Have you ever felt like being an alien in the middle of something that you wished so much to be in?
That’s exactly how I feel in the teachers’ room. Don’t ask me why, I have done this same question over and over and I have no answer to that. Not a reasonable one at least.
I graduated in Languages many years ago, in a time when I used to work for language schools only and I hadn’t ever thought about being an English teacher at an elementary or high school. Actually, I hated teaching English. It was a job that was paying the bills. A few years later, I started teaching kids at a private school in Piracicaba, a country town in São Paulo, because of money. Money talks. And loud.
In 2013, my first baby was born and becoming a teacher was no longer a choice, but a way to support my kid. And here I am. 2024, a public school teacher feeling totally out of nest. Students like me, though. Sometimes I run into them at the mall or in a supermarket and their eyes glow. I like them as well, but I still don’t get it. Dozens of certificate, many hundred hours of specific teaching methodologies, and I still don’t know what I am supposed to do in class. I teach, they learn. But is that all???