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I was born with teaching genes. I loved helping out the teacher in our one-room elementary school, and got many phone calls from fellow students in high school, asking for help with homework. I tutored a grade 9 classmate who was failing English, and he passed! After that, I was hooked on the thrill of helping others learn and discover strengths they did not know they had.

Teaching in the public school system was not the wonderful experience I imagined. Most of my time was spent trying to keep other human beings relatively docile while exposing them to information they had no wish to absorb. I lived for those rare moments when someone would ask a probing question and wait expectantly for an answer. That was my opportunity to teach, if only for a minute or so.

When I first started teaching English Second Language to adults, I moaned to a friend, "What can I possibly teach them about English in 40 hours?" My friend (who also has well-developed teaching genes) answered, "Let them get to know you. Most of them have probably never had a relationship with a real live Anglo." She was right. The specifics of what happened in class were probably forgotten, but the resulting attitude changes made it easier for all of us to cope in a foreign language. If we have a positive attitude toward a particular niche of knowledge, we will happily go back there to look something up, re-learn what we forgot, or expand our vision.

When someone is seeking enlightenment on any topic, from irregular verbs to jam-making, the exchange of information becomes a vehicle for interpersonal connection. That connection creates a new window on the universe, and makes us hungry to explore its riches.

Some people are afraid to share their knowledge, as if it would diminish them somehow, and undermine their superior status. The reality is akin to Juliet's rhapsody about love: "My bounty is as boundless as the sea; the more I give, the more I have." We cannot teach without learning. When we share skills or information, we share ourselves, and make a difference in the way someone else sees the world. What could be sweeter than that?

Learn more about this author, Christine G..
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