Semi Park

My Ideal English Teacher

 

  It might be easier to come up with bad English teachers than ideal teachers. Even though I have learned English over than 10 years meeting a number of teachers, I can hardly come up with ideal English teachers. However, among a very few of good teachers, I know someone who deserves to be called an ideal teacher. Her name is Makiko who is a teacher at American English Program in California State University Eastbay. I was not a student of her class, but an observer as a student of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) certificate program. On the first day of the class, I was disappointed that she was a non-native speaker. She had strong Japanese accent and seemed too lenient. She just let students go. For example, she did not even say anything when they came to class late or did not do their homework. I criticized her teaching on my observation papers saying she didn't have any passion. However, as the time went by, I realized students in the class worked harder than in any other classes. I could see they were so motivated, participated, and even confident. Even though the majority of students were Asian, who were more likely to be shy, they were so active in the class. I had to find out what made them to be like that. It was Makiko's respect toward her students. She did not speak a lot, giving a lot of chances for students to speak aloud. Then, she did not correct their mistakes. She always appreciated each student's participation. She also built up the relationship with her students out of class too. She liked to talk about what's going on their lives and ask about any difficulties to follow her class. Those things made students feel comfortable with her and free in the class not being afraid of making mistakes. One day, I asked her how she knew students would work hard with that freedom. She said the time when she was a student influenced her teaching style. She learned English for a long time in Japan and America, and she was one of shy students.  She said if her teacher gave any kind of pressure on her, she got anxious so she couldn't study well. Because of that, she became a teacher who respects students rather than having authorities. It was completely right. Over 5 different classes that I was observing at the same time, the class was the best. My last observation paper was totally different than the first one. I wrote "When teachers respect students, students respect the teachers and that is how good English classes are made!"

  

 

                                  

                                                                                 How to obtain driver license

 

  Even though people think everyone passes driving test at once, it's not true. One of my friends took the test for three times. What was wrong with her? First, she took only two weeks get it. She didn't have time so she wanted to finish in a short time. She practiced driving every day for more than four hours including weekend. It was the first mistake that she made. Don't do it! Since driving requires a lot of skills and they are trained in that short time. Of course she couldn't pass the driving skill test. If you are really busy, find a place which is really close to your house instead of taking such an intensive practice. You can practice for fewer hours for more days. Next, except the driving skill test, you have paper test about driving rules. Don't spend too much time on the second test. If you are not a dumb, study for about five hours. You can easily pass it. Some people study so hard on the test and pass it, but there's no prize. Once your score is above 70, it doesn't matter whether you get the maximum or not. Spend time on Practicing driving instead of the easy part. The last thing that I can advise you is "don't hurry". A lot of people make mistakes at the last step. It was the thing my friend failed. She was so confident and careless after going through all the steps. Then, she didn't step on a line which she had to pass. She should have gone farther but she was too excited thinking she's done. She got zero score for that, so she unfortunately had to do it over from the beginning part after a month later. Take your time! If you don't make those mistakes, you will easily get a driver license.

---

멋진 연인부터 글로벌 네트위크까지! 윈도우 라이브 메신저가 도와드립니다!