A Good Teacher Is Like a Candle 2

Essay 4 (optional): Describe your involvement in activities outside of work. How have they contributed to your personal achievements and enhanced your self-development? (please limit your answer to 500 words)

A good teacher is like a candle

“I had never been interested in English until today. Mr. Shi, Thank you!” This was the text message I received from one of my students after one of my classes when I was an English teacher in a private foreign language training school. This kind of message encourages me to teach, even if only part-time. To me, a teacher's greatest joy is seeing his/her students have success.

Only two weeks before, it was almost impossible to get the student say even a single English word. I have a special way to ignite the students’ interest to learn. My secret is to teach live English, because only when you apply the language into everyday life, can you find the joy of learning the language. I play American film clips in class, usually animations, because the language is easier to follow and learn. The assignment I give to the students is to use the sentences learned in the film in daily communication. Thus the students not only know when to use the expressions, but also get involved in applications, which is the essence of education.

Teaching has always been a big part of my life. My teaching experience began about ten years ago. During the first winter vacation of my university, I volunteered to teach English to my neighbors’ children. Speaking in front of a group of inquiring faces, I wish I could tell them everything I knew the first day we met. In the following years, whenever I came home, they would be happy to come together and listen to my lectures.

Through teaching, I have also greatly improved my communication and presentation skills. When I was studying in graduate school, I taught statistics in a private tourism management college. Most of the students in my class were from rich families and did not like studying anything, let alone a difficult subject like statistics. I tried to get close to them in an informal way; we ate together and played together. Most of the time we talked about the things beyond study, and soon we felt closer to each other. I used real cases in class to show them the usefulness of statistical tools. When they knew that statistics techniques could solve so many problems in the world even in daily life such as personal finance, they became more engaged in my class. Interest is the best teacher; all the 18 students passed the exam with flying colors when the term ended.

My passion for teaching and presentation has carried over into the workplace. On a professional level, I relish the opportunity to speak before colleagues and clients. I give trainings to my clients on market research principles; I enjoy making presentations in team meetings about my learning in projects. Teaching others has taught me the importance of integrity and life-long learning. I will continue to teach and share my knowledge with others.