I am a great (European) football fan. This passion sounds a little
unexpected for a PhD in Linguistics… Yes, I follow the main European leagues,
know about the latest transfers, and am a happy and proud owner of the season
ticket for FC Sevastopol games.
This is the right moment to ask me the question, “What are you talking
about? How can football be connected with what we all are doing in ‘Building
Teaching Skills through the Interactive Web’ course?” Well, I was thinking
about comparing teachers and footballers – what similarities can you trace?
First, we all must always train and stay fit to correspond to the goals
we set. A football player learns new tricks, a teacher learns about new
teaching styles or CALL techniques. A footballer drills passes and free kicks,
a teacher endlessly writes ABCD objectives and composes technology-enhanced
lesson plans…
Second, all football teams go to camps between seasons for some
extensive training. Isn’t it what we are doing now? We want to be better
equipped, consulted by progressive instructors, and enriched by some advanced
ideas we can apply during next fall semester (half season).
Friendlies… Friendly matches are often played to check players’
abilities and preparedness for a new season. It has been our fourth week since
we started to write our Project. I believe it truly can check how we are ready
to implement the new knowledge we are receiving from the University of Oregon.
And finally, what is your position on the teaching field? Are you a
striker, a winger, or a defender? What role do you play in your school /
university environment and how do your actions contribute to the team play? I would love to
be an attacking midfielder. According to Wikipedia, “More complete midfielders require a number of skills on top of fitness:
they tackle, dribble, shoot, and pass during any match. An attacking midfielder is any midfielder who is stationed in
a more advanced midfield position to assist goalscoring. The attacking
midfielder is an influential position and requires the player to possess good
technical abilities, an eye for a pass, running, and dribbling skills.” This is
it. This is what I want to become. A Zinedine Zidane for my students – highly professional
and reliable, ready to assist and develop, with skills ‘on top of fitness.’
So what about you? Do you like football?
So what about you? Do you like football?
Photo: FC Sevastopol
Photo: Wikipedia.
Hi Natalya,
ReplyDeleteThank you first for commenting on my blog last week and I do agree with your conclusion:
"Perhaps it would be good to concentrate on just some of them (web tools) and learn to operate them perfectly"
Nice to read you are a football fan because it reflects the other side of you. The side we rarely know about. Yet, the truth is, It would have never come to my mind that a female PhD in linguistics could be a European league great fan.
As a matter of fact I could have thought of teachers resembling -to some extent- actors(as they have to use gestures and facial expressions and control voice projection, maestri (as they have to lead the whole orchestra by guiding students "play the same tunes") or physicians (as they constantly diagnose problems and prescribe remedies) but it never occured to me to ponder on the common traits between teachers and footbalers. As to my position in the field, I guess I would be more comfortable with a goal keeper position to ensure more autonomy for my students. Also, a goal keeper is the person who sees every single detail in the game, he/she interferes occasionally, he/she is the direct responsible for the "Objectives" of the game and so is the teacher.
I would consequently choose to be a Valdés in my class and I would train enough to defend my goal against your "Zidan" shoots.
Cordially,
Omar
Hello, Natalya,
ReplyDeleteYour comparing teacher with footballers is amazing. And I agree with Omar that it describes your personality, it's good to get to know each other better and better.
Unfortunately, I'm not a football fan though I like watching FIFA World Cup and sometimes get impressed with masterful techniques of Brazilian footballers. As for position it's quite difficult to choose, maybe also a goalkeeper because your prior knowledge is strategies of football movement and you should make decisions immediately when you see a falling ball. As a teacher sometimes we should be ready to changing conditions or enexpected situations and respond.
But I would compare our process of gaing new skills during the course with going to a fitness club regularly. The more we do sport, the bigger our muscles are.
So, like in sport we should be ready to lose and win, ups and downs.
Good luck!
Valeria
Hello Natalya,
ReplyDeleteYour writing is phenomenal with an awesome analogy drawing a comparison between your favorite football and the webskills course. Reading your descriptive comparison, I feel like I were watching a final match of the World Cup. As a football player learns new tricks to get a goal, I agree that we teachers should equip ourselves with better skills in teaching. And this course will be definitely an answer.
Best wishes,
Kumwu
Dear Nataya,
ReplyDeleteeven when I am not a big football follower, I have to say I enjoyed your comparisson and your way to address the multiple tasks we have to deal with during our professional life. Training is vital! I understand of that, since I follow some regular fitness plan, and yes, it is of outmost importnace to keep us on track and in shape in order to accomplish our tasks successfully. I also love the beach, and you are vey lucky to have the Black Sea so close to you, I would love to see that view! I have the Caribbean Sea very close to my mom's place and there is where I'l dove to be. But, girl, we have to do, what we have to do! Take the best from this experience! Invited any time you feel it like having a South American experience!
Greetings from 365-days summertime Venezuela,
Mariale