Can we teach like this?

Of course not because we’re mere mortals. But Harold Ramis in the 1981 film classic, Stripes, can.

Stripes – Basic English

The film opens with Russell Ziskey (played by Harold Ramis) teaching a brand new class to speak English when he himself has never taught before. (In actual fact, Ramis, an English Lit graduate, was a substitute teacher in Chicago during the late 1960s.)

“I want you to call me Russell and I’m going to call you by your first names because, frankly, I’d have a pretty tough time pronouncing some of your last names.”

Now we, being professional teachers, would never ever, ever, go that far. Or if we did we wouldn’t say. Or not in the first lesson anyway.

But being Harold Ramis he is victorious. Watch how the end of the lesson ends… Stripes – Basic English

Useful Links

TEFL on Film – more films, most of which have rubbish English teachers pretending to do TEFL