You have an MBA... hmmm, good luck teaching English.

Thursday, March 5... Welcome back to school, how was your summer? Yes, that's right, that dreaded phrase - "First week of school" - is back in my vocabulary. I was riding the bus today (public trans, not school bus) and thinking of how many times I've said that phrase - and the horrible feelings that usually follow. Now it's different. Now I am a teacher, an English teacher, and my lack of proper teaching credentials has everyone at work/school worried about me.

First, the teachers are worried that my lack of the Spanish language will evoke some misbehavior from the students. I can understand and agree that making fun of a teacher in a language he or she doesn't know is a tempting proposition. As a result, I've been brainstorming about possible solutions - the best so far is to introduce a rule stating that speaking in Spanish, good or bad, is not allowed in class. My other solution was to learn Spanish in two weeks, so if you have any suggestions please let me know... school starts March 5th by the way.

Second, many teachers are skeptical of my ability to manage a classroom. Since I have little teaching experience, I don't have a degree in teaching, and my only known English expertise comes from the fact that I'm a native english speaker, I can see how they've come to that conclusion. I've also heard the horror stories about former Americans coming into this school and getting "eaten alive" trying to teach English. My rebuttal to the skeptics regarding this topic is not so easy to answer. I'll work on that answer when classes start; I have some interesting ideas but I want to test my abilities first before I tell everyone my theories.

And finally, just because someone performs the same job for 25 years doesn't necessarily mean that person is good at what they do. Conversely, simply because someone is in their first year of teaching doesn't mean they don't know how to teach. The implication that tenure has a direct relationship with one's ability is a debatable topic. Granted, experience can be one of the best teaching tools and I absolutely admire, respect, and learn from those with experience (especially those people willing to share and teach... I know countless people, I hope to be one of those people one day). But I also know that a person's ignorance and comfort with the routine can restrain creativity and prevent students/subordinates/whomever from reaching their full potential. Of course, this is only my opinion... and I am still a young, inexperienced person, so think what you will. Anyway, I'm getting too deep for this blog/email. But, you can see that introducing me into this new teaching life has brought up new challenges that I'm excited to face.

We'll see how it goes on Thursday... we'll see if the phrase, "First week of school" still brings with it those horrible feelings. I doubt it.

Sincerely,

Profesor Brayan