The Profession of a Teacher

There are professions – vocations – to which people wholly devote themselves. Undoubtedly, the profession of a teacher is one of them.

Even if you want to be a teacher you can’t become a good one. You must be born one. Love for children, an ability to communicate with them, understand and teach them – these are the most important qualities of a good teacher. Ability to be a good teacher is God’s gift; it’s a talent like the talent of a writer, an artist or a musician. A teacher is like a sculptor: he moulds a personality out of a child like a sculptor creates a beautiful statue out of clay.

Pedagogy is a very complex and responsible study; probably, no less responsible than medicine. Like patients hand to the doctor the most expensive thing –their life, parents entrust the teacher with the most valuable creature – their child. It depends on a teacher what kind of person a child will grow up. If you have been dreaming to become a teacher since your childhood, it’s not a problem nowadays.

In Russia there are more than 250 teachers training colleges and universities; six of them are in Moscow. Every year thousands of young people graduate from these colleges to come to school on September 1st. According to a survey, more than 70 per cent of students enter these colleges by their own choice, and it is well-known to them what difficult and sometimes ungrateful work is waiting for them after receiving their diplomas. In the process of education when they were asked whether they were sorry about their choice of profession, 60 per cent said that they were not sorry at all. Judging by these facts, we can say that teachers come to school not for money (the salary of a teacher is miserable), but because it’s their vocation to work with children.

The profession of a teacher combines both joy and sorrow.

A person who gets pedagogical training should possess much knowledge. He also should be kind. Doctors have a rule: “Don’t do harm”. Teachers must also follow this rule because there is nothing more valuable than children and it depends on teachers what kind of people the children will become. A teacher is responsible for all his students.

Task 1

Answer the following questions:

Do you agree that teacher’s profession is a vocation?

What skills / traits of character should a person possess to become a good teacher?

Does teacher’s profession seem attractive to you? Why?

Task 2

Make up a dialogue. One of you is going to be a teacher after graduating from the University. The other hesitates. Try to persuade you friend to become a teacher.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-16