I need to remember that my value as a teacher is not in how high my kids score on tests. It’s not really about how much they learn. Rather, it’s how they feel about themselves, about their ability to learn a language, upon leaving my classroom. Will I have helped them have confidence about themselves as language learners?
I don’t need to freak out so much about getting the language taught well. It teaches itself if it is just presented to them in interesting and meaningful ways that they can understand. They deserve the right to not be judged on what they can show me in the way of output until they have heard enough CI in the form of listening and reading to provide the nourishment needed to build strong output plants.
It becomes, then, a game of approving of my students, teaching in a way that brings that about, in spite of their own timid (hidden à l’abri de leurs chambres vertes), teenage selves. It is a game of not fearing their thorns, and bravely presenting to them that which is beautiful – language – in a way that is beautiful. Being brave in spite of any negativity they show us, in spite of their thorns:
Je n’ai alors rien su comprendre ! J’aurais dû la juger sur les actes et non sur les mots. Elle m’embaumait et m’éclairait. Je n’aurais jamais dû m’enfuir ! J’aurais dû deviner sa tendresse derrière ses pauvres ruses. Les fleurs sont si contradictoires ! Mais j’étais trop jeune pour savoir l’aimer.
We relax, read to them, speak to them slowly, so that it is easy for them. We give them things to read that are easy for them. We remember how hard it is to learn a language and how long it took us. We slow down and find the heart link, because we know that in teaching the heart link cannot be broken, whereas the mind link can.
Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.