“I don’t think lessons should be heavy spirited”

To be a teacher that a lot of students look up to, to be some one that has open ears with an open heart ready to give advices, to be there for every one…  Today we are going to meet a teacher who is a role model to many of his students.

-Welcome, you might as well start by telling us something about yourself?

Hi, I am Moses Mebrahtu. I was born in 1981 in Ela-Bered and way before I turned one year old I became blind. I don’t know the exact causes of my blindness neither do my parents because they were not educated. So I grew up with no eye sight. But I never felt any different so I studied hard to achieve my goals and dreams.

-What were exactly your goals and dreams?

My ultimate goal was to be totally independent from any one given I am blind: I didn’t want to be dependent on any one, not even my parents I wanted to be a person of my own. My dream instead was to be a teacher. In our community a teacher is someone respected, that is mainly why I wanted to be a teacher.

-How does it feel to be a teacher?

The fact that my job is something I have been longing for so long: practically my whole life is a big fortune because my dream totally came true. Plus my occupation teaches me a lot, like how to be a good listener it helps you to discover new and fresh minds as well. It is a very respectable job so I feel alive every time I teach or I explain some matters to my students.

-What do you teach?

I originally studied social studies but since I also had a teaching diploma for English I and now a student of English language and literature.

-Do you like literature?

Absolutely! Because I consider it as a part of art. Since literature is a vast collection of poems, novels and so many other written forms that represent a particular culture and tradition. It is also a reflection of the progress of different societies, so I would say that I am definitely a big fan of literature.

-And what other forms of art do you like?

I am a passionate musician. I love music any kind of it: so long I could play it with my instruments it is good to me. Music actually gave me hope back when I was a teenager. You know how when someone starts to grow up tends to come up with many question about life. And me too had some doubts on my existence, my life and so many things and music got me through my tribulations. It kind of kept me busy from having crazy thoughts running through my mind.

-I hear you are a very loved amongst your students. Do have any special teaching methods?

Well… the most important thing is to own your students attention while teaching, you have to know if you are being understood. To do so your lessons have to be completely capable of being interesting for your students to follow so what I personally do is to be clear and make sure that the arguments that I bring up are of a light weight, I simply don’t teach facts I also add example or drawings, pictures, music or whatever to make sure to have my students attention. That is all. I don’t think lessons should be heavy spirited.

-Well, thanks for your honest suggestion and thanks for being here with us today.

Thank you!