NOT A TEACHER
Hello,
May I share some thoughts?
1. Keep studying grammar and/or literature. If you love grammar and /or literature, your students will sense it.
2. Prepare meticulously. If you have an 8 o'clock class, be there at 7 in order to prepare everything down to the
last detail. (Remember those teachers who walked into the class at 8 a.m. with the students and then wasted time
preparing themselves to teach?)
3. Be very humble. Here is some advice that I once read: "There is less than three-tenths of the language we can
claim to have some knowledge about. Be sure not to blow these three-tenths or to bluff on the other seven-tenths."
***
4. Remember that teaching is a two-way street. Enthusiastic (and well-behaved) students + enthusiastic (and well-prepared) teacher = successful class. Here is a proverb that I once read. It is reportedly Japanese. I read it in a Spanish translation. Here is my bad translation: "One day with a good teacher is better than 1,000 days of conscientious self-study." ****
5. If you can find the right school with the right students, I am sure that you will be a brilliant success.
Teaching, IMHO, is not a job; it is a calling.
HAVE A NICE DAY!
*** Professor Kun Chang. [He may have been referring to Chinese, but -- IMHO -- his advice applies to all languages.]
**** [In case my translation is wrong, here is the Spanish: "Un solo dia con un buen maestro es mejor que mil dias de estudio concienzudo."]