Foxy
- 2017-01-02
“What is success?
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of
children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false
friends; to appreciate the beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit
better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch Or a redeemed social condition; to
know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have
succeeded!”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
You beat me to it, lol. My personal favourite, and the one that sums it all up, is the last one. I believe that 'success' can be defined in that short sentence alone:
'to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.'
heretosay
- 2017-01-01
Thanks for taking the time to share that, Foxy. There are many of us who have been involved in ESL/EFL for a long time in various ways. And, as you know, our positive impact on the lives of those we teach, or guide, or counsel is not always immediately evident, except perhaps in their obvious appreciation. So, when we have the opportunity to see such gains as you describe as the result of our input or guidance or facilitation, it is seemingly impossible not to be touched and to feel as though we may actually have accomplished something really, really, worthwhile. This harmonious relationship between our hearts and our intellects is, in my opinion, a true realization of success.
“What is success?
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate the beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch Or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Foxy
- 2017-01-01
Success is when you are in a personal stable situation yourself so that you are able to help
others. There is nothing you can give if your own basket is empty.
Rubbish! There's always something to give because your 'basket' is never 'empty'!.........
Many, MANY years ago - I don't know when, maybe 40+ years ago - I saw a billboard notice that simply said ' If you can read this, thank a teacher'. I never forgot it. No idea why, it must have made some kind of profound impact on my sub-conscious.
Dad was the head of science at our local university, and when I started work at the age of 16 I was always jealous of the amount of holidays he had each year - yet I never saw myself as being a teacher. How times change......
Tonight I received a message from one of my students. She has just received the results of her latest IELTS test. Until a few weeks ago, she scored an average of 6.5 in reading, listening and speaking, but 4.5 - 5 in her writing. Desperately needing help with writing, she turned to me.
She was 100% enthusiastic since she needed an overall score of 6.5 in order to be accepted into the UK college she wants to attend. I agreed to help her.
Over a period of 8 weeks I gave her 2 topics a week on which to write a 250 word essay. We would then set aside an hour or so each week and go though her essays line-by-line.
She's just scored 6.5 in all 4 facets of English, and she is thrilled!
OK, so any decent ESL teacher could have helped her achieve this, but she asked ME. With my assistance, and her determination, we managed to achieve her goal and she can now attend her college of choice.
I genuinely wish you guys could hear her voice messages and understand her genuine 'thanks' that are so profoundly evident within.
Why do I share this with you? Because it's moments like this that make it all worthwhile. If I am totally honest with you, my eyes welled with tears when I listened to her WeChat voice messages.
If 29 out of 30 students want to sleep or play on their phones all day, then concentrate on the one student who wants to learn.
What's more, I agreed never to charge her a single cent as long as she kept up her determination and enthusiasm.
Right now I am so proud of her, yet she is also proud of me - and it was all for free!
THAT, my friends, is what I consider to be 'success' !.........regardless of what's in the 'basket'.
ESL might be a shitty job, but we CAN make a difference..............sometimes!