My Teaching Philosophy

My Teaching Philosophy

Every time I’m next to a new internship experience, there is a question that comes to my mind and it is related to how I’m going to teach in the near future as an L2 teacher, but my answer to this very same question has changed through all the things I’ve seen and learned during my time at the university.

The first time I got into the English Teaching Programme my idea of an L2 teacher was that no matter what I had to be, firstly, someone respectful and responsible with the kids I was going to be in charge of. Nowadays this idea has not changed, in fact, it has become stronger since now my idea of an effective second language teacher is strongly connected to a leadership role. Consequently, for me, a teacher has to be like a role model for students on what is known as a consistent person who is coherent with the things that he/she says and does, because only in that way students will see him/her as an authority within the classroom. In this sense, I’m not saying that authority teachers have to act as a dictator but as someone who is an important part in the construction of students’ integrity, as it is being respectful about others or being mature enough to take over their actions.

In addition, another element that I consider that is inherent to an effective second language teacher, is the way on which he/she prepares and gives his/her lessons, as it is something very important to have into account at the moment of teaching. Therefore, by preparing his/her lessons, the teacher will know what methods or strategies will be more effective for the content that is going to be later seen. For this reason, it is necessary to get closer to students in order to know them and understand how they think and what their necessities are. By doing so, teachers will be building a relationship based on trust and respect and also, covering the learning process of the students with special needs. 

Having said that, not all students have the same way of learning and studying a new language could be something very difficult for someone who has not been encouraged to do it. So, from my experience, I can tell that if a student is not positively encouraged by the teacher to learn a new language, it is possible that he/she will be not willing to do it. It is for this reason that we, as teachers, must innovate in the way we teach and also we have to work with different activities to reinforce the different abilities as they are speaking, listening, reading and writing.

There are many ways to achieve a meaningful learning process, nonetheless, for me, one of the most effective ones is using experiences that are common for students to face at their age, hence these situations will be something with which they will feel identified thus they will talk or write about them from what they already know. 

Another effective strategy is that, as a new language is something that is gradually achieved, it needs to be taught in a progressive way. So, giving different tasks and increasing their complexity little by little, will help students to improve their vocabulary and gradually internalize their continuous exposure to L2.

And finally, all this is accompanied by how the teacher gives the class. If he/she is dynamic and extroverted, students will feel more interested in participating of the class, but if this is not the case, we have to try to base our classes on the way students learn and adapting our strategies to their needs instead of expecting them to adapt to the way we teach, which can be very routine and monotonous.

This is my teaching philosophy and how I expect to be in the near future, as a teacher who is really into helping students to learn a new language, by encouraging them to develop new skills and continue practicing to become better on the acquisition of an L2.