Welcome to the first feature of our Teacher’s Profile. At ME-Education, we are very proud of the caliber of our teachers. This is why we have chosen to showcase them in this series.
In these profiles, we ask our teachers to share a peek into their classrooms, teaching styles and personalities, so you can get to know them a little better.
We all know that today’s youth become tomorrow’s leaders. Teachers have the privilege of educating them in their most formative and impressionable years. It is because of this that we believe teachers have the most important job in the world. Those who have an impact on the children, have the power to change their lives and society as a whole. It is not a responsibility that we take lightly. Great teachers have the ability to change lives for the better.
Without further ado, let us introduce you to our very first educator, Mr. Hamish Bruce Ramsay Thomas. Mr. Thomas mainly teaches kids from 4 to 9 years old, and he primarily focuses on English phonics and speaking.
Mr. Thomas heralds from Australia and is one of our resident English teachers. He has been sharing his passion for the English language with our students for almost three years but his calling for education began long before he joined our great halls.
Mr. Thomas Snr. – Mr. Thomas’s father, instilled a love of teaching in his son during his twenty-five-year career in education. Following in his father’s footsteps, Mr. Thomas explains how much he enjoys his chosen career and how fulfilling he finds it. “For me, teaching is so rewarding in many ways. I get to meet new people and experience different cultures. I also get to work with children, which is a lot more fun than working in an office.”
We couldn’t agree more!
Mr. Thomas enjoys introducing children to ideas and learnings about language that they might otherwise not have come into contact with. He describes his teaching style as “flexible and relaxed” but he knows how to command the attention of his students when he needs to. By employing an approachable style of teaching, Mr. Thomas finds that he can expand on his students interests and push them to excel while still making the learning process fun and enjoyable.
In Mr. Thomas’s classroom, students are encouraged to identify their goals for the year and why they want to achieve them. By encouraging students to recognize and hone in on these goals for themselves, he is able to keep them engaged and motivated throughout the school year.
We asked Mr. Thomas to give us an idea of what an average day in his classroom is like.
“The class usually begins with a brief catch-up with my students. I like to know what is going on in their lives so I can appreciate their head-space before we begin learning.
Once the students are settled in and they feel comfortable, we begin working on the day’s exercise. These exercises vary from day to day but I always like to keep them fun and interactive. For example, we may run through interview question and answers so the students can practice their interview style or we could use the time to focus on grammar worksheets or reading.
At the end of every class, I’ll be sure to run through any expectations for the homework assignments so everyone knows what they have to do.
Sometimes, if I feel like everyone could use a little ‘pick-me-up,’ or if my students have behaved particularly well throughout the lesson, I’ll show my appreciation by using the last ten minutes of the class to play a game or do something fun. I think it’s important to work hard but it’s also important to strike a healthy balance.”
We asked Mr. Thomas to share some advice on learning and what he deems important in education today. He said:
“The internet is one of our most powerful tools when it comes to self-study.”
While traditional classroom learning is where we at ME-Education excel, we also encourage self-study to be used as a complement, to help your child maximize their learning experience. Together, these methods help students learn and retain information better, helping to enhance comprehension, grades, and motivation.
Self-study is a popular way to engage students with what they are learning in class. Students have the ability to access so many resources that now, learning can happen anywhere, anytime. With the proper safety measures in place, the internet can be a valuable tool in this process and we encourage this boost.
So now that we know a little more about Mr. Thomas, the teacher, who is Mr. Thomas the man? Well, he shared with us that he enjoys being creative, especially drawing. He likes to incorporate creative solutions wherever possible. Sometimes, if we just think outside of the box, the solution is right there staring us in the face. Sometimes it’s not, but a little drawing or creative outlet might just shake some helpful ideas free.
We love a creative mind, especially one who shares these ideas with our students because as the great Albert Einstein once said,
“You have to color outside the lines once in a while if you want to make your life a masterpiece.”
