The other day I came across David Deubelbeiss’ post I wish my students knew… in which he flips Kyle Schwartz’ question to her students a while back that went viral; “what do you wish your teacher knew?”

As so often, David got me thinking, firstly about…

What I think they already know.

1. I’m pretty sure they know I love my job, I hope it’s obvious when I’m in the classroom.

2. They know I give presentations at conferences in Switzerland and abroad, including IATEFL, because I don’t shut up about it.

3. They know I go running, because when I’m out of sorts one of them will always ask if it’s because I didn’t go for a run at the weekend!

4. They know I’m mad about Star Wars because I use it in just about every example phrase I give, and they definitely know the new film is coming out soon because I’m always banging on about it!

5. They know I’ve got pets because they are the stars of many of my lessons.

6. They know I love YA literature because I’ve started a reading club at school so I can talk to someone about Divergent, An Abundance of Katherines, etc.

What I wish my students knew…

1. I wish I could tell them that I really couldn’t care whether they have a folder with all the lessons and worksheets I’ve given them in the correct order.

2. I wish I could tell them that if it was up to me I’d never give them another test, ever, ever!

3. I wish I could tell them that I know one of them has added the word “tits” to my wordwall, but that I have pretended not to see it for the last month because it makes me laugh.

But most of all,

4. I wish I could tell them that school doesn’t fit everyone, and that if it doesn’t fit them then they shouldn’t beat themselves up about it, they are still fantastic and will have fantastic lives and fantastic jobs.