing when we were younger"



Eleni Vasdoka continued with her thoughts about the annoying teacher:
"During my years as a student I have come across a variety of teachers. Some of them were really good, but some were very annoying. 
So what kind of a teacher is annoying?
  • The one who makes fun of his students. They belittle their students, they insult them and students feel very badly and lose their confidence.
  • The one who talks about his life. It's not possible to listen to the teacher talk about their lives all the time and not about the subject they re supposed to teach. 
  • The one who is very strict. We need to breathe and we are not a military camp.
  • The one who does all the talking himself in the classroom. It is very important  for us to discuss and express our opinion."
And then the "teacher" (myself) continued talking about the role of the teacher. You can find my whole post at the iTDi blog "Teacher - Learner - Supporter" over here.
One more article that we used was from the Wiziq blog, which you can find over here
All in all it was a wonderful experience, although I felt an inexplicable nervousness.

Preparing our EFL talk and drinking coffee

 Some students are part of my extended family so, it is always great to see them and find out what they are up to!
I would like to thank Rob Howard & EFL Talks and TESOL Macedonia Thrace for giving us the chance to present our thoughts.
Most of all I would like to thank my students for always being there for me and for taking part in every crazy thing I think of. I love you guys! Always!
You can see our 10-minute-EFLTalk below:


 

All the wonderful TESOL Macedonia Thrace colleagues who took part are here.
Until we meet again for a new educational adventure.

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