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    Teacher Stories: Stories from the Edges of Language Teaching
    Teacher Stories: Stories from the Edges of Language Teaching
    Teacher Stories: Stories from the Edges of Language Teaching
    Ebook37 pages29 minutes

    Teacher Stories: Stories from the Edges of Language Teaching

    By Paul Walsh

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    About this ebook

    'We are the stories we tell ourselves.' This book is a varied collection of non-fiction stories from working language teachers. It aims to show the highs and lows of our profession, and to make the valuable work that we do visible.

    These stories are sad, reflective, funny - and can each be read in one sitting. Want to take a look over the edge?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPaul Walsh
    Release dateDec 16, 2015
    ISBN9781310184833
    Teacher Stories: Stories from the Edges of Language Teaching
    Author

    Paul Walsh

    I'm a teacher, writer, and precarious worker. 'Teacher Stories: Stories from the Edges of Language teaching', edited by myself and Theresa Gorman, is a collection of stories exploring the working lives of teachers.'At Work' gathers Business English Speaking activities created while developing my teaching method: Decentralised Teaching.I'm also interested in grassroots organisations and I founded Berlin Language Worker GAS and TaWSIG - Teachers as Workers Special Interest Group, to improve working conditions for language teachers.

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      Book preview

      Teacher Stories - Paul Walsh

      Teacher Stories

      Stories from the Edges of Language Teaching

      Compiled by Paul Walsh

      Copyright Paul Walsh 2015

      CONTENTS

      Editor’s Introduction

      Monday Morning Dizziness by Sabine Cayrou

      Light a Perfumed Candle by Helen Waldron

      The Chicken and the Egg: Task-based Teaching in East Germany in the 1980s by Greg Bond

      Make the Most of Your Days by Paul Walsh

      Creative Leadership by Mohammed Qaid

      Another Darkness by Neil Scarth

      About the Authors

      Editor’s Introduction

      This book is an ode to the dog days of working teachers.

      Even though foreign language learning is a global, multi-million dollar industry, the people who labour to keep this industry running—working teachers—are largely invisible. We wanted to change this, to make visible the lives of ordinary teachers.

      We wanted to take a stand against the economic calculus that dominates our profession; the idea that the 'market knows best'; that self-interest is the prime, and perhaps only motivating factor. When our teaching community suffers under the weight of precarity; when we are asked to be 'self-responsible' for everything from healthcare to training; when we're burdened with endless lists of Do's and Don'ts, we wanted to create a new platform: a place where we tell our own stories.

      The authors have certainly succeeded in this respect. The stories presented here offer a glimpse of six different edges; edges where teachers—the bodies that dance across classrooms, performing the pedagogical rituals required of them—try to achieve some kind of balance and grace.

      Within the stories themselves you'll find morning tiredness, journeys, sadness, reflection—but also humour! Although we may be invisible, the disposable parts of a vast machinery, we're still smiling to ourselves.

      For the editors, myself and Theresa, the project has certainly not been easy—with its own highs and lows—but definitely worthwhile. We'd like to extend our gratitude to the teachers who gave up their time and energy for a project where success was not guaranteed, and which would certainly fail any individual cost/ benefit analysis.

      Finally, thank you, dear reader, for taking the time to read, and converse with the stories in this collection.

      In solidarity with wherever you are, with whatever story you're trying to tell.

      Paul Walsh and Theresa Gorman (editors)

      Monday Morning Dizziness

      Sabine Cayrou

      Monday morning, early in the German capital. There are moments in life when

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