I've become a teacher since semester 9. That being said, my teaching journey started in 2013. Took hiatus for 2 something years then I came back to these exam sheets, students, books, and social interactions. Didn't even want to become one but I fell in love right after I jumped in.
I guess I need to ask to apologize to my dad. I was mad at him a long time ago because he asked me to be one lol. Well, maybe I just didn't like the idea of being a teacher in a class where your students don't even care about you telling stuff in front of the class. That actually made me realize that I prefer to teach whoever wants to learn. Although sometimes I just need to teach without knowing what's their reasons to learn, and that is also fine. I do what I had to do. That is why I hate grading because I don't mind giving them a perfect score but what's the point if they know nothing after the course ended?
I never teach a big class. The biggest one was in high school to help a friend back then when we were in university. That got me, "OH GOD! How can I split myself? They're all asking for my attention" So instead, I teach small classes, 1-4 max. But, two months ago I got a chance to teach a big class. 70 people signed up for that!
I expected by the end of the course, there would be at least 10% left. That I guessed right. I have only 10 students left. In this online class, I provide them the recording of every meeting. I actually don't really care if they would follow or not. But they really surprised me because there were only 5 students left before the first exam and I saw 25 exams submitted. That was when I found out that they really checked on my recording and learn by themselves.
So the class ended yesterday and I sent them the exam. One of them emailing me and she said thank you that she now understands Korean more and got a lot more questions even. She made friends with other students and that she had fun in my class. That really got me, "Oh my 🥺 this is the reward of teaching that can't be replaced by anything." Obviously, this is not the first time I got a personal email/letter after the course ended. But every time I get similar messages, they make me 🥺
It fulfills my emotional need. Whenever I teach, especially the languages, I always try to put some useful information for them to learn. As simple as culture. Apart from that, I love to get to know their personalities by asking them to write about their family, their personalities, their favorite food, their jobs, etc. They didn't seem too personal right? But it is actually personal without them knowing that it is. Of course, I don't force them, if they tell me willingly then I'd be so grateful.
I start to believe that teaching is a calling. I understand why people are willingly signing up for teaching in remote areas throughout Indonesia. It's because... any slight changes you're making, any efforts you're seeing from them, they're all so rewarding.
Besides, I get to learn different personalities and how to handle them. It's so useful and definitely fun.
Hey fellow teachers, I admire you all! Thank you 💚
aku dulu bercitavcita jadi guru bahasa inggris mba pris tapi ga kesampaian #cry...
ReplyDeletepadahal itu uda cita cita sejak kecil banget karena aku tumbuh di lingkungan orang tua yang guru
baca cerita mba pris membuatku terharu...emang itulah yang ga bisa digantikan dengan apapun ya sist...murid yang kita ajar pas lulusan ujian mengemail dan berterima kasih dengan apa yang sudah kita ajarkan padanya. Sebuah penghargaan sih buat seorang guru...dan bener banget...menjadi guru kadang buat sebagian orang memang udah jadi semacam panggilan jiwa even misalnya ditugaskan di pelosok
btw ngajar kelas kecil dan besar enakan mana kah?
haha iya mbak, makin tua makin sadar kayaknya ngajar itu panggilan hati akhirnya.
Deletengajar sih masih lebih demen kelas kecil, krn bisa personal dibimbingnya. jadi tau perkembangannya dari yg gatau apa2 sampe bisa jos. kalau kelas besar ga bisa mantau satu-satu jd sering ada yang ketinggalan (pasti) dan tenaganya ga mampu handle banyak orang dlm sekali waktu.