Sally Wellman
Excerpts from the Keynote speech at the Spokane Regional ESL Conference
October, 1991
If you decide to get into English language teaching, you'll find yourself one of a number of committed individuals who will accept your way of doing things and they will expect commitment from you. Once you start into English language teaching, you'll never be the same.
English language teaching changes a person, affecting self-concept and altering egos forever. By moving the self from center stage, raising awareness of other people's value systems, challenging the self to learning a non-judgmental way of life and leading a person into a way of living that causes constant introspection and learning, we all have the opportunity for change.
Yes, English language teaching is a life decision. Remember what Albert Einstein said as he was dying, “It would have been so nice to have been a plumber.” He was expressing a simple desire for a life uncluttered by professional responsibilities. I think we all wish for the simple life - at one moment or another. Yet, once we're in this very person-oriented field, we become addicted to the highs we get from intense human interactions as we work with our own cognitive system and expand those of our students to include the possibilities of understanding the world and the human condition through the English Language, the rhetorical patterns, the thought processes and the understanding available therein.
English language teachers learn to be like ballet dancers, always stretching and reaching, always turning and trying to be grace and gentility personified - always on our toes. Spinning as we do, I suppose it's harder to be heels; we get to see a bit of human nature. And what we see, we learn to value because we recognize it as the human story.
English language teaching is a commitment - like a religion, like a way of life: to stay free, to be a link to a different world, to be different, to be a champion for others, to serve as advocate, to be the one who represents all the positives and negatives of the English speaking culture, to be an outcast at times because of the xenophobic nature of society, to be humble, ever recognizing that there is so much to learn from those we teach. This is the persona of the TEACHER, the basis for the building of respect for other people so that the world can become a set of interdependent communities, a world of peaceful existence.
Yes, we're talking about taking responsibility for a lot, including the wise use of power. English language teaching is more than a job. It is a life decision and a commitment. As I explore the dimensions of the profession, I explore also, the potential for human development, starting with me. I concur with Mae West when she said, “Too much of a good thing … is wonderful.”
Megan Mulvany, the 2010 Recipient of the Sally Wellman Memorial Teaching Award receiving the award from conference co-chair Ron Belisle
Excerpts from the Keynote speech at the Spokane Regional ESL Conference
October, 1991
English language teaching changes a person, affecting self-concept and altering egos forever. By moving the self from center stage, raising awareness of other people's value systems, challenging the self to learning a non-judgmental way of life and leading a person into a way of living that causes constant introspection and learning, we all have the opportunity for change.
Yes, English language teaching is a life decision. Remember what Albert Einstein said as he was dying, “It would have been so nice to have been a plumber.” He was expressing a simple desire for a life uncluttered by professional responsibilities. I think we all wish for the simple life - at one moment or another. Yet, once we're in this very person-oriented field, we become addicted to the highs we get from intense human interactions as we work with our own cognitive system and expand those of our students to include the possibilities of understanding the world and the human condition through the English Language, the rhetorical patterns, the thought processes and the understanding available therein.
English language teachers learn to be like ballet dancers, always stretching and reaching, always turning and trying to be grace and gentility personified - always on our toes. Spinning as we do, I suppose it's harder to be heels; we get to see a bit of human nature. And what we see, we learn to value because we recognize it as the human story.
English language teaching is a commitment - like a religion, like a way of life: to stay free, to be a link to a different world, to be different, to be a champion for others, to serve as advocate, to be the one who represents all the positives and negatives of the English speaking culture, to be an outcast at times because of the xenophobic nature of society, to be humble, ever recognizing that there is so much to learn from those we teach. This is the persona of the TEACHER, the basis for the building of respect for other people so that the world can become a set of interdependent communities, a world of peaceful existence.
Yes, we're talking about taking responsibility for a lot, including the wise use of power. English language teaching is more than a job. It is a life decision and a commitment. As I explore the dimensions of the profession, I explore also, the potential for human development, starting with me. I concur with Mae West when she said, “Too much of a good thing … is wonderful.”