There’s a common saying in EFL, that teaching is all about stealing; that you steal your best ideas.
I think there should be a little asterisks on that: like any good thief, you need to know what is worth stealing.
It also brings up the difference between stealing and sharing.
I’ve been lucky to work in a teacher room where everyone has each other’s back. If you need a quick craft, an idea for a game or activity, a template, or some ideas on how to teach a grammar point, all of the teachers are quick to help out. It’s a great environment to work in.
But it isn’t that way in all language schools.
I remember when I was doing my TEFL course, I asked the trainer what his best games were.
He wouldn’t answer.
Instead, he referred me to ‘Google’.
I found his response difficult to understand. He actually believed that by sharing his best ideas, he would somehow be worse off. As if I’d stolen them, and he was now somehow lesser. He held that belief, even though I would never work at his school, or in any type of ‘competitive’ position.
If he’d shared some of his good games, my early classes might have been a lot better. It would have been a lot less stressful for me, and the children I taught might have benefited from his knowledge and experiences, which they would never otherwise have access to.
By sharing ideas, everything evolves in an upward spiral.
Someone can point out ways to improve your idea, whether that’s a craft, an activity, or something else, and hand it back to you. Everyone’s teaching and classes improve. Everyone wins.
In that sense, many of my best ideas come from the sharing of others, not from stealing. If you improve upon my ideas, I hope you’ll send some back.
