Teaching is art

I went to a very interesting Teacher's conference today, and I felt so inspired!

The speaker, Will Gompertz, who is a journalist and an art critic was talking about art as a metaphor to teaching, learning, and sharing ideas and concepts. 

He mentioned Hockney's "arrival of Spring" to talk about "taking the time to watch" and compared it to taking the time to assimilate and use what we learn (as well as taking the time to watch and learn from that of course!).He went to that grey drab forest on a sad grey day, and by stopping long enough to observe, he actually saw those colours. I hope that I have the same effect on my students with French grammar! ;)

Many of the art works he used to talk about teaching, I use in my classes, either as a talking piece, like Marcel Duchamp's "fontaine", or to illustrate a point or introduce vocabulary.

His point with this particular piece, and also the script of Star Trek by JJ Abrams, is that those particular creations came from a few simple questions. JJ Abrams thought: captain Kirk and Spok are on the bridge of the enterprise. Why? then he answered that question and asked the next...

Questions are important. Never be scared of asking your teacher a question in class. Not only will you learn from the answer, but the other students most likely will too, and importantly, so will your teacher. If you ask a question, the teacher might realise that the subject needs to be seen another way, or that maybe they did not give a clear enough explanation. Other students might have thought they had understood, until you ask the question. The question might lead to other important topics. The question might invite a completely new conversation. Questions are often better than answers.

As I teach a lot of different students every day, I sometimes get too much into a routine. What I love about teaching is that every class is different and I never do the same thing twice; but sometimes, I get into my little habits and I don't challenge myself enough.

What I like about teaching adults is the melting pot of people from various backgrounds turning up for lessons for various reasons. I truly hope that my classes bring people together and enriches their lives. It enriches mine for sure. 

Today's talk definitely revived my creativity, so be ready for some brand new topics and lessons!! You can blame Will Gompertz.

Muhahahahahah.