By
that time I had already finished my Specialization in Learning Needs from the
UPTC, and I tried to get a job there in Tunja, it was a really hard moment
because I was not being out of the country and that was one of the most
important requirements in the school in Tunja, anyway, I found a job in a really
prestigious school.
My
first impression of the school was that the resources to teach English were
really good, there were visual aids and technological resources enough and the
students had money enough to get their materials, in addition, the spaces in
the school were fantastic, beautiful parks, and lands, so I thought that it was
going to be a really good experience, and after 6 years of studying how to
teach Foreign Languages, I got thousand of ideas about how to do excellent
classes.
Then
when the Principal and the Coordinators explained to me the rules, the policies
of the school and some teaching recommendations, such as students cannot go out
of the classroom, they cannot work in groups, they cannot watch videos, they
cannot be in the park, they cannot speak aloud, they cannot play, so I
wondered, What can they do? How are they
going to learn being like machines? I was completely surprised I did not how to
teach in that, how to treat my students like machines, like mommies, like
people who are allowed to do anything only sit properly and listen to me?, that
was absurd, the lands, the parks, the spaces what for? If they could not use
them, I felt frustrated, and my identity as professional was touched, I felt
upset, because according to many theories of teaching English that I had read
and heard at the university, for instance the Learning Strategies theory
(Oxford, 1980), in which students have to do things, have to move, have to
guess, they have to play, they have to plan their own strategies to learn
English, and according to T. S.
Roberts (2004) and E. F. Barkley,
K. P. Cross, & C. H. Major (2005). The Collaborative Learning which is one
of the best strategies to encourage and motivate students to work and participate
in the foreign language and as its name indicates Collaborative means to work
as a team.
Having into account all theories, and the
situation, I felt that all the things I knew and I had studied were not
necessary in that school, because I could not do all the activities I knew to
motivate my students, instead of that I have to keep them controlled, quiet and
sat. I realized I needed to do something to really be connected with my
knowledge, my experience and my expectations and purposes with those children
for teaching them English.
So I did it! I talked to the Principal, but what happened, when the school policies are
untouchables? When they do not care what you know about teaching foreign
languages? What can a teacher do? I felt powerless and discouraged, I tried
to do my best and once I broke the rules I took the students out I made them
play and sing, and they really enjoyed the class but I got punished. So What kind of motivation for the teacher is
that? Why do we spend years and years studying and getting literated if the
schools are not interested in receiving advise and help from you, in order to
improve their quality in Foreign Language teaching and learning?
I lived this situation one year ago in that
private school, and the saddest is that there is not only one school which
follows these policies, actually most of the people I know and which have
worked in many private schools faced the same limitations and problems, and for
that reason, most of them gave up, because their identity, and their
professionalism were being affected by those old-fashioned, and controlled
rules, so what is going to be the future
of the EFT in Colombia if the schools do not do anything to get updated with
the strategies and methodologies of teaching English?
On the other hand, now from my new experience
in the Public side of the education, I can talk about how I reconciled my
identity of being professional with the reality of ELT but at this time in a Public
school in a little town called Ciénega.
After so many prohibitions and boundaries I got
into a new education world a total different side of the situations I had lived
before, that was a big change too. Because I was working with welty children,
and then I started working with low resources children but I loved it, even
knowing that in the Public field there are not so many materials and
audiovisual resources, there is
something more important than material things and it is Autonomy, when I arrived I did not have the same things and the
same facilities in order to teach English,
but I got a big green land a good space to go out and explore the nature, for
that reason, I knew it was the time to apply all the theories and strategies I
had studied and use all the objects and belongings I got in my hands for doing the best things I
could.
I felt completely identified with role as an
English teacher, and the most important to me was that my students felt
connected with my subject as well. They did not have good English bases but
they had interest what was more significant. Last year the school got some
money in an English context and now there are more materials for working I have
books, computers, videos and many more things, and I feel free to teach my
classes, sometime we work inside the classroom, sometimes we read, write, sing,
play, listen, watch, walk, laugh, cry and all those things are which teaching
and learning English are made of.
I know I am doing well because I am giving
everything I got to contribute to the purpose of the ministry of education
about the bilingual people, and I am completely identified with the task I am
carrying out. However, sometimes I feel concerned as well because, I know I
have autonomy nobody forbids me to teach the way I consider is the best, but I
felt worried because there is a failure in the Public Education because in
Primary Schools there is not a specialized English teacher to teach this
language and that is why most of the students have low English level in sixth
grade, for the lack of early English, what is a good point in the private
education due to in private schools children learn English since preschool.
Nevertheless, in order to contribute with this
lack in Primary School, I am already working with an English Program of
Bilingualism which is supported by the Mayor of the town, this program is
already working in all the Primary Schools in Tuta, Boyacá, the program
basically has a specialized teacher in the Foreign Language who goes to the
school and teach children some English hours, in order to motivate them to
start learning English and to know basic things which can be helpful for them
in the future. For next year this Programme is planned to get started in other
towns such as Ramiriqui, and Ciénega.
So after presenting both sides of the education
private and public fields, I can say that the reality of the English Foreign
Language Teaching and Learning is really far away from what it would be, for
the limitations, for the old policies, for the lack of resources and many other
aspects, so what is what is really worthy
in our lives as teachers, in our personal
experience as learners, and in our real practice in which the feelings, ideas,
thoughts and knowledge we have conformed our identity as professionals? I consider it is our commitment with our
area, with our own policies and way of thinking, we can change the things if we
all work together to show to the private school that to learn English does not
mean to repeat and answer like robots but actually it is to interact with real
people to work in groups, to learn by playing, to learn by changing the
activities every day, and the most important to show our students in public and
private schools, that we care about them, that we are really interested in
their learning process that they are essential for us, because as we know if
there are not students there are not teachers, so let is keep on working to
show to the world we can do the difference in the education.
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