To all of the teachers out there- Thank you.
Thank you for all the time, love, and dedication you put into teaching. Thank you for continuing to teach day after day even when you are so under appreciated. Thank you for changing so many lives.
You may be asking “Michelle, haven’t you only been teaching English for 4 hours a day for a little under a month to only 20 students? How on earth do you think you understand what teachers go through?” Well the answer is quite simply… I don’t. That is the point. My team and I have only gotten a very small taste of teaching, but it has given me more appreciation for teachers than I have ever had in my life.
In these 3 weeks we are about 99% convinced of 3 things-
1. We actually don’t know English at all. It is so much more confusing when you try to teach it. Thank you to all of my English teachers in my life for being willing to tackle the ugly monster that is teaching English grammar.
2. We have run out of things to teach about the English language. (Not because we move fast but because of the reason stated above)
3. Teachers are superheroes.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love teaching. This has been one of my favorite ministries that we have had during the race, and we have been able to make amazing relationships with our students. But we are pretty worn out after our 4 hours of teaching, and I can’t imagine teaching for 7 hours a day plus all the time it takes to plan lessons and grade homework. We spend a grand total of about 30 minutes a day planning our lessons, but I know that my teachers spent countless hours planning their classes. We have only 20 students who choose to come to our class, and I can’t even imagine having over 250 students everyday, some of who don’t want to be there.
So in light of this, I wanted to write my blog this week to not only bring attention to all of the work teachers do if you didn’t know, but also to thank all of my teachers. Thank you for being willing to work countless hours every day for all of your students. Thank you for bringing so much energy and passion everyday to your classroom. If you are having a hard day and feeling under appreciated, know that you are appreciated so deeply by 5 young English teachers in Mandalay, Myanmar.
Much love,
Michelle
