Thursday, October 13, 2011

FRONT OF THE CLASS


        Well, first of all, I want to highlight some things about the movie. I really enjoyed the movie; it was a fantastic story! I liked it so much! I am really surprised because of Mr. Cohen´s personality and character because despite his sickness, which was a very difficult one, he wasn’t a pessimistic person, but the opposite. He is a nice example of how teachers (and also many people) should be. I am so impressed about Mr. Cohen that I even created a list about all his virtues; in such a list, I placed the following values and characteristics he possesses: self confidence (not only at the moment of teaching, but in his whole life), positivism, courage, creativity, enthusiasm, patience, tolerance, comprehension, and some others.

         Another aspect that called my attention was the way Mr. Cohen taught to his students, for I noticed that he does loved what he did; he was passionate about his job, and I discovered it because he lived and enjoyed what he taught, what makes his teaching great. He believed that is ok to be oneself and that it is not bad to be different; that’s why, he taught to his students another very important value, respect, for everybody has to respect each other because all of us are special in this life. He showed his students that bullying and teasing others were bad things that people sometimes do but they shouldn’t do because nobody is perfect and also because anybody deserve to be treated in such a way, as he was treated in his childhood. We have to treat people as we want that they treat us.

          Now talking about my aspirations, at first I didn’t know what I wanted to become in my life, but now I´m more than sure about it, and one of the things that helped me to understand it was the fabulous story of Mr. Cohen, to whom most of the people considered a silly person without the capacity of succeeding in life, but he demonstrated that he was not and that he could achieve everything he would like as all the people do. This case inspired me to continue fighting in order to accomplish my goals and dreams; that ´s why, now I can say that what I want the most in this life is to become an excellent teacher who can help his students with his needs. I also want to add my two cents to create a better world by teaching my students about all the values that human beings should practice in order to live a better life, and finally I want to make history and that my students always remember me as one of the persons who contributed to do of their lives a good one.

        To finish I think that Mr. Cohen´s disease was not a handicap for him, but the key to make him believe in himself to achieve what he liked the most, to teach.  And that is for me the most valuable thing about the movie that we don’t have to let our handicaps or problems destroy our goals or dreams; we have to continue and if things aren’t as we wanted, we have to continue trying until we achieve them. We are not alone, for God is with us, and his Holy Word says that if we trust in Him, we can achieve every single thing we want.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

My TVYL experience


TVYL has been a totally new experience for me. I had never imagined myself teaching English to children in kindergarten. At first, I didn´t know what to do; I felt afraid of failing, for I knew that teaching to children would be difficult since they are very exigent- it is not the same as teaching to teenagers or adults. But then when my classmates performed their presentations about some important topics related to TVYL, I felt better because it helped me too much to know how to manage my class in a good way or how to prepare my classes and do them more interesting for my pupils, for example.

Another thing that complicated me at first was the fact that I didn’t know what to teach my students because I had to choose topics that they could understand easily; therefore, I created a list of topics that they are supposed to like as for example, colors, animals, fruits, professions, etc. Then I started with my crossing in the world of TVYL. I tried to apply as much as I learned about my own and my classmates´ presentations to see if it could help me as my classmates had said. To my surprise, the few things I had applied from the presentations worked wonderfully in my class, so I decided to follow every piece of advice I heard and I wrote about what my classmates said, and then I put into practice with my pupils.

Now I feel more confident about what I do in each class, and I also feel more prepared than before, for those pieces of advice I received helped me a lot. Now instead of being worried about what I am going to teach, I enjoy my classes together with my children. I love to be with my pupils – something that I not even thought could happen before- because they pay attention and put into practice everything they learned, and the reason why they like English now – before they hated- is that they enjoy what they do at the time they are learning.