A change to my study program

 Change to my study program


At university, we had a lot, but I mean, a lot of theoretical classes. Language, phonetics, literature, philosophy (only an introduction, mind you), Latin (!), etc, which I thought were interesting and enjoyed. However, sometimes I thought ‘how is this going to help me teach?’ Then, when I had my methodology classes, things became clearer in that sense. However, there was still a good deal of theory involved. I think too much time was devoted to that and not enough to practice.


Regarding facilities, well, it was a public university, so there were 150 of us students in an enormous room and we could barely hear our teachers. That makes me think of the way they taught at the time, mostly through lectures, i.e. the teacher would stand up front and speak for ever, there wasn’t much practical work in class.

Having said that, years later, after I got an international certification as an English teacher, I realized that what I’d learned in my time at university was actually helpful, since I new the language well enough and the other subjects had helped my understanding of the world. That was  a perfect complement to my certification, which was mostly about methodology and taught me not to lecture and try to make my classes as active as possible for my students. A great match, I think.

Comentarios

  1. Christell26 de noviembre de 2023 a las 13:38

    It's good that you knew how to take the things that didn't convince you and change them. And it is true that students understand better when they have to participate in classes.

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  2. Jorge Cáceres26 de noviembre de 2023 a las 21:09

    I think that active classes are a very good way to keep the atention of the students. It's amazing to read the process of how a student turn into a teacher, and can relate some of those things nowadays like the "I don't know how this subject will help me on this... or that", but it's part of the whole process I guess.

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  3. Catalina Ogaz27 de noviembre de 2023 a las 10:54

    I believe that large numbers of students in a classroom can certainly affect the quality of teaching and interaction with teachers. However, there is always something to be learned despite the circumstances.

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  4. Blog Engineering (Joaquin´s Version)27 de noviembre de 2023 a las 17:31

    You understood in the best way how to take a class, and this thanks to the fact that you put yourself in the place of "How would I like to have classes taken?". And that, believe me, the students appreciate it a lot.

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  5. Lars Petersen28 de noviembre de 2023 a las 18:41

    Without a doubt you learned a lot. You are a very good teacher. It is good that we are not a large group, and that you incorporate relational dynamics in your classes. I can't imagine a Latin class with 149 other classmates. Maybe I would fall asleep.

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  6. Karla28 de noviembre de 2023 a las 20:20

    How nice it is to be able to teach a language that connects the world

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