MISHKA ---> I did Spanish in Years 9 and 10, and we had the LOTE coordinator, who is Spanish by birth, but also speaks Italian, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese and Arabic (little wonder she became a LOTE big wig). Our class was also very small, only about 7 people. She was so good - she never laughed at our (mis)pronounciations, made up all these cool listening and reading activities (eg for one listening assessment, we got to listen to an interview with Antonio Banderas about Zorro, and for reading, we had to read a Spanish email forward about bullfighters that was very funny) and immersed us in the culture by bringing in newspaper articles, getting us to cook traditional Spanish food (I cheated, brought in my Mum's tortilla...yum), giving us lessons in flamenco dancing, taking us to see Amores Perros...Plus she was so funny and, like, cosmopolitan, having travelled everywhere...She made learning, even horrendous grammar, fun, so we excelled. It is good that you virtually get one on one tuition, as Spanish grammar can get really hard, and the accent is difficult to master if you're a non - background speaker. Do you do Beginners or Continuers?
My best teachers this year, are, without a doubt, my two English teachers (both middle aged ladies) and my Studies of Religion teacher (also a middle aged lady). The former are just so excellent - they are both naturally funny, really give you confidence by saying things like 'the HSC is easy', 'if we got over 90, you guys will have no problems', 'it's simple, just do this...' (you have no idea how much this boosts your confidence and motivates you to actually read King Lear, write an essay on Emma, etc.), when you are ultra stressed, say exactly what you want to hear eg 'the HSC isn't the end of the world' and 'you will NEVER be defined by a mark on a piece of paper'. Not only are they good counsellors, they are also excellent teachers - they are able to explain the most complex texts in layman's terms, make the most boring modules (mildly) interesting, give us excellent notes from the top of their heads (one of the them gave us a lecture on 'Crossing the Red Sea', I seriously had 3 A4 pages of notes by the end of it) as well as supplementing these with copious material, not only from study guides, but previous Band 6 students' essays, specialist books from Fisher Library, masters thesis, etc. And I'm not the only one who thinks so - they recently won the Premier's Excellence in Teaching Award. My SoR teacher is also good - she has so much knowledge, she just stands there, says 'OK, we're doing Aboriginal spirituality's inextricable connection to the land' and she's off for an hour at least - she has one of those compelling voices you could listen to for ages, plus she's really funny and informative, so not only do you get down heaps of good notes, you also REMEMBER them really well...I only did a cursory read through of my notes before our half yearly and got 39/40, just cause everything she said stuck in my head. Then, at the end of the lesson, she'll give us stuff from the Macquarie Revision Guide, relevant articles from the Catholic Weekly, etc.
THANK GOD FOR EXCELLENT TEACHERS!! And by the way, don't hesitate to tell your faves how good they are and how much they're helping you...I tell my English and SoR ones every lesson, and they reckon it motivates them to do an even better job, plus is really nice, cause all they usually get is back chat and criticism. So, SHOW YOUR APPRECIATION!!! (Whoops, didn't mean this to sound like an aggressive army recruitment poster...)
