Teacher Stories: Stories from the Edges of Language Teaching
By Paul Walsh
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About this ebook
'We are the stories we tell ourselves.' This book is a varied collection of non-fiction stories from working language teachers. It aims to show the highs and lows of our profession, and to make the valuable work that we do visible.
These stories are sad, reflective, funny - and can each be read in one sitting. Want to take a look over the edge?
Paul Walsh
I'm a teacher, writer, and precarious worker. 'Teacher Stories: Stories from the Edges of Language teaching', edited by myself and Theresa Gorman, is a collection of stories exploring the working lives of teachers.'At Work' gathers Business English Speaking activities created while developing my teaching method: Decentralised Teaching.I'm also interested in grassroots organisations and I founded Berlin Language Worker GAS and TaWSIG - Teachers as Workers Special Interest Group, to improve working conditions for language teachers.
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Book preview
Teacher Stories - Paul Walsh
Teacher Stories
Stories from the Edges of Language Teaching
Compiled by Paul Walsh
Copyright Paul Walsh 2015
CONTENTS
Editor’s Introduction
Monday Morning Dizziness by Sabine Cayrou
Light a Perfumed Candle by Helen Waldron
The Chicken and the Egg: Task-based Teaching in East Germany in the 1980s by Greg Bond
Make the Most of Your Days by Paul Walsh
Creative Leadership by Mohammed Qaid
Another Darkness by Neil Scarth
About the Authors
Editor’s Introduction
This book is an ode to the dog days of working teachers.
Even though foreign language learning is a global, multi-million dollar industry, the people who labour to keep this industry running—working teachers—are largely invisible. We wanted to change this, to make visible the lives of ordinary teachers.
We wanted to take a stand against the economic calculus that dominates our profession; the idea that the 'market knows best'; that self-interest is the prime, and perhaps only motivating factor. When our teaching community suffers under the weight of precarity; when we are asked to be 'self-responsible' for everything from healthcare to training; when we're burdened with endless lists of Do's and Don'ts, we wanted to create a new platform: a place where we tell our own stories.
The authors have certainly succeeded in this respect. The stories presented here offer a glimpse of six different edges; edges where teachers—the bodies that dance across classrooms, performing the pedagogical rituals required of them—try to achieve some kind of balance and grace.
Within the stories themselves you'll find morning tiredness, journeys, sadness, reflection—but also humour! Although we may be invisible, the disposable parts of a vast machinery, we're still smiling to ourselves.
For the editors, myself and Theresa, the project has certainly not been easy—with its own highs and lows—but definitely worthwhile. We'd like to extend our gratitude to the teachers who gave up their time and energy for a project where success was not guaranteed, and which would certainly fail any individual cost/ benefit analysis.
Finally, thank you, dear reader, for taking the time to read, and converse with the stories in this collection.
In solidarity with wherever you are, with whatever story you're trying to tell.
Paul Walsh and Theresa Gorman (editors)
Monday Morning Dizziness
Sabine Cayrou
Monday morning, early in the German capital. There are moments in life when