What it is to be an English Teacher?

English Language is very complicated. English is a crazy language as Richard

Lederer stated in his essay. I got one of his examples to support his point such as “Ship

by truck and send cargo by ship”. This one really convinced me that his theory is

something right to be supported. When you analyse the example mentioned above,

maybe you would ask yourself the same question like this “How come that something can

be shipped by truck for as we knew that truck is not a ship that can travel across the

ocean” and cargo can be sent by ship instead of truck’. The word ‘ship’ is being used in

a different context and conveys different meaning. This is very confusing of course for

those who doesn’t have deep perception and never been equipped in terms of the

structure of language and all aspects related to language. It might include such as

grammar, phonology, vocabulary, diction etc…

Now, the questions that must be triggered are “How does laguage teachers teach

this tricky laguage? Are they also well-versed and well-oriented with the structure of

laguage? Do they have enough knowledge about grammar and phonology? Aside from

those knowledges, what is their best strategy in teaching the subject which is proven

effective? From the study of Hanna Sundari entitled “ The qualities of an Effective English

Teacher: University Student’s Perception” she concluded that knowledge of the language

is the most important feature. Execution of teaching pedagogy is just secondary. The

result conveys something that a language teacher must have to possess. On the other

hand, we must be knowlegeable of the stucture of laguage phonology or even vocabulary.

Not only that, we must also be fluent in expressing ourselves using english language. I

agree to the saying (Adolf Washington, 2013) “ Nemo dat qoud non habet”(Latin) or you

Name: Jay B. Castillo Course Code: English 304

Date of submission: July 25, 2019 Course description: Language Curr. Design and Dev’t
cannot give what you do not have” (English). This only means that as a teacher we must

master our field and the subject matter we are teaching. It is very difficult to teach if we

don’t have the quality or ability to expound things related to the subject just because we

are not well-developed in line with our field. If we urge ourselves teach something we are

not sure of its validity, it would just result to fallacy of the imparted and gained information.

Leaners will just think it right because they believe their teachers are the sources of

correct informations. Then, the false information will be shared from generation to

generation. If this thing happen and unfortunately found out that it came from you, it will

decrease your credibility as a teacher. Therefore, to avoid it from happening we should

scrutinize the validity of what we are teaching. Additionally, we have to be a keen observer

and intellegent researcher so that we can always be one step ahead of our learners. We

must learn first all aspects about the subject so that we can impart appropriate

informations properly.

In connection with this, the education authorities must have really to conduct

environment analysis before designing a curriculum. Needs analysis is a must. Everyone

can dream to be a teacher but not eveyone can teach the way a good teacher teach. If

was mentioned that the teacher should be knowlegeable of his/her field before confronting

students. In other words, if you are a laguage teacher, you must have been equipped with

the knowledge of the language you are teaching. I started asking myself with this idea,

and I sounded nothing. I just smiled and wondered why I was made to be an English

Teacher. Let us just forget about it. In my case, having been a senior high shool teacher

for three years, I have already experienced different types of problems and concerns in

the classroom, learners, community and as a teacher. I am teaching Oral Communication

Name: Jay B. Castillo Course Code: English 304

Date of submission: July 25, 2019 Course description: Language Curr. Design and Dev’t
subject and I was indeed challeged after knowing the ability of the learners I am handling

when it comes to communication is very poor. They can’t even pronounce words properly,

some can’t even read, they spelled words badly, and unable to express themselves using

the second language. In general, they really need a teacher like me. Haha! Meaning to

say, the department have choosen a right person to deal with those problems. Those

problems struck me dumb, I wanted to help them but I thought It was too late since they

were already in senior high school that supposed to be those basic skills must have

already been developed in elementary or junior high school level. However, I was feeling

lucky when I attended a seminar pertaining to laguage teaching, that was a great help for

me since problems and concerns were tackled and given solutions. I applied those what

I have learned and little by little I’ve seen progress to my teaching and to the part of my

learners. Now, I realized that the DepEd have really followed something in line with the

result of their needs analysis. One of those are the teachers, they must be trained well in

line with their respective field of specialization.

Laguage teaching would just be complicated if we let ourselves being “glued” to

the knowledge we only have and never find some chance that would enhance it and

become competitive all over. Yes, we are being reminded by this saying “ Be contented

of what you are”. For me this is not applicable when we talk about knowledge. This would

only work to other situation but not about learning. Learning is continuous. It is supported

by this saying “ Live as if you were to die tomorrow and learn as if you were to live forever”.

Meaning to say, as long as we are still breathing, learning must not stop. It should

continue as time passess by. We must also go with the flow when it comes to learning.

We must attend relevant seminars/trainings, read useful related books, study for field of

Name: Jay B. Castillo Course Code: English 304

Date of submission: July 25, 2019 Course description: Language Curr. Design and Dev’t
specialization enhancement, and learn from our mistakes in applying language teaching

pedagogy. Through this, we can be stronger and confident that what we are teaching are

right and must be learned and transfered by our today’s learners from generation to

generation.

Name: Jay B. Castillo Course Code: English 304

Date of submission: July 25, 2019 Course description: Language Curr. Design and Dev’t