A brief critical summation about the teacher factor (Based on Mona Lisa’s Smile Movie)

My Experience in Teaching and Learning English

Student’s life period is very important phase to form his/her future and present .Today when I speculate my childhood and my experiences in learning and teaching English , I realize how education is a great element in our life and how the teacher has the crucial role in shaping our dreams , personality , self-confidence ,self- esteem , hobbies , and what we love or hate .This is the most sublime , stately and noble duty of the teacher ,add to that his duty is to create individuals who have good morals and have good judgments, so they will use their knowledge to help others, society, and the world .
There are several fundamental stages of transition relate to my experience with learning English such as:
• At fifth Grade
This is the most important period in my life since it was the first time that I have ever met English as new course , new language and new teacher, really it was terrible , strange , dark and gloomy stage because when I went to school I didn't understand anything that the English teacher said. I just sat in my seat without doing anything, but when I went back home, I cried and told my mom that I detest school and English course. My teacher was inclement and he used to force us “students” to keep each single word by heart without the ability to spell it or grasp it’s meaning correctly. His priority in teaching the English language was to improve our reading ability and minimal attention was paid to pronunciation or gaining conversational skills in the target language. As usual I finished this stage with little advantage in learning English with little ability in spelling words or pronouncing them correctly .This stage had continued until the end of the sixth grade. Actually I do not blame only my teacher but the educational system at all in my country (Jordan) because of the poverty of the public school so most of them are still suffering from deficiency in visual teaching aids. Also, the inflexible nature of that English curriculum was very restricted for teachers.
• At Seventh Grade
This stage had a little difference from the above one especially in the teacher methods in teaching English language. He was very kind, good-hearted and good-tempered, he was always smile and I cannot remember if I saw him angry or irascible .He was not a teacher but he was just advisor and he did not stand in one place; he always moved about the room standing next to as many different students as possible to check their production. I think he was distinguished because he never used the mother language in teaching, of course that was difficult for us as beginner learner but we liked it. He used to write the difficult vocabularies on the chalkboard and ask us to repeat after him with loud voice in order to drill us to pronounce them correctly and he always wrote their definitions by English, sometimes he used the body language and acting to illustrate some difficult words .Grammar was introduced inductively and he used to write the rule on the board and asked us to find examples from textbook.
• At Tenth Grade
On the contrary of the previous stage in teacher teaching methods, my teacher always used the mother language to explain words or grammar and he translated each word in the textbook during his reading into Arabic as well as he stay sat on his chair and he rarely to stand or moved among students only when he wanted to discipline some of devilish students.
• At Twelfth Grade (TAWJEHI)
This stage was the most difficult and interesting one and any one pass this stage with excellent average , he will keep in mind each minute of , tear , fear ,hope , happiness ,sadness frustration , challenge ,determination and God faith. However, this stage is a critical period because it is bridge between school and university education .In this stage there is abundant of information such as new types of grammar, new vocabularies and you must improve your writing skill so I have struggled for salvation and my God heard my invocation .In fact that was very complicated stage since it based on your self-studding hence you have to be self-reliant and self-made.
• At bachelor Degree.
After I passed the above stages , a new stage came to reality with new environment , obstacles , ambitions , friends , teachers , procedures and new marks system .Anyway , I d’ like to swim against the current of water so I chose to study the English major. Anyhow, new hindrances came to surface for instance: some of male doctors were prejudiced with female students, as result they got the high marks; other doctors were tendentious against some of races or ideology; others were very sluggish to check the exam paper so he record students’ marks form his own inspiration .In general the high education in most of Arab counties , unfortunately is going to emit the last breath or in other words it is expiring because of using the old rotten educational system and the deep vast gaps between theory and what really is practiced .
• Practical stage
I have never questioned what I wanted to be when I grow up. From the time as a small child I knew that I wanted to teach. Even at the end of many long school days, I would come home and play with the neighborhood children. I had such a desire to help others to learn and take pleasure in doing so. From my previous experiences I know education is the field that I wish to pursue. I believe that the overall purpose of education is to prepare for the future so education is the key to a successful and fulfilling life. However, the most challenge I had faced in this stage were ‘what is the best way to discipline class? . How can I practice the suitable methods in teaching English?
At the end, I had clashed with bitter reality and I deduced this generalization ‘there is neither teaching nor learning in most of public Arab schools ‘for the following reasons:
1. The weakness of teacher’s educational level
2. The poverty of the public school?
3. The crowded class with more than 30 students.
4. The oldness of the educational policies
5. The infection of patronage ‘nepotism’ disease in the educational system.
6. Some of external effects to be nailed us as the third world ,
7. The low level of teachers’ income.
8. The fluctuation in the educational policies .
9. Preferring the quantity instead of quality.
10. The deep gaps between theory and practice.