Education, teaching, learning

The last few weeks have really opened my eyes to education in many ways. I have focused a lot on learning metholods and thoughts without giving such deep attention to the role of educators.

Living and working at a language school has really changed that, especially after a course on teaching methodology. It is very interesting to see education developing towards being more self-driven and more of a facilitation and coaching role. The concept of the teacher has changed a lot in the last 100 years (in Europe) but this is set to accerlate in the next few years as the so called "X-generation" give birth to off-spring who want more than individual, personalised choices.

I did not expect to see so many interesting theories within foreign languages - after all foreign languages are about following the rules and grammar of the country right? Well, no! Do you need to learn grammar at all? Are vocabulary lists useful? Should the teacher speak the language or allow students to experiment themselves (and get it wrong, at first) with the language? Is fluency or accuracy most important? The list goes on... as one by one my views of language learning and teaching are positively challenged.

I also discovered how education changes. How the poorest in Brazil recieve the poorest education and how the richest recieve personalised, high quality services. I wonder how any cycle of poverty can be broken if such systems persist, at least in Europe the divide is not so evident, but still exists.

I meet English teachers, who have taught for years, many hundreds of students, and yet have never spoke to a native English person before they met me last week!

Perhaps by accident, perhaps a part of a bigger destiny, spending three weeks here has helped me see education as part of a bigger self-image.

As I sit chatting with the manager (owner and entrepreneur) eating my best Feijoada ever, perhaps for the last time, I realise the power of education and how maybe it might how I develop next.