In this segment of Teacher Real Talk, Farnaz and Celine (MEd; DELTA) chat about the difference between empathy and compassion in language education, the importance of seeing learners as people, not just students, and the need for healthy boundaries when dealing with student trauma.

They share some memorable classroom stories and reflect on how building trust and strong relationships with students can shape the learning environment and have a lasting impact beyond the classroom. They also touch on language educator resiliency, recognizing our transferrable skills and finding motivation at a time where it feels hard to keep going.

LINC= Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (free English classes for adult immigrants, permanent residents or newcomers)

COMM= Communications (college-level writing courses)

ESL= English as a Second Language

EAP= English for Academic Purposes

CELTA= Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Celine De Almeida has worked in several sectors of the ESL industry, including private language schools, LINC, language assessment, and teacher training in Canada and Europe for over a decade. She is an advocate for the professional development of educators and a firm believer that teachers are lifelong learners.  As an active member of the TESL Toronto community, she has served on the Executive since 2020, in which she has taken on roles such as the chair of TESL Toronto's annual spring conference, TOSCON, from 2022-2024, and as the chapter's President from 2023-2025. When she is not volunteering in the TESL universe, she is working as a Professor of Communications at George Brown College.

www.learningoffthesyllabus.com

Instagram: @learningoffthesyllabus

Email: ⁠learningoffthesyllabus@gmail.com⁠

Theme music:

Periscope by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artist: http://audionautix.com/