Being a teacher: the dilemma

I am a teacher, and this job, as some people know, is very hard and demanding. Some others tend to think quite the opposite. My father, for example, keeps saying the effort he makes in one day equals mine for the whole week. The thing is that they forget that a teacher’s job does not finish the minute s/he steps out of college. Part of our job is done at home; indeed, the biggest part of it.

Something else: we seem to disagree on what makes a teacher a teacher. What is a teacher supposed to do? What is s/he allowed or not allowed to do?

Is a teacher supposed to come to class, teach, and then go home? Or is there a beyond? What difference is there between a teacher who restricts him/herself to the content of the lessons and another who sees that there is a beyond that cannot be ignored?
I have been working with both sorts of teachers, and I can see the merits and demerits of both viewpoints. Learners may find a teacher who keeps to lessons boring, detached, inconsiderate, and they may hate him / her for this. They may think that they simply do not exist and that the teacher does not take heed of their interests, worries, needs, ambitions, etc. Yet, a teacher who tries to go beyond this teaching-only thing may find him/herself involved in a way that s/he may regret later. When I was an MA student at the Tunis High Institute of Languages, we had this most wonderful teacher who shared and cared, who listened to us, and who always gave us the thumb-up. His encouragement and consideration were just what we needed and we were all thankful, for a while. What happened was that some students did not pass the test, and in retaliation, they started blaming that teacher. They hated him because they failed, because he made them believe that they could pass the test; and when they did not, they put the blame on his back.

So, where are the limits? Where should a teacher venture, and what pitfalls should they avoid?
The way I see it, a teacher has a mission: to teach a lesson, and also to help their learners find a path for themselves. I teach first and second year students at university, and I can see that the future is very much blurred for them. The other day, I was discussing something with them and some said that they come to class because everybody else does the same, that they study because they have nothing else to do, that learning is not what really matters for them, and that they are not decided as to what career they want to have.

In a case like this, what is a teacher supposed to do? If this is a writing topic and if you want them to do the job properly, then you have to allow them to speak their mind. But what can you do when you have a situation like this? Do you mark their papers and then you move to the next task? Or do you take it upon yourself to help them see light at the end of the tunnel? It all depends on the personality of the teacher, but the question is: if you were in my shoes, what would you do? How would you react? Does the future of those kids matter for you, or do you come to class and teach your lessons, and then by the end of the month get your salary and that’s it- the job is done?

Book-worm

I am a book-worm, and I do enjoy the company of a good book. Nowadays, with modern technology and all the online books available, access to information has become easier than ever before.

Yet, and however useful and hands-on having all these books at our fingertip may be, nothing equals the joy of the physical contact with a book, having a book in one's lap, especially in a place under the sun or by the beach in just out of this world.

Today, in modern day Tunisia, the picture is slightly different, in that one can hardly spot a peson holding or reading a book for purposes other that taking a test. Newspapers, however, seem to have the lion's share.

The thing is that those daring to take a book and read it out there are in most cases looked at with disgust by others. I remember when I was teaching at secondary school and when I happened to be in the staff room having a go at some novel; and most of my colleagues, derisively asking me why on earth did I still read. You have a job now!! So what is the point???!!!

What makes me sad is that books no longer have their reveered place in the minds and hearts of the vast majority of people. We always come by newspaper articles speaking about how cultured the Tunisian citizen is, but the thing some of us tend to forget is that Tunisians read a lot, yes, but they read newspapers in the first place, especially the footbal sections. No grudge against sports!!! 

Proposed translation

With the hectic life I lead it took me some time to translate the text into Arabi. This is my own trnaslation, which is, of course, not the best possible.

و اكتشفت بعد فترة وجيزة أنّ صفة "ضخم" لم تكن لتفيه حقّه، فجسد ابن آفين، الذي هو عبارة عن فوضى من كتل اللحم المتراكم فوق بعض، كان أشبه بنصب تذكاري. تردّدت في الاقتراب منه حينما قابلته عينيا لأوّل وهلة و هو جالس على أريكة في بهو الفندق فلم أكن قد قابلت في حياتي شخصا في مثل ضخامته.

كان واحدا من ذوي الأجساد البدينة الذين قد تصادفهم أحيانا في الزحام، و الذين لا يمكنك، مهما حاولت، أن تمنع عيناك من النظر إليهم حيث كان جباّرا في بدانته، فالاضمحلال هو الشعور الطاغي عليك حين ترى انتفاخ و استدارة جسده.

A text to translate

This is a passage I like. Please feel free to contribute with anything
you like. I will provide my own translation in the few coming days 
but please feel free to contribute with anything you see fit, even 
unfinished senteneces.

As I soon discovered, the word “big” hardly did justice to him. Effing’s son was immense, monumental in his bulk, a pandemonium of flesh heaped upon flesh. I had never met anyone of his dimensions before, and when I first spotted him sitting on a couch in the hotel lobby, I hesitated to approach him. He was one of those monstrous fat men you sometimes pass in a crowd: no matter how hard you struggle to avert your eyes, you can’t help gawking at him. He was titanic in his obesity, a person of such bulging, protrusive roundness that you could not look at him without feeling yourself shrink.

Paul Auster, Moon Palace, p. 235. 1989 edition printed by Clays Ltd

Translation

I have have been cherishing, for some time now, the idea of translating some literary texts into Arabic and putting them on this blog, and then inviting others to contribute to my work with their suggestions. My aim is to bring people together and to do something for the betterment of all of us.

I think novels would be a good start and I have been juggling several titles, butI have to admit that a decision on which novel to start with is not easy to make. I believe I have to start with something I like, something I go on doing even when I am not in the mood. I read Moon Palace two years ago and I may start with an extract from it.

Aid Mubarak to all Muslims around the world. May this be the occasion for all people, regardless of their religions, to share and care about each other.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all Christians!!

I hope this is an opportunity for people coming from different religions to celibrate the values cheriched and preached by Jesus Christ.

As a muslim I must believe in Jesus as a messenger sent by God for the best of All humanity.

With due respect to him, and to all other messengers; and with due respect to all religions and to all people all over the world. MERRY CHRISTMAS.