ESL Teacher

I love it when students write me farewell letters when they leave my class – I guess in my teaching job here in Australia about one in ten students who leave write me a card or a note before they return to their country. I got one from a Korean nicknamed George today, and like most of them, it was full of grammatical errors (oh! Did I teach him nothing?!) but also really full of heart. Some of the highlights:

When I came to school first time, I couldn’t understand what someone asked me. I said Yes or No, like stupid … Actually I didn’t talk so much during the study, because I am a man of reflection mind. So sometimes I made a mistake, sorry. I will go back to my country next week … I will never forget a memory that I spent time in Perth.

And for me, that’s what teaching is all about – sure, I hope that my students learn English grammar and vocabulary and can get a better job because they have better language skills, and all that – but above all, I really hope that they enjoy my classes and create some good memories. I figure that if students are happy and feel good in the classroom environment, then that’s the most important condition for them to actually learn something. For students who leave their own country to study English, it’s usually a really big decision – this student, for example, had been away from Korea for eleven months – and it’s a life-changing thing – something I’m really glad to be a part of.

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