Firstly, I must define what I consider to be a good teacher: Someone who is passionate about advancing the knowledge of their students, both English and the world in general. Someone who both makes the "ride" of learning English enjoyable and as little painful as possible (some pain is still inevitable in learning) whilst focusing on reaching the objectives that the student set out: be that passing an exam, increasing confidence in speaking or more.
For you to decide whether or not I'm indeed a suitable potential teacher for you, below I tried to break down what I think makes me a good teacher and why you may (or may not) want to become my student.
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Nearly 5 years of successful teaching
What started out as an experiment, turned out to be a job I'm passionate about and forgive me for my lack of modesty- naturally good at.
My students ( those who work hard) achieve the objectives they came to me for and I try to ensure that they go beyond these objectives, which tells me I must be doing something right! (English modesty :-) )
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A non – born bilingual: an insider and an outsider
I spent part of my childhood in Russia so moved over to England as a foreigner, but due to the relatively early age which I came at, hard work and persistance as well as English being spoken at home, I became bilingual and fully integrated into the culture; I know both the language and the culture both as an outsider as well as a local so I won't make the foreigner mistakes yet can be detached and analytical which is highly important for a teacher.
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Multi-lingual:
I've always been passionate about learning languages ( other than Russian and English, I speak and continue learning French, Spanish and Italian with Germa n still being on my mind) and I aim to transmit this passion for learning not only language, but about cultures, the world in general to my students.
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I'm always a student
I never stop learning be that languages, cooking, new yoga skills, and I know it's usually not easy to process new material, so I'm never feeling or acting arrogant about my knowledge and always very supportive with my students which I believe creates a positive environment necessary for both enjoyable and productive learning.
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My mind is highly logical yet creative:
I'm a trained accountant and a business graduate after all plus a linguist; I'm always trying to figure out new ways and methods to explain grammar as well as visual ways of explaning things to my students, though I must say my students questions an sometimes even suggestions can be an incredible source of inspiration for creation.
- I'm a perfectionist:
Good is simply not good enough for me. I aim to always advance and improve on my teaching methods to create the best possible experience for my students. I can say that very often my students needs have pushed me to try out new approaches, to investigate and explore methods and materials to ensure their journey to their objectives and beyond is both productive and enjoyable.
- I love making a difference:
I'm highly disatissfied when I don't see the student making a progress and I always try and adapt to change that and to ensure that progress does happen – when I see my students reach their objectives and beyond, I know I have managed to do my job well.
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To sum up, I must stress that by no means I consider myself a perfect teacher or a perfect teacher to all as one-size-ftis all strategy is a far cry from what my teaching philosophy is about. And most importantly, I wouldn't be a teacher at all without my wonderful students and it is them who inspire and make me the teacher that I am.
