The relativism of teaching

By Marina Malesevic-Petrovic, City College, Novi Sad, Serbia

This is what I have noticed both as a teacher and a teacher trainer:

1. Different teachers stick to different approaches, depending on their own learning experience, their TEFL /TESL education, influences and experience
2. Different students learn in different ways, depending on their age, monolingual or bilingual environment, and myriad of other factors.

Observing teachers and assessing students, I was amazed at how much was being learned under all kinds of teaching and this is the common denominator of this discussion the fact that our students are learning - no matter which approach they are being exposed to. Therefore, we, as teachers, feel confident in taking sides, depending on our own experience.

One's viewpoint on other teachers' approaches can only be the reflection of one's own capability to accept the relativism of teaching. Because of that I would like to invite each and everyone to write his/her own 10 commandments of teaching, so we can learn while teaching.