It's a great pleasure to host another wonderful person on my blog. Anastasia used to be one of my very first students. She has always been diligent, hard-working and enthusiastic learner. Now she is all that as well as a passionate educator and a loving mother. Here is her post on her first time teaching:
To be honest, I don’t remember details of the first time I entered a
classroom. I do remember that I had just graduated from the School of English
(Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) and found a job at a foreign language
centre. I mainly taught grammar at all levels, from beginners to C2 level.
Although I had chosen to become a teacher in order to make lessons more
interesting to learners, my first thoughts were to do the basics so as to
“survive” having to deal with 10 children at the same time! The number sounds
small, but this isn’t how you see it when you are totally inexperienced!
“The basics” meant that I explained the relevant grammar rule and then
proceeded with exercises and lots of homework. That seems to be enough, right?
That’s what I thought then, but completely changed my mind a few years later.
Incorporating engaging activities that make learning meaningful has been an
integral part of my teaching since then. Every year I think about my learners’
needs and interests and try to renew my creative activities.
Anastasia Pistopoulou
is a BA holder of English Language and Literature (Aristotle University of
Thessaloniki). She has been working as a permanent English teacher at secondary
schools in Greece since 2004 and since 2013 she has been teaching at the 2nd
Vocational Senior Highschool (EPA.L.) of Amaliada.