I was thirteen years of age when I started studying English. My teacher
of English whose name is Mr.........., spoke neither French nor Arabic.
It was, therefore, difficult for us - beginners- to understand him. The
only way he was using was visual aids and miming. ( He was a real
actor, an artist).
One day, he asked me to fetch him a chalk-box from the staff-room, but I
did not quite grasp what he meant. Thus, I left the classroom puzzled,
wondering whether I was right to believe that the whole business was
about this chalk-box, for I had noticed that it was not on the desk. I
went to the staff-room where I met another teacher of English. ( I was
told that she communicated with pupils only in English).
I found myself confronted to another problem:"How could I communicate
with her in my very poor English?!" In my head, there werefive words no
more: "box - chalk- teacher of English". I was at a loss. Waht a
terrible situations, being unable to express myself clearly! I took a
deep breath and said, pointing upstairs: " box, chalk, Mr.......". She
understood, gave me the chalk-box and said: " That's nice, you speak
good English!"
I left the staff-room overwhelmed with joy, pride and self confidence
because I could both understand and express myself in English, for the
first time. At that moment, I became aware that a foreign language would
never be too hard to acquire for a person who can get rid of the fear
of making mistakes.
To conclude with, I think that
1. teachers should continually encourage pupils to do their utmost, no matter how much involved they may get.
2.
teachers shold not be reluctant to invest time and efforts with weak
learners because I believe that frome mere "hard rocks" , we can make
wonderful "sculptures".
After two decades of teaching English as a foreign language, I still
feel happy when my pupils express themselves using English, and English
only.
A Teacher of English
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