A life defining moment

I am now in my 6th year as an  'English teacher'. I sometimes feel a bit of a fraud about that title. I am not a 'qualified' teacher, in the classical sense. I left school when I was 16 (because I was fed up of it!), and until I was in my 30's I didn't study for anything...until I learnt Basic Sign Language. Then in 1999-2000 my wife & I spent a year at Bible College in Scotland. Though I never considered myself to be an 'academic' (compared with some of the younger bright sparks that were there!), I equipped myself to the task & did quite well. My Principal commented that whereas others could grapple with the deep truths of the Bible in complicated ways, I had the style of a farmer! :-) It was meant as a compliment! (I hope!) 
It was after my 5 minute homily that Tony Gray (the Principal) said that I 'had a gift of communication'. It was a defining moment for me from that year. Someone had seen my 'gift'. And I must admit, it gave me a buzz...but I really didn't know what to do about it.
He later suggested to me that I should consider doing a TEFL Course, with a view to teaching English in Czech Republic (as we were planning to move there sometime in the future). I politely avoided the idea - one, because it was way too expensive for us to afford it (at that time), and two...well, me? A teacher? No way! I was no fan of school, and was in no rush to get back into that environment. I'd left it behind a long time ago...


It's a long story since then. Some of it has been related in this blog...I'm sure more parts of the jigsaw that has become my journey will follow. But I have to say that at this moment in time, I am absolutely convinced that I am in the right place - not just where we are living - but in my job. I love it, and yes, I believe that I was made for this, prepared for this...and the best is still to come. It has been an adventure. Not being a 'regular' teacher, I had to make things up as I went along. A lot of hit & miss lessons - learning what works, what doesn't...but always striving to encourage students to express themselves in the wonderful gift that they have in the English language. 



And then the other day an ex-student kindly sent me the following link:
http://life-engineering.com/1747/do-public-schools-kill-creativity/
"In 2006 Sir Ken Robinson gave an unforgettable talk at TED about how to develop children’s natural capacity for creativity and imagination, and how the design of our current public school systems are working to kill that creativity."


This is stunning! Please - if you haven't seen this already, do yourself a favour & watch it. Just listening to this man affirmed what I believe in my heart to be true. I am still on the journey. I don't profess to have reached perfection - there is more work to do. But this is where I'm going :-) And I hope my students enjoy the ride - and that other teachers get the point too :-)