Teaching Challenging English Classes
Teaching Challenging English Classes, a teacher`s perspective 
While teaching English in Japan, we all like our so-called "good" classes. We talk about them and take pride in them.Pictured: "Boozer House," in Odawara, I just had to take this photo! You see funny signs like this all over Japan. We all have challenging classes too. Perhaps too often, many of us concentrate too much on what`s wrong with these classes, as opposed to what is going right. For example: if 60% of our students are enjoying class and thriving in some of our difficult classes, for some classes this is perhaps the best we can expect; given the reality of student numbers and institutional rules regarding what can and cannot be done to rectify things. Teaching Challenging English Classes -- Our Difficult Classes I am not suggesting we give up on our difficult classes. We should definitely try to improve on the above 60% number as an example. Teachers should always strive to improve. That said, we must go easy on our selves and recognize that some classes will be a challenge and far from perfect. But that`s okay! Teaching is a difficult profession that few can pursue as a career.Realizing that, we pat ourselves on the back and stuggle on. For teaching is a marathon and not a sprint. We go back into the fray and be thankful for the students that do enjoy and benefit from our lessons. Even I suggest, we should be thankful for the challenging students, as they too have lessons for us. They remind us about where we are weak and where we need to improve. I think it should be stated as well, that teaching is such a difficult profession as you can always improve. The studentsand the classroom atmosphere is always different from class to class, so it takes a special person to be able to adjust to that. Again we are special. Let`s not get conceited, but we areteachers, and not everyone can do the job we do week in and week out. So be gentle on yourself. You know you are doing your best. Because of them, we become better teachers for everyone.
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