Hi Pilar,

in my opinion it all depends on the age we're dealing with.

I've been teaching different age levels and what I could see is that, especially when teaching children and teenagers, pedagogy and knowledge walk arm in arm.

I believe teaching has to be made "personal" anyway..as we're transmitting a language, we can't be too detached from our students, though still maintainig the appropriate necessary professional distance. 

All the best!

Silvia (Moderator of Testing, Evaluation and Assessment)

hi Iskra,

The question does matter more than the answer, the question is what makes teaching alive,thanks for your thought -reflecting post.

What other questions have made your teaching relevant?

Hi Pilar!
the distance I'm talking about is a merely "professional" one.
I firmly believe that if we are able to build a relationship with our students, what we teach will be transfered more easily.
In my opinion, it is our job to make our students love the subject they are learning.
A language is something personal and can't be taught "the old way". It can't be learnt by heart. It has to be felt.
Though, the risk here is to focus too much on the relationship and leave the subject aside.

Iskra - I agree with you..questions are more important than answers.

Hi Marya and Silvia,

As someone here on one of the forums said and I quote loosely, "it's the bad teachers as well as the good ones that help you form as a teacher yourself" I was a very energetic and noisy student and, frankly, many of my teachers, in then socialist Bulgaria, didn't like that very much and considered me a naughty student. When we moved to the States my American teachers liked me because of the exact same reason and I simply flourished under their approval. Today, remembering my childhood experience helps me to understand  my students better. When I have a student who is "naughty" I don't automatically clasify him as such. I always ask myself what makes him/her behave the way he/she does. I try to find a way of engaging him/her in the class activities. Usually putting them in charge of something, giving them a sense of responsibility helps a lot. Sometimes the children are simply bored. Especially here in China, the naughtiest students are usually very bright children who are bored out of their minds by the way they have to study everything.

best, Iskra

I think we are both an English teacher and an Educator at the same time.  We teach English with our mouth/lectures.  we educate with our deed/actions.

Hi everybody,

What is the difference between  a teacher and an educator?

what are their definitions?

I think, that I am a teacher, when  I teach  my subject , when I bring up, when I am busy with problems connected with psycology , I am an educator.

In that case each teacher consists of these two components :a techer and an educator , two are in one.

I think it is so difficult to find a "pure" teacher, because each  teacher is in the state of an educator,so is an educator.

hi Fazira,

"teaching is the proffession that creates all others" Do you agree?

Hi everybody!

I have some grounds to consider me to be at first an educator and then an English teacher. Sometimes my students come for a lesson (I mean extra lesson) to discuss their personal problems. I see they want me to be a psychologist to give them some tips. I agree but on conditions they try to speak English. And they have nothing but try ...

:) Elena

Hello everyone!

Just a couple of things:

1. Did you see we're only women here? Hehe! Well, a little bit no wonder why 'cause as women I guess we're educators by nature, right? :))
2. I can see we're all committed educators who really enjoy to accompany our Ss in their process of learning for life while they learn English language and culture.

Best wishes to all of you guys!

hi Marisol,

It would be lovely to read about what men think about the issue you have just raised(1)

Will you male teachers answer Marisol ?  Does gender determine educators?

Pilar

Hi Marisol. Hi Pilar!

Here I come to talk on behalf of my gender... jiji

Well, what can I say? For me, as a man, it's hard ,at this point and with all these women discussing about this topic, to argue if women are better at teaching than man.

Reflecting on this, comes to my mind a quiestion: who in this world has not had a woman as a teacher?? I think every single individual on earth has had a female teacher. Remember the first teacher you had... Was it a moman? I'm sure it was. It  is something beautiful when I remember my first teacher (I was in love with her. jaja  

I think gender does not determine an educator and no mater who teaches if it is a woman or a man, the one who teaches has to be both a educator and a techer as well.

I my case I feel I am both: teacher and educator. Most of the times we don't know the many thing students are going through, I mean problems, situations, difficulties and so on. That's when the two things get mixed being a techer or an educator.  It is part of us, as Elena pointed, to be psychologists cause sometimes situations turn us be like that. Acts, body expresion and speech tell everything we are. The meeting piont between these two is the "sensitivity" we develop as teachers.

Vladimir

hi Vladimir,

your answer about gender is just what i wanted to read about, to add one more little thing  i think that it is passion the one ingredient that makes an educator become a teacher and viceversa. Are you with me?

Ah!  thanks for answering on behalf of the male teacher community!

best

pilar

Hi Pilar, Vladimir and everyone,

Very good discussion, I totally i gree with you. I  think i'm both too... In my opinion, we became teachers and educator when we as teachers are humble inside of the classroom; that is to say, when we learn too from our learners, here is where the passion is involved, as Pilar said, passion is the special key that makes us teachers and educators, we have to love what we do because it is the only way we can face bad and good moments reasonably.

 Laura ;)

Hi Laura, Vladimir, Elena, Fazira, Su, Izkra and Silvia,

I think we share this passion that has to do with teaching, with believing in Chris Lima´s words that teaching is not innocent, with believing  that we, teachers, are agents of change. 

From teacher to teacher, I honestly believe we can make some change.

best

Pilar

Hello Pilar.

Here I come again. That's true what you say! I totally agree with your point of view, the thing that move us ahead it is passion. That is what keeps me going on. The passion itself makes us to be that factor of change. We can make it. No matter how big or small will that change be we have to keep on that.