CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF ECUADOR
SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY, LETTERS AND SCIENCE OF EDUCATION.
ENGLISH MAJOR
ASSESSMENT COURSE
Teaching Statement
Christhian Cupueran
March 2023
When I am asked about my teaching philosophy and how learning occurs, I have got to
look back to my early age in which I had my first approximation with teaching. I have had the
opportunity to be taught by so practical and down to earth teachers whose approach was to let
students learn in the way in which they might feel comfortable doing it. I am really into the
taught that learning occurs when students are faced with real life problems, situations from
which they will be able to store something in their long-term memory.
It was not until I started doing my first practicum that I came to the realization that I
needed to come up with my own in which I though learning could be enhanced. I attended so
many lesson, with different teachers, approaches, ways of thinking, material designers, etc.
Unfortunately, none of such way of teaching really caught my attention; I based my teaching
approach on the way in which I got to have the level of English I possess now, by self-learning.
Teachers should provide students with all that is required for them to be able to create their
own way of learning, learning by discovering and searching for something is the way out!
I would have to point out that I teach the way I do owing to the fact I learned in such a
way, and I truly believe others can do the same. I found reading books and have students do
some exercises based on what the teacher has just explain quite boring, time-consuming, and
non-sense. Practitioners, as we call them in ESP, should be aware of the fact that students do
not have to do just grammar exercises (form-focused approach), but rather; they must be told
to come up with something and that is why I made up my mind to base my teaching on realia
and task-based learning.
In some time now, I see myself giving talks on how learning should be conceived as
well as how students mindsets have changed over the years since teachers from today’s
generations are not actually aware of this. Some of them, and I have witnessed it during my
practicum, think that the teaching-learning process has to be the way it has always been. I truly
believe that we, as teachers, need to adapt to what kind of students we have. I mean, if we are
given millennials to be taught, we have to surf the internet and try to plan our lesson based
upon what they find captivating so that they actually learn.
CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF ECUADOR
SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY, LETTERS AND SCIENCE OF EDUCATION.
ENGLISH MAJOR
ASSESSMENT COURSE
I would say my teaching enacts my goals because of the materials I tend to use. I try to
plan my lessons by using one-of-a-kind videos which put forward nowadays topics, topics that,
even thought students might not be familiar with, they find them interesting and top-notch. I
make sure the strategies and ways to approach a certain group of students is not the one
previous teachers have already used with them in order for them to be engaged to discovering
why I am doing something and be willing to take part in.
What I think provides me with some evidence on the extent to which my students have
been able to learn something is their output. If they are able to produce something, to speak, to
express themselves more clearly in such a way they do not feel a barrier that is preventing them
from saying what they want to say, even if the level of vocabulary is not that high, I would be
able to say that they have grasped something from what I taught you. They managed to absorb
the essential substances from my teaching and took what they thought is not useful away.
I would say I try to create an inclusive environment by focusing a little bit more on
those whose level of expertise is not the one others have already been able to acquired. While
it is true that we do not have to let the ones with higher levels aside, I do try to pay more
attention to the students who are struggling a bit with what is being taught, I tend to create
mixed groups, students who have already been able to master the topics with the ones who are
still in the process. Meanwhile, for the masters not to feel they are not engaged and by that find
the class boring. I make sure they are provided with more difficult task so that they are aware
of the fact that everything is not learned yet, there is still a long path to be taken.
I have always been open to changes and recommendations. However, I have to admit
that suggestions from other teachers in the past used to make me feel they thought I was not a
good teacher, but now, I know that the more comments you received on your teaching whether
they be good or bad, they are learning. I look back to my first lesson and it is not nearly 50%
to what my classes look like today. I have been able to grasp a little bit from every teacher I
have come across, every mistake they made, every professor I looked up to my journey at
university and I could say my teaching is going to break boundaries. I am a generation z teacher
and I am 100% sure that, because of my vocation for teaching, which I have since I was 5 years
old, will take me to another level.