Gabriella, Hungary
Hello, my name is Gabriella. I teach in Budapest and some of my classes are refugees from the war in the Ukraine. Ukraine Space is an organisation set up by Rachel Appleby and Tim Bender as a response to the war in Ukraine. We are a group of English teachers volunteering to help Ukrainian mothers and their kids taking refuge in Hungary.
I started working with my lovely beginner group in February, 2023. At first I started using methodology I normally use with my secondary school students at the Budapest-Fasori Lutheran High School.
I soon found out that it simply does not work with my insecure and traumatised mums, so I needed to adapt. I slowed down, threw the book away, forgot about using IT and introduced story-based teaching.
I have edited three all-time favourites so far: we started with The Enormous Turnip, then had The Three Little Pigs and now The Gruffalo is in focus to teach the present simple. While repeating chunks of language multiple times – tales are excellent for this – we draw the characters and cut them out to be used in gap-fill activities, for example. After lots of practice – and if they feel like it – we finally act out the story. It is so much fun – and it finally works!
I cannot predict how long we can work together. But as long as they are in Hungary, I will do my very best to support them in any way I can. So will all my fantastic colleagues at Ukraine Space.
Patricia, Italy
At my university the education department organises workshops which give students hands-on practice applying methodology and language, although they are only 25 hours in duration. Usually these students have a difficult time with English.
What I think is important is getting these student-teachers to overcome their fear of using English in the classroom through such techniques as storytelling, as English teaching in primary school still relies much on the use of coursebooks and limited amounts of language exposure. If teachers are scared about increasing their pupils’ exposure to authentic material because they themselves have a limited knowledge of English, children’s progress will remain limited.
So, focusing on storytelling in workshops can help them see the importance of using authentic children’s books such as The Hungry Caterpillar to teach colours, food and numbers or Rainbow Fish to teach colours, sharing and diversity. It is done in a way which does not require teachers to have a perfect knowledge of English.
During the workshops, the first four sessions look at storytelling techniques in general, as well as genres, such as fairy stories and more modern books like The Hungry Caterpillar. Students are encouraged to analyse the books to explore features concerning skills, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and cultural references.
As part of their final presentation, in groups, they choose a different book, prepare a presentation about it, and also create some activities for their teaching colleagues to do – so they can actually see how their ideas work. Also, rather than just having them show their classmates the book, I encourage them to read it aloud in different ways, for example, using different voices, singing the words, or performing it as a rap.
Tasneem, Oman
My name is Tasneem Al Tubi and I teach English as a foreign language in the Sultanate of Oman. At the beginning of my teaching career, I used to teach Cycle two students (Grades 5–10). After a while, I transferred to a school that has Cycles one and two (Grades 1–10). At that time, I had to teach Grade one for the first time. I do not deny that I was very hesitant about how to deal with Young Learners. When I entered the Grade one classroom for the first time, I realised that we all had something in common. This was my first experience teaching Grade one, which coincided with their first experience of going to school, so we were in the same boat.
One of the students in the class caught my attention as this little student had speech and hearing difficulties. He was also very chaotic and hyperactive. I was thinking profoundly about how I would deal with such a case. I can recall very well that one time I asked all the students to do an activity in the book and, as usual, that little boy kept moving and refused to do the activity. I smiled and sat next to him and I grabbed his book and said, ‘Oh, I need your help, Champ. I don’t know how to do this task’. He came close to me and held the pen and drew a line that had nothing to do with the lesson. However, I surprised him with applause, encouragement and a smile. I said, ‘Wow, excellent! You are a hero – a great start, you saved your teacher’. For a moment, his facial expressions changed visibly as he stood stunned, staring at me for a moment.
Since then, he started trying. Every time, he insisted on learning and trying to participate and get involved. Indeed, he was not perfect, but he made impressive progress day by day. Whenever he learnt a new word in English, I found him in front of my desk early in the morning with a beautiful smile wider than the globe. He used to hug me and then tell me what he’d memorised, for example, the word ‘car’. My reaction was smiling and clapping him. I kept telling him every day: ‘You are a super boy and a brave hero’. I was very pleased with my hero student and the progress he was making in learning English. I was captivated and proud of his English language level, which was much better than in the rest of the subjects.
I believe that being patient with students, encouraging them and believing in them will lead to changing them for the better and getting them to be autonomous learners.
‘Make a difference to someone else’s life by inspiring them.’ – Tasneem Al Tubi
Georgii, Georgia
My name is Georgii Bar-Sliva, I hold a BSc in Linguistics and a CELTA Pass B. I´m an online freelance teacher of English and Spanish. I collaborate with different language schools teaching business English to corporate clients, and general English and Spanish to individual students. Next year I plan to finish my DELTA and apply for an MSc in Applied Linguistics.
When meeting students for the first time, I always start with a joke that I’m Georgii from Georgia: a state, not a state – no, wait, a country not a state. I’m new to ELT, though I hold a bachelor’s degree in linguistics from a well-known Russian university. Two years ago, to refresh my teaching practices, I passed the CELTA with B – some achievement, which I was proud of. Now, I work as a freelance teacher of English and Spanish, teaching adults and collaborating with some language schools.
My journey to ELT is a mundane story of a white-collar worker who got disappointed about building an enterprise career in a family business. My motivation at the time rested on a stereotypical picture of a man who does ‘a real job’ and earns ‘real money’, fully providing for his family. And what can be more real than filling in Excel charts with export figures for March?
For a long time I considered the foreign languages I knew (English and Spanish) as tools for communication, not something you could teach others and make your career from. However, appetite comes with eating and, as soon as I gave about ten lessons, I realised that I´m capable of teaching languages, and, more importantly, I felt that it could become my vocation.
The pandemic allowed me to start working from my country house without having to constantly commute elsewhere. Being shy and socially awkward, I was well protected by the computer screen. It was a quiet and measured life but the war started – and on 24 February 2022 I found myself as a language teacher in exile.
Luckily, my professional life hasn´t changed a lot and I still do what I did. The pandemic has helped digitalise many of us, and I wasn´t an exception. The war, however, speeds things up, and this year I plan to take a distance DELTA course to improve my knowledge and employability.
If there could be a takeaway from this story, it is the following: in the long run, it doesn’t matter what you do in life if it brings you joy and doesn’t harm others. It took me five years to realise that I’d be glad to devote my life to ELT and education. I know that in this profession there are not so many men, so, for those male educators who are in doubt, I believe that we’ve made the right choice. Money is important, but not more important than meaning in our lives.
