My Linguistic Background And Teaching Philosophies

My linguistic background and teaching philosophies

I have always had a passion for English language and to be able to share my knowledge with others. I wanted to be teacher since I was in second grade. I do not remember exactly why though, perhaps it was because a teacher was someone you had to show respect to no matter what. My perception changed as the years were passing by, I realized thatit was a job that required a lot of work and sacrifice. However, I was still attracted with the idea of becoming a professional in the field of education.
One of the things that affected my interest towards English was to attend and English school in fourth grade. This was my first time actually having English classes and I found it rather interesting. At school, the teachers made us use Englishevery time it was possible. We had to greet our teachers and even ask for permission to go to the restroom in English. It did not matter if it was a math class or a history class; we had to use English as much as we could. However, this was not a problem for me at all. That is because I was already into English by that time.
I started to feel interested in English when I was only 8 years old. Iremember I used to play role-playing games on the Super Nintendo. In these video games the player controls a character immersed in a fictional world in where he has to fulfill one or many quests. These games involve developed story-telling, narrative elements, and player character development. However, there were no translations to Spanish for those games at that time. As a consequence, I had toplay these games in English. It was pretty hard at first because I had to guess what the story of the game was about. Nevertheless, I started to notice some words were repeated several times and I was able to get the meaning of it according to the context. I was well aware that just by playing video games I was not going to become an English speaker. However, video-games expose you to thelanguage, both spoken and written, and can keep you entertained and motivated while you are playing (Quijano, 2007).
Movies and music were also powerful motivators for my English interest. I used to listen to music and watch movies in English all the time. By doing this I was getting more comfortable with the language without even paying attention to it. When my family was watching a movie together, Ialways listened to the actors and pronounced little phrases. I also wanted to know what the lyrics from the songs were telling me. All of these exposures to authentic materials and to the real language served me as a motivation to study English (Peacock, 1996). I felt that if I learned English I will be able to understand most of the movies, songs, books and texts out there. I was sure that therewas a whole new world waiting for me to discover.
College had a huge impact on my linguistic background as well. There I learned about all the different strategies and methodologies to teach a second language. I also had the opportunity to have some practice at teaching in some schools. It was then when I realized that I had a passion with the English language and teaching. Although I still havemuch to learn, I know what techniques and strategies I would like to use in my class when I start teaching.
I have certain principles or philosophies that I consider important when it comes to teaching. One of these principles is that we need to create a positive environment of respect in the classroom. Students in class need to respect each other’s comments, opinions and ideas. It is important tohave a class in where the students are allowed to give their opinions. I want my student’s thoughts and ideas to develop into a discussion with a mutual appreciation for all opinions. The first thing I tell my students is that we will never laugh or make fun of someone‘s comments. Every person in the class has something to contribute, and in order for our class to be the best it can be, we need...