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The whole concept of teaching always appealed to me, but what sold me was knowing that I wanted to teach French. Since I grew up through the French Immersion system, this makes me a FSL student who now teachers FSL!
Now that I am one of those teachers, I've really had the time to reflect on how my experiences with the language are projected onto my students today. I want to help them find fun & inspiration in the things that I found to be boring, and I want them to love it in their own way. At the end of the day, I want them to see that the ability to speak and understand French is positive thing, and hope they realize this too one day.
Teaching French when it is your second language doesn't come without some insecurities. We all know that it is impossible to understand every single language convention in any language, especially if it's not your first.
I've definitely had my "oops" moments when it comes to teaching, as well as creating products. Whether it's mispronouncing something, using the wrong word or just simply spelling something incorrectly, those moments are bound to happen especially when it's your second language.
I embrace this reality much more when it comes to creating products for TPT or other platforms. When someone is paying for something that you created, it certainly puts a lot of pressure on yourself to make sure that it is perfect - grammatically, in terms of the linguistic conventions, etc. I definitely feel way more insecure about the fact that French is my second language, especially when comparing myself to those who are French first language, because I worry that there will be small mistakes. As most teachers, I am guilty of putting way too much pressure on myself.
In saying that, I think it is so important to know that if and WHEN people reach out to you with suggestions for improving your work, keep in mind that they are only trying to help you.
I learned pretty early on into this journey that you will make mistakes, and it truly is your choice to make a decision in that moment - let it crush you, or take it in and grow.
You initial gut reaction may be to feel hurt or even attacked, so take a moment to embrace that feeling. Then, look at it from a different standpoint and consider how by fixing it you are learning something. People are reaching out with corrections because they CARE. They care about the quality of your work, and helping you to be better.
So to all of my FSL teachers teaching FSL, you've got this! Don't let the mistakes discourage you, but rather learn from them and continue to grow in your own beautiful way.
SAVE ME FOR LATER
