Teaching Online: a love letter to my students

Gavin the Boy Genius from Beijing. I am SO proud of him. We completed TWO Science syllabi in one year!

As I prepare to go on our end of year holiday for a couple of weeks, I can't help reflecting on 2018 and I'd like to seize the opportunity to take stock and give thanks. Just over a year ago I started teaching English online at italki and I've taught 410 classes (and counting) since then. Some of my regular students have become good friends and confidantes.

At first I was really nervous about teaching online.
Who would sign up to do this crazy thing?
To talk to someone, face-to-face, on the other side of the globe, in a foreign tongue, struck me as intensely vulnerable.

Despite the distance and the dividing screen, it's a very intimate tete-a-tete and shy me had to overcome filming my intro video, which more recently has proven a useful hurdle to overcome in creating these courses for the groovy online learning platform Udemy. 

I was lucky in that some of my very first students were first-timers too. Like my darling Renato, a Brazilian doctor who plays the violin and is simply wonderful. He was also first in line to purchase my Udemy courses. I'm so grateful for his support and honesty. We have shared so much over this year and it's an honour spending time with him.

One of the really cool things that's happened is that I've ended up teaching the spouses, children and siblings of many of my students. Marie, one of my fab Russian students, is studying in China and hooked me up with her teenage sister Olga, who is a DELIGHT!

Pedro signed his brilliant wife Carmen up -- and let me tell you that she teaches me a new word almost every time we speak!

Matthias was my first student to be an italki teacher too (want to learn German?). My initial nerves were subsumed by our shared interests and now I have the great privilege of teaching his two daughters as well.

I'm learning that teaching online isn't that different from teaching irl. In both realms it's all about the relationships.

Eladio and I have weathered typhoons and culture shock, Edith and I have gone from not being able to say one word to laughing and crying together, Chikara is my faithful reminder of how wonderful the Japanese are. Alex and I share a passion for meditation. Vera juggled her toddler while soldiering on. Ron got engaged! Roman shares my love of art and Virgina Woolf and profound conversation. Jerome fought off poachers. Karen qualified as a yoga teacher. Anne always shares the most extraordinary stories. Luis shows such consideration while fighting the good fight. Daniela got married and moved countries! Caio and I discovered surprising common ground. Wojtek and I will catch up soon after a hiatus.

And this is just to name a few of my awesome people from the four corners of our little planet.

My students are so dear to me.
They are my best teachers.
We sit together in a safe space free of judgement.
We listen and share.

Thank you for an amazing year.
Each one of you is a part of me and I treasure our laughter, our tears, our struggles and triumphs.
Sharing your stories has been so healing and I wish you every happiness in the year to come.

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