Another month, another spotlight on one of our amazing teachers. Meet Anne – an English teacher with Global LT.
Anne started teaching in-person classes with Global LT back in 2018, stepped away for a couple years, and then came back in 2023 with virtual lessons.
She got her start with teaching early on, double majoring in education and sociology. For those unfamiliar, sociology is the study of human society that focuses on human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interactions, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. Anne’s history with both education and sociology connects perfectly with her work as a language teacher.
She’s also taken courses in teaching reading, with a focus on phonics, post bachelor-degree courses, and has a year of graduate work toward an MBA. She also used to write curriculum and other books and is currently writing an ESL (English as a Second Language) book for teachers and students, specifically centered around pronunciation.
To say she’s passionate about teaching and education is an understatement – in addition to all of her educational work, she’s learned some Chinese, a bit of Arabic, some German, and is currently working on learning French.
“Being an adult language learner is such an asset because it helps me understand the process – including the thrill of victory and agony of defeat when things don’t go as you expect. Being able to say ‘yes, I understand’ is a huge advantage when working with my students.
I also try to learn ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’, ‘thank you’, and ‘you’re welcome’ in my students’ language to show respect. Even though the class is about English, it’s important to respect the students and their backgrounds.”
Anne has traveled internationally, both in groups and solo, and has moved a number of times. And even though she hasn’t done international moves, it’s still difficult and she understands that between departure and arrival, there’s a lot of room for trauma as their whole life is being turned upside down so she tries to be very affirming in that process as her students go through it.
Her interest in culture started as a young girl with her international pen pal in Germany that she wrote to for over a decade. “I was always so impressed because she knew three languages and I only knew one at that point. It was very inspiring.”
Between her interest in cultures and her background in sociology, she is able to look at every part of language learning holistically – pronunciation, idioms, and body language being just a few of those parts.
“I feel like a language archeologist or a language detective. You have to work down to the layers, and if there’s an issue with pronunciation or word order, I try to get to the bottom of it. Sometimes it’s just a small slice we need to work on, like a certain vowel or a certain combination of letters together. You’re dissecting a word into sounds and your mouth has to do all these different gymnastics it’s not used to doing. And as a language learner myself, I can appreciate what they’re going through.
I like to use the term ‘balcony people.’ As we’re on the stage of our life, there are people who are there cheering us on with a standing ovation, and that’s what I feel like I am a part of. I’m an ambassador for the U.S. and the English language, and I say right from the get-go that English is wonky because there are so many exceptions to the rules. But I feel like I’m a balcony person for each of my students on the stage of their life as they learn English.”
Anne tries to make her lessons as personalized and fun as she can, and she’ll use textbooks if someone needs that, but a lot of the time it’s just being a language detective and listening in conversation to what they’re having issues with and working on that.
“Mistakes are important in order to learn – they help you to fall forward to success. Mistakes at least mean you’re trying, and that gives me more information to know what to work on.”
Anne is truly passionate about making sure her students feel understood, respected, and valued. But don’t just take our word for it. Here is some of the feedback from her students:
“I’m so happy with the classes because [Anne] is so good and understanding with everything. I’m so comfortable with everything. She’s an excellent teacher. The material is excellent with a lot of interesting and funny techniques.”
“I appreciate how Anne is proposing the agenda for the classes, topics, and giving feedback. I am improving my English, and she is doing a great job.”
“Anne was a strong help for my language development, and I can tell you that she does it because she loves it. It makes a huge difference for foreign people like me. Thank you, thank you, thank you for allocating Anne those months for my classes! She is amazing.”
Ready to experience our teachers for yourself? Let us know! Our team is ready to pair you with the perfect teacher so you can start your own language-learning journey.
This blog post was written by Megan Tully, Marketing Manager.
