THE CREATION OF THE TEACHER

Author Unknown

The Good Lord was creating teachers. It was His sixth day of 'overtime' and He knew that this was a tremendous responsibility for teachers would touch the lives of so many impressionableyoung children. An angel appeared to Him and said, "You are taking a long time to figure this one out."

"Yes," said the Lord," but have you read the specs* on this order?"

TEACHER:

…must stand above all students, yet be on their level;

... must be able to do 180 things not connected with the subject being taught;

... mustrun on coffee and leftovers;

... must communicate vital knowledge to all students daily and be right most of the time;

... must have more time for others than for herself/himself;

... must have a smile that can endurethrough pay cuts, problematic children, and worried parents;

... must go on teaching when parents question every move and others are not supportive;

... must have 6 pairs of hands.

"Six pairs of hands," said the angel, "that's impossible."

"Well," said the Lord, "it is not the hands that are the problem. It is the three pairs of eyes that are presenting the most difficulty!"

The angel looked incredulous, "Three pairs of eyes...on a standard model?"

The Lord nodded His head, "One pair can see a student for what he is and not what others have labeled him as. Another pair of eyes is in the back of the teacher's head to see what should not be seen, but what must be known. The eyes in the front are only to look at the child as he/she 'acts out' in order to reflect, "I understand and I still believe in you", without so much as saying a word to the child."

"Lord," said the angel, " this is a very large project and I think you should work on it tomorrow".

"I can't," said the Lord, "for I have come very close to creating something much like Myself. I have one that comes to work when he/she is sick.....teaches a class of children that do not want to learn....has a special place in his/her heart for children who are not his/her own.....understands the struggles of those who have difficulty.. ..nevertakes the students for granted..."

The angel looked closely at the model the Lord was creating.

"It is too soft-hearted," said the angel.

"Yes," said the Lord, "but also tough, You cannot imagine what this teacher can endure or do, if necessary".

"Can this teacher think?" asked the angel.

"Not only think," said the Lord, "but reason and compromise."

The angel came closer to have a better look at the model and ran his finger over the teacher's cheek.

"Well, Lord," said the angel, your job looks fine but there is a leak. I told you that you were putting too much into this model. You cannot imagine the stress that will be placed upon the teacher."

The Lord moved in closer and lifted the drop ofmoisture from the teacher's cheek. It shone and glistened in the light.

"It is not a leak," He said, "It is a tear."

"A tear? What is that?" asked the angel, "What is a tear for?"

The Lord replied with great thought, "It is for the joy and pride of seeing a childaccomplisheven the smallest task. It is for the loneliness of children who have a hard time to fit in and it is for compassionfor the feelings of their parents. It comes from the pain of not being able to reach some children and the disappointment those children feel in themselves. It comes often when a teacher has been with a class for a year and must say good-bye to those students and get ready to welcome a new class."

"My," said the angel," The tear thing is a great idea...You are a genius!!"

The Lord looked somber, "I didn't put it there."

Specs* - specification

COMPREHENSION

1. What is “vital knowledge”?
2. How do you understand the “to run on coffee”?
3. Why did the Lord said about the tear, "I didn't put it there."

LANGUAGE EXERCISES

a) Speak on theword-building pattern of the following words:

impressionable, leftovers, soft-hearted, problematic, loneliness, disappointment.

b) Search the text for the words that mean the same:

prodigy; to bear; drip (n); to sparkle; to achieve; disbelieving or skeptical; incredible; gloomy.

c)Complete the sentences with an underlined word or phrase from the text.

1. ___________________________ - to solve a problem or end an argument in which both people or groups accept that they cannot have everything they want.
2. _________________________ person is easily influenced by otherpeople, usually because they are young and lack experience in life.
3. ___________________________________to expect something always to happen or exist in a particular way, and to not think about any possible problems or difficulties.
4. ___________________ to use a particular kind of fuel or power supply.
5. _________________the food that remains at the end of a meal after you

havefinished eating.

1. ___________________________________to succeed in doing something, especially something that you have been trying todo for a period of time.
2. ____________________________showing that you find something hard to believe.
3. ____________________________to understand something or someone, or find the answer to a question, problem etc, after thinking carefully.
4. _______________________________ to suffer something difficult or unpleasant in a patient way over along period.
5. _____________________________________a feeling of sympathy for someone who is in a bad situation because youunderstand and care about them.

c) Study the table and remember the collocations

e) Fill in the gaps using the underlined words from the text.

1. He ______________________solitude and torture for months at a time.
2. You worry about teenagers because they're at such an __________________age.
3. I’ve known him for years but I still can’t ________________ him ________.
4. Every new car that is sold in the UK must be able to _________ _________ unleaded fuel.
5. Losing my job taught me never to take anything ________ ____________.
6. His job was to achieve the release of the hostages, a task he successfully ___________________.
7. Both women shared a ________________for victims of war.
8. You can't _________________ it for ____________ that they'll behave themselves.

IV. COMMUNICATION

Work in pairs to answer the questions

• Is there anything/anybody you can’t figure out? Would you like to? What have you done to figure it/him/her out?
• What do you usually do with leftovers?
• What do you enjoy doing and what do you have to endure rather than get pleasure from it?
• What is there in the world you have a compassion for? What can you do out of compassion?
• How can we teach our children to feel compassion towards animals?
• What do you take for granted?

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 1405