When you think of English, what do you normally think about? Do you think about how English is hard, or how it’s easy? There are so many things about English. There is always so much to learn about it and that’s what I find enjoyable, and I hope others feel the same as well. English has many structures and there’s so many cool ways of learning English, or about English. 

Gabrielle Glavich, an English teacher for 3 years, expressed her likes and dislikes. Firstly, she said, “I love reading and finding deeper meanings within a story,” then she states, “I can be a slow reader, so I might not be able to get through a book as quickly as I would like.” 

Generally, Glavich stated, “I decided to teach English because I wanted to remind students that reading can be fun. I also enjoy helping students develop the skills they need to be a good reader and writer.”

How would you describe English? Would you describe it as fun or stressful? Glavich expressed that, “Patience- everyone has the skills to succeed in an English class; it just takes time to develop them.” 

Lastly, Glavich articulated the worst thing and best thing about English. For the worst thing, “Students can lose interest quickly if they’re not able to connect to the story or don’t find it interesting,” and for the best thing, “There are multiple possible answers to one question; everyone may have a different interpretation!”

Jillian Jimenez, another English teacher who has been teaching English for 4 years, asserted what she likes about English by saying; “I like the amount of creativity and opinions that can be put into the work. I have the chance to get to know my students so much better because of it. I also really enjoy reading and the places that books can take you. You may never have the money to travel to all the places you want to go but a book can take you there in your imagination. It is a beautiful thing.” 

And as for her dislikes about English, she said, “Reading the 150+ Essays after a writing unit. I usually try to let students pick some of their own topics so I am not reading the same thing over and over and that helps.”

For any part of English, Jimenez claimed, “I would consider writing to be the most difficult for most students because they get overwhelmed often with what to write. I try to tell students to word vomit on the page and we can pick and choose what to use and throw out from there. Something is better than nothing at all. Every person is unique and will give you a different answer for what is “easy” about English. For me, Reading is easy.”

“I think English is amazing and allows people to express themselves through writing and to find themselves through reading,” Jimenez stated. 

Jimenez, “I decided to teach English because I enjoy the subject and had a role model who encouraged me to start teaching.” 

For Jimenez, she would describe English as, “Transformative because I believe that reading and writing can be an escape and teach you so much about yourself and others around the world. Many people think the world consists only of those around them but when you read and write stories you can see how so many other people live and in return it teaches you a lot about yourself.”

The worst thing about English, Jimenez said, “Can’t think of one, English is AWESOME!!” and the best thing, “The creativity and imagination it allows you to use.”

Our last English teacher, Nathan Govett, who has been teaching for 26 years, stated about English, “I like that there are so many ways to approach all of the areas in the subject, and that there typically is not one “correct” answer for things.” afterwards, he states he dislikes,  “Sometimes grading a lot of large assignments (essays for example) gets tedious.”

Govett said that he would describe English as, “Diverse, because there are so many topics you can cover and an endless amount of ways to achieve that.” 

For why he decided to teach, “The English professors were very engaging and I enjoyed those classes the best.  I decided to switch from history to English as a major,” Govett states.

Concluding with what certain people think about the subject of English, how they feel about it, and what exactly they think, Govett concluded that, “One of the toughest things is convincing some kids that they are capable of doing well. Students often say they are “just not good” at a certain subject, like English or math.” and for him, the best thing is, “Having the freedom and creativity to do things the way I want to do them.”