AA:I'mAviArditti, andthisweekonWORDMASTER: anupdateonanIranianlistener. RosanneSkirbleandIspoketoherbyphoneearlyin2005.

RS:"Well, whatdoyoulikeaboutstudyingEnglish? Whatisit, isita... "

ATEFEH:"Oh, no, actuallyIlovethelanguage. IlovestudyinganythinginEnglish, actuallyanyprogramonTVthatisinEnglishIwatchitandIloveit."

AA:Atthattime, AtefehwasstudyingEnglishliteratureatauniversityinIran. Now, shetellsus, sheisstudyingforamaster'sdegreeinteachingEnglishasaforeignlanguage.

ATEFEH:"Ireallyenjoyedstudyingliteratureandliteraryworksanddifferentthingslikethat. But, youknow, asamatteroffact, whenyouthinkaboutworkingafterstudying, youwillseethattheonlythingyou'regoingtodoafterstudyingliteratureisjustteaching, right? That'swhy-- becauseIwasteachingalsoatthattimeIhadaninterviewwithyou, soIjustthoughtitmightbeagoodideatoknowhowteachingEnglishis.

That'swhyIchoseT.E.F.L."

AA:"Well, verygood. SohowdoyouenjoyteachingEnglishasaforeignlanguage?"

ATEFEH:"IreallyenjoyteachingbecauseIlikeitandIlikestudents. Iliketeachingthemhowtospeak. AndIreallyenjoyseeingthemlearnandimprove. I'vebeenteachingforfiveyearsnow, andI'vegotgoodexperiencefrommyclassesandItrytobecreativebydoingdifferentstuff."

AA:"Howoldareyourstudents?"

ATEFEH:"Mostofthemareadults, maybeolderthanme. I'mjusttwenty-three, butmostofthemaremorethantwenty-five."

AA:"Whatkindofschooldoyouteachin?"

ATEFEH:"Well, Iteachininstitutesandalsouniversity, andthey'reabitdifferentbecausepeoplewhocometoinstitutesarehighlymotivatedbecausetheycome'withtheirownlegs,'astheysay, aswesay, andthey'requiteinterested. Theyliketheirclassesandtheytrytobeactive. Butthestudentsatuniversity, becausetheyhavetopasssomecourses, theymightnotbeinterestedenoughmostofthetime."

AA:"Well, yousayinyoure-mailtousthatrecentlyyou'vebeentryingtobeacreativeteacher, tostimulatestudents--"

ATEFEH:"Yeah, exactly!"

AA:" -- andmotivatethem. Sotellmeaboutthat, whatareyoudoingtobecreativeandtostimulateyourstudentstolearnEnglish?"

ATEFEH:"Well, mostofthetimeItrytomakethemmotivatedbyjustmakingtheclassmorefunandinteresting. Like, ineverytermtheymemorizeasongandthat'squitefun, becauseatthebeginning, everysessionwesingthatandthat'senjoyable. Theylikeitverymuch. AndsometimesIputsomemeetingsonline. WemeetonlineinYahooandthenwehaveaconferenceinMessenger."

AA:"Andthenyou... "

ATEFEH:"OK, wechooseatopicbeforehandandwetalkaboutthetopic, wegiveourideas, differentthings, andIjustleadtheclassandcorrectthem."

AA:"Whatwouldbelikeatypicaltopicthatyousuggest?"

ATEFEH:"Forexample, oneofthemwasfriendship. Mostofthestudentslikedit. Wechooseittogetherandeverybodyagreesuponthat, andthenwetalkaboutit. It'sfunforthembecauseit'sextraactivity. It'snotincludedintheclassactivity, yousee. Thisisoutside, andtheylikeit."

AA:"SonowIrememberwhenwetalkedtoyoubackintwothousandfiveyouhada-- "

ATEFEH:"Yes."

AA:" -- Ithinkasheetofpaperonyourwall, maybe, whereyoutoldushow-- "

ATEFEH:"Yes!"

AA:" -- andyouevensentusapictureofhow, everytimeyouwouldlearnanewwordinEnglish, you

wouldwriteitonthissheetonyourwall. Doyoustillhavethat?"

ATEFEH:"Oh, no. IshouldsaythatIhavejustremovedthepaperfrommywall, butIhavekeptitandIhaveitnow. AndsometimesIjustlookatittoseeifthereisanewwordformetolearn. Butyouknow, becauseIhavebecomeverybusy, thereisnotimeformetodothat."

AA:"Whatdoyoufindisthehardestpartofbeingateacher?"

ATEFEH:"Well, thehardestpartformostofthepeople-- ofcourse, it'snotforme, it'snotdifficultforme, Ihavegottenusedtoit-- butthehardestpartisthatateacherhastoforgeteverythinginhislife, inhisorherlife, OK, beforegoingtoaclass."

AA:"Whydoyousay-- whatdoyoumeanbythat?"

ATEFEH:"Yousee, ifyouaresad, ifyouhavealotofupsanddownsinyourlife, whenyouenteraclass, youhavetobeateacherfullofenergy, veryhappy. Youhavetoforgetaboutallyourproblems. Ifyoujusttakeyourproblemstotheclass, youwon'tbeagoodteacher."

AA:AtefehisanEnglishteacherinIranandaglobalmemberoftheTESOLassociation. Andthat'sWORDMASTERforthisweek. I'mAviArditti.