One Thing a Teacher Can Always Bring: Patience

Teaching, anywhere in the world, can be the most rewarding experience. It can also bring days where every single thing seems to go wrong. No matter what age, level, or type of learner that comes into the classroom one thing a teacher can offer is patience. 

During our orientation with OEG in Thailand, we had a language immersion class. In this class, our teacher gave a lesson for about an hour only speaking in Zulu. During the class, I thought to myself, “Wow I picked the wrong day to sit in the front row”. I was confused, embarrassed, and kind of anxious. I was giving a real effort and just could not get my mouth to replicate what he was saying. However, our teacher continued to smile and work with us. The point of this whole thing was to put us in the position our students would be in. I am a 23-year-old feeling all of these things while learning a new language, now I can only imagine how my 5 and 6-year-olds feel. 

There are times when a stranger off the street could walk into my classroom and would probably think “What is going on here”? Working with first graders, there are days where some students are bursting with energy while others have tears because they just want to go home. During a lesson, I may need to change and deviate from my initial lesson plan. That is okay. I want my students to remember Teacher Gena and how interesting and fun it is learning English. I want my students to continue to be curious about learning English. I want my students to come to school and tell me that they went home and taught their family members what they learned at school that day with me. All of these things require a good deal of patience. Patience with my students and also patience with myself. 

Teaching can be amazing. Teaching can be scary. Teaching can be absolutely exhausting. But, I get to spend every day working with these awesome tiny humans. Seeing the concentration on their face as they work through communicating with me and the biggest smile that comes when they put it all together is one of the best feelings ever.