Journalled on Thursday, 29 June 2023 | Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 25 degrees, warm, sunny but slightly overcast.
It is Thursday evening, and I am exhausted. Teaching so many classes from Monday to Thursday has taken a toll on me.
The only relief is that tomorrow is Friday and the weekend is coming, but Thursdays are always tough. It feels like the peak of the mountain that I have been climbing all week. Friday and the weekend are the other side and the descent to the bottom.
I love teaching and giving classes; it is what I do best. However, the number of classes I teach and the amount of energy I put into each class are high, and they take a toll.
On average, I give between nine and twelve classes every day from Monday to Thursday; Fridays are usually fewer, between seven and nine classes. The official average working week in England is forty hours, eight working hours per day, five days a week, four weeks a month.
I have been working 50 to 60 hours a week for the last 25 years with the school, and even more after it closed due to COVID. MEC, the Brazilian institution for education, recognises that one class hour equals three hours of normal work.
Whether it is accurate or realistic, I do not honestly know, and obviously, it is very general to cite something like that. I also don’t want to disrespect or devalue other professions, but teaching is hard work, and I’m tired on Friday.
What I try to put into every class in terms of content is relatively high, to say the least. From the beginning, I have never relied on technology or shortcuts to facilitate the class as a teacher.
I have learned that a class’s quality depends more on me, as a competent teacher, than on anything else. I have lost count of the number of pupils who have said that I was the best English teacher they have ever had, and I am grateful for that.
In the past, it was important for me, but nowadays, not so much. Being the best in what you do is nice, but temporary. Eventually, someone else will be better than you and take your place as the best; being different is more important to me; if you are different from the others, at least nobody can take that away from you.
It has a lot to say about the world we live in when we are different, and everything else is the same.
The goal is to make the pupil think, get under his or her skin, and understand what is essential for the pupil when learning English, so that he or she will want to learn voluntarily, with curiosity, desire, and hunger to know, so that they will be able to reach their future goals through English.
The exchange of energy, experience, knowledge, and wisdom between teacher and pupil is always positive for both. I hope my pupils have learnt from me through the classes; I have undoubtedly learnt from them, too. I have always tried to be open and receptive enough to learn from my pupils in different ways and forms.
I am 57 years old. However, many people have commented that I look younger than my age. I attribute this to my chosen profession, which may have allowed me to age less than in other occupations.
I know several people my age or younger who have higher-paying jobs and more wealth than I do. But due to the nature of their work, they have aged considerably more than I, with health problems both physically and mentally that are linked to their work.
I am old, and I know I am old; there are many things I could have done when I was younger that I now have difficulty doing or can’t do anymore. Despite all of this, I think I am relatively well and in good shape for my age, and again, part of this is due to teaching classes.
Being a teacher, helping people, and wanting to help them through lessons, I think, is the trick. I honestly do!!!
Thursday consisted of an early-morning walk and light exercise, as I am still recovering from a cold. I also had classes all day and lunch with Yasmin.
In bed by 10 p.m.
Thank you.
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Richard
