Aaron | Brigitte |
Our teacher taught our class entirely in French without exception, even those who were absolute beginners. It was so much more enjoyable as we were forced to communicate in French with an actual human being, rather than learn it as a list of grammar rules. At first we thought he’d arrived straight from abroad to teach us, only to discover he was actually “one of us”. He would even come in on Saturdays to work with us. And when I later became fluent in French, I knew I had mostly him to thank. | Our English teacher would always give us positive rather than negative feedback. She would encourage and congratulate us on our efforts, no matter how small the achievement. Corrections would be added subtly, in a way that we would remember, but without embarrassing us. In such a stimulating environment we learned to converse easily. She must have used various teaching methods because all her lessons seemed different and if we’d completed our work successfully, she’d let us do word dominos or charades. But we heard from other students that she was a different person when she taught Italian. |
Carl | Daphne |
We really liked our Spanish teacher. He was fresh out of university so I guess he paid attention when we said we hated being in the classroom. One day he dressed up as a pirate and took us treasure hunting, but corrected mistakes and added important vocabulary along the way. It resembled a field trip, minus the cost. He soon abandoned the whole classroom idea and made learning a game, encouraging us to dance or do practical assignments rather than grammar or literature. Then he entered a foreign exchange programme for teachers and it was back to grammar for us. | Most of our teachers preferred the traditional classroom environment. They were constantly at the blackboard and perhaps occasionally peering over our shoulders to criticise our work. Our Russian teacher was more personal (and in my opinion, more efficient). Maybe it was because he was Russian or because he also read literature at university. And we never spoke our native language in front of him. Anyway, he joined in our games, sat down with particular groups, and gave us encouraging pats on the back. We’d visit an exhibition occasionally, or go collect plants to make a scrapbook. He was great fun. |
Ella | Frank |
She was a sweet lady who’d previously taught Italian at university. She genuinely wanted to see us succeed, but her unconventional way of teaching tenses was confusing, along with endless worksheet activities that led to most people dozing off or staring out the window. She was the only one who seemed to be having a good time. Obviously, she didn’t have a clue about teaching high school students, but she’d give us sweets if we chose a book on our own and handed in a report about it. | I think my German teacher didn’t enjoy her job at all. Perhaps because she once used to work as a sociologist. During lessons we’d discuss cases, adjective agreement and many other things I simply didn’t care about. She said German grammar must be taught the old way. All I remember about my German classes in school was constantly being wrong, feeling stupid and suffering because the teacher emphasised my mistakes rather than focusing on my progress. This feedback made me hate a language that I could have actually learned to love in a more encouraging environment. |