Teaching has its great moments. And it definitely has its less than great moments. It's quite easy to think of those ones - they're the ones that haunt us. The time you were being observed and the tape didn't work. The time you left all the lesson material at home. The time you just hadn't had time to prepare the lesson properly and, in front of your students, you couldn't do the grammar exercise yourself. The time you'd spent ages preparing really great materials and the students thought the lesson was boring.

I've recently taken on a class of six-year olds - a first time experience for me. The reactions you get from children of this age are pure - if they're unhappy with what's happening in class, there's none of the polite pretence such as adults might offer. There's none of the rudeness or sulkiness that teenagers might respond with. They just start to do something different! Walking round, chatting, rolling on the floor, fighting, drawing on the board, asking you questions or telling you about something completely unexpected, giving you a hug. And then suddenly you might get them back. A song or a very simple game acts like a magnet that time. The next lesson the same trick doesn't work!

Teaching is unpredictable and dynamic. We have to go on changing ourselves, developing as professionals to keep up with that. We have to be inventive, and we have to keep trying even when things don't quite go as we wanted. Sharing ideas in the staffroom, attending courses and conferences or reading ELT magazines are hopefully ways of encouraging us to reflect and to keep on. Even in the not so great moments. Many thanks to all of those people who took the time to write something for this edition of the Journal, sharing their ideas and experiences.
I hope as a reader you'll find something here, even something small that makes you think or helps you in your teaching in some way. And might help in those less than great moments. And why not get in touch and share some of your experiences or ideas with teaching colleagues in Portugal?

Julie Tice