What is your teaching philosophy?

"Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire." -William Butler Yeats. My ESL/EFL teaching experience has been geared towards preparing students for university study, either in the US or the UK. Toward that end, I try to create a classroom of equals and partners rather than passive receivers of information. I use a great deal of activities that get students to work with each other and learn from all the various backgrounds within the class. Group projects and discussions, with little direction from me; help to start the flow of learning among peers. Critical thinking skills are a vital part of any college career and I endeavor to develop those skills through constant questioning of opinions. When it comes to teaching the more "boring" grammatical material, I try always to make it interesting and more importantly relevant to their lives. If students can remember how and when to use present perfect progressive from a game or from examples from their lives, than I know that will stick more permanently in their minds. In all my lessons I work to make sure the students are engaged and actively involved in their own learning. I am not here to simply hand them information to memorize, I am here to show them the way to finding that information. This is a skill that's vital to success in life overall. I know I am effective in this strategy when my students are able to freely recall and go further with the lesson. For example, if two weeks after a lesson, one of my students makes a comment or better yet, joke about a game or activity we did, then that is more gratifying both to myself and the student than a 100% on a test. The ultimate goal is easy and free flowing communication in English. As my students are better able to communicate with native speakers, speakers of other languages and even their mother tongue compatriots in English, then I know they have achieved that goal. In the end, the reason I teach, especially to international students is because I love to learn and to help others learn. The greatest moment in any teachers career, whether it is 2 years or 25 years long, is seeing the light in a student's eyes when they finally understand a lesson. I love teaching to this population because of the great impact I have on their lives. They all have lofty goals and their language training is but one rung on that ladder to success, I feel honored and proud when one of my students moves on to university and to a greater and brighter future.