The art of learning
Close to 10 years ago, I was invited to teach public speaking to a group of college students in Dubai. It was an invigorating experience over the course of a long, hot summer and it got me back in touch with how young people think. Most of the students in the class were only interested in getting a passing grade. The others were not even interested in being present for class.
My personal challenge was to treat them like a friend and make public speaking appealing. The huge reward came a few weeks later when I was called, "Maam" in a large electronics store by one of my students. After catching his breath, he came over to say hi. It melted my heart.
Zip to circa 2015 and my tryst with teaching has led me to another group of students in Dubai. I have been asked to teach them effective communications and the age group is around 12 years of age. It has always amazed me how much I get out of each class conducted. The particular group that I met were more interested in my background as a journalist. They shot questions at the speed of light. It was both encouraging and eye opening and made me realise that a lot has changed.
In between the session, I had to evaluate each of them. I soon learnt how focused each of these pre-teens were. When asked if they knew what they would take up in life, each of them had goals ranging from, 'I would like to work on the humanitarian aspects of the United Nations' to 'I want to get in to business, particularly retail.' Another student wants to play cricket professionally.
At that age I had barely learnt how to tie my shoe laces. Okay, I learnt that fairly earlier in life. Perhaps each passing generation is expected to be ambitious and have a certain drive earlier than ours.
Most of the children in my 9 year old's class already has their own mobile phone. Call me old school but 9 is far too young for any child to own a mobile phone. Of course they aren't allowed to take it to school. A friend who is a college lecturer had once mentioned how she has to keep reminding her students to shut off their phones during the class.
At the end of the day my role as parent and teacher is unending and I'm glad to see that while so much has changed, a lot has still remained the same.
My personal challenge was to treat them like a friend and make public speaking appealing. The huge reward came a few weeks later when I was called, "Maam" in a large electronics store by one of my students. After catching his breath, he came over to say hi. It melted my heart.
Zip to circa 2015 and my tryst with teaching has led me to another group of students in Dubai. I have been asked to teach them effective communications and the age group is around 12 years of age. It has always amazed me how much I get out of each class conducted. The particular group that I met were more interested in my background as a journalist. They shot questions at the speed of light. It was both encouraging and eye opening and made me realise that a lot has changed.
In between the session, I had to evaluate each of them. I soon learnt how focused each of these pre-teens were. When asked if they knew what they would take up in life, each of them had goals ranging from, 'I would like to work on the humanitarian aspects of the United Nations' to 'I want to get in to business, particularly retail.' Another student wants to play cricket professionally.
At that age I had barely learnt how to tie my shoe laces. Okay, I learnt that fairly earlier in life. Perhaps each passing generation is expected to be ambitious and have a certain drive earlier than ours.
Most of the children in my 9 year old's class already has their own mobile phone. Call me old school but 9 is far too young for any child to own a mobile phone. Of course they aren't allowed to take it to school. A friend who is a college lecturer had once mentioned how she has to keep reminding her students to shut off their phones during the class.
At the end of the day my role as parent and teacher is unending and I'm glad to see that while so much has changed, a lot has still remained the same.
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