A Farewell Speech

This speech was written as a modest response to the heartwarming reaction of YAT, Port Said MCIT trainees (2010-2011) in the aftermath of their farewell party.

My Fellow Netizens,

For many years I have been interested in parties and the reasons that give rise to them. Parties, as it were, helped me stay social. However, I was rarely lucky with parties. Very few were the ones I could have the chance to enjoy, not least as a teacher.

Despite being a teacher, I do not always like to be thought of as one. Sometimes, it puts other people off and makes them feel afraid of approaching you lest you give them some homework to do. However, I can think of myself as a career teacher. Ever since graduation, teaching has been my profession and passion.

In the modern world, teaching has taken a completely different turn. Attention has dramatically shifted from the teacher and what s/he does to the learners and how to facilitate learning for them. With this philosophy in mind, I always saw myself as a collaborator in class, rather than a fount of knowledge - I'm a learner myself (http://langnling.blogspot.com/2009/10/teachers-as-learners.html).

During the past few months, I have been involved in a demanding supervisory assignment. It meant that I have to step out of the classroom and be on the move to shadow, coach and support fellow teachers. It has been a rewarding experience in many respects. Observing classes working with other teachers helps you focus on the minute details of classroom procedures. It has helped me develop my observation faculty and hone my feedback techniques.

In every class I observed, there was always something unique about the learners and certainly about the teacher. This has proved one thing to me: teaching is one profession that primarily needs passion to do. It is not necessary to have prior formal training in order to teach. Training matters, of course, but it's always the individual teacher's passion that makes the difference.

One of the lucky chances I had was when I had to come to your class to teach. It was a nice opportunity to come back to the classroom experience as a teacher. What was unique about that particular experience was the welcoming attitude I found on your part. We had only met once before, during the entrance interviews, but we could establish rapport together very quickly.

It is worth mentioning that when I started my teaching to adults job, I taught a group like yours but in Ismailia. Most of them are friends of mine now and we keep in touch. What I have always liked about groups like yours is the amount of creativity that could be found in class. It is a perfect environment where exchange of experience seems to be the only possible norm. I daresay I benefited more than I could benefit you.

Culminating in such a warm-hearted way, it would remain in my mind as an everlasting memory.

God bless you all and may you all achieve your goals - and get married.

Essam Abulkhaire, CHB
Author of 'My Life as a Teacher', Home Publishing, In Print