Regrets, I’ve had a few, and all that. Actually, I don’t really consider these regrets, they were mistakes and errors of judgement on my part, for sure, but thanks to making them I learnt to be a slightly better teacher and businessperson. Here are three that I’m sharing here in the spirit of encouragement, to say we all make mistakes… don’t beat yourself up over them, learn from them and as long as you don’t repeat them, apologise (even if it’s just to yourself) and move on.
Falling asleep in one of my own lessons. I still cringe when I think about this. Let me set the stage: it was a Friday and it had been a long week. As a treat I’d had a generous lamb-keema-curry-naan set meal at the local Nepalese for lunch and I went straight to my one-to-one lesson with an older, advanced speaker. She always insisted on making me listen to her pronunciation (which was always fine) as she read from her long-winded answers to rather uninspiring essay questions that she’d set herself (you know the kind: dogs are better than cats; red is better than blue; tea is better than coffee). At some point, I became aware that the drone of her voice had stopped, my head had drooped and I didn’t know what time it was, let alone what day it was or what argument she had been making to herself (something to do with blue dogs drinking cafe latte?) I apologised to her profusely, but I’m afraid I had hurt her feelings terribly. Anyway, the thrill was gone and by the end of the month, so was she.
Call it lack of confidence, but in the early days I thought teaching a lesson of English wasn’t enough, I was convinced I had to give folk the little England experience. So, I served Earl Grey tea, pasted Laura Ashley-like wallpaper in the classroom, even spent money I could ill-afford on a mock-Victorian lampshade (that really makes me cringe). I only stopped serving beverages with the advent of COVID, and whaddaya know? Students stayed because they wanted good English lessons. The quality or otherwise of the lampshade, tea or wallpaper had never been a consideration.
Losing my temper with kids. I do maintain that every now and again it is helpful to pretend to lose your rag if the little darlings are taking liberties and, here’s the key, you only appear to lose your temper if you think it will improve the situation. Never actually lose your temper. I’ve come round to the view that kids misbehave for a reason, and nine times out of 10 it’s because you messed up (the task you set them was unclear or beyond their abilities) or the “naughty” kid is dealing with a world of pain in their life outside of English class that you can only imagine. Have a little compassion, take a deep breath and remind yourself… it’s just a matter of minutes until they go home.
Each of these mistakes taught me valuable lessons. How about you? Have you made any howlers that you can laugh about now? Send me an email and I’ll include them in the next Bulletin post. Happy teaching!
I've been writing a series of 36 short stories and releasing them on Amazon for Japanese junior high school students learning English. Here's No. 20, Hana Walker and the Fashion Victim, free if you download it today from any Amazon site (here is the Japan link). Check it out if you have a teen who wants to practice their English. They are available as kindle downloads or paperbacks, ideal for classroom use.