My role and mission as an educator is to raise multicultural awareness, to teach moral values to learners and to prepare them for being open-minded and respectful citizens of the world. I believe teachers are responsible for creating free-of-fear atmosphere in the classroom and building a trust-based relationship with students. We should imbue learners with enthusiasm and passion and try to reach beyond traditional frames of teaching! Such atmosphere supports the development of talents and creativity in children.
What I strongly believe in is that learners do not necessarily remember what we told them, but how we made them feel. They will not remember that we taught them modal verbs very well. They will remember that we believed in their capabilities, that they became more self-confident thanks to a teacher and that they were respected in the classroom and learned to respect other people and their opinions. I have discovered my own teaching philosophy, structured my ideas about teaching and have found the path I would like to follow. My current understanding of learning and teaching was shaped by the experiences I had and the process of reflection. Reflective teachers are aware that learning is a lifelong process and they do not only teach, but they also learn with their students and from them. Contemporary methodology emphasizes learner-centred teaching, meeting students' individual needs, considering differences and addressing different learning styles. The teacher is expected to guide and assist learners in setting their goals, plan their learning and encourage metacognition, which helps to develop and promote learner autonomy. The strategy that I find the most important in my own teaching philosophy is to promote learner autonomy by encouraging goal setting, engaging metacognition and independent use of learning resources by learners. It is very often neglected in the classroom and teachers simply give good answers, while instead they could ask good questions and let learners explore the answers on their own. Teachers should let students find answers, discover and explore. As Chinese proverb says: 'I hear and I forget, I listen and I remember, I do and I understand' we should encourage learners to take part in direct experience of learning, because they are more likely to remember and understand if they are emotionally involved and actively participate in the process.