“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious” – Albert Einstein
I do like a good quote, they are usually insightful, to the point, and motivational. Was Albert Einstein modest with the above quote or is wanting to know more the secret of genius? If the latter is the case, we help our students to become geniuses!
I don’t understand
Today I had a lesson which involved free conversation, I spoke as I would to another Brit; not slowing down, using casual English, and talking about topics our students didn’t know. Did our students understand everything at first? No. If they did understand everything, we are not needed. What they did do was ask questions until they understood enough.
Did I make sense?
They also introduced new topics to me that I didn’t know about. Did I understand what they were talking about at first? No. I asked questions to understand what they were saying. I learnt a little bit about Japanese life when they were young. Did they know all the English words to explain? No. However, through asking the right questions we understood each other and we all learnt something.
No shame in learning
What we encourage our students to do is to ask questions without shame; it’s their job to ask questions and it is our job to answer them. Asking questions is the basis of curiosity: why, how, what, where, when, which, and, who. This helps with learning the English language and learning something new in English.
Another person who I like to quote is Rudyard Kipling, his poem, “I Keep Six Honest Serving Men” explains it all:
I keep six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea, I send them east and west;
But after they worked for me. I give them all a rest.
The second part of the poem is amusing too, please be curious enough to find it.
Keep being curious
Now, if you can explain the quote below to me, I would be impressed.
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing” – Albert Einstein
I don’t think we can make our students geniuses but I know we can help them better understand and be understood.
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