An idea, a thought, an anecdote, a story or a poem a day!

At one stage when I was doing more academic work, my reading list consisted of those writers, who write about teaching, research, and environment, however, learning was naturally the underlying factor in all their writings.  Education  and educators, teaching and learning. At the suggestion of one of my supervisors, I had read Ranciere, and his Ignorant School Master. It was a fascinating account of a French teacher who didn't know the language of his Flemish speaking students,  while he was in exile in Netherlands and these students didn't know French, but he ended up teaching them a French classic! How? What worked was students' motivation to learn, and what was proven to be superfluous was the teacher who explicates or transmits knowledge.  How can this be applied in my work today, while I'm teaching English, I've been thinking. How can I reduce and even eliminate explication,  explaining again and again?  I'm ignorant as I don't know much about my stude...

Teaching, facilitating, helping, counselling, motivating to learn,  building the context,  building on what's known,  opening new vistas, giving the taste of the unknown, challenging, exciting the learners,  to explore the value, the power of language, knowledge and information  leading or coaxing them towards their goal, that they need to know, but still sometimes ignore Yes, teaching is everything,  But till the learner understands the need, and wants to learn,  nothing works. You can take the horse to water but cannot make it drink As an adult language learner, he or she is his or her own rider!  (Feeling a bit disappointed in teaching English to those wanting to achieve things, wanting to get further in life, but forget the steps towards that goal, and settle for much less)