Summer break is a haven for teachers

Summer time is here and it’s a period that we all look forward to for reasons of our own. For children, it means a break from the daily homework routine and studies – or ample time to play on their tablets with no interruption from the elders in the house, joining a summer camp and making new friends. For some, it is time to pack their bags and visit their native countries and for others it is time to go on the annual family vacation. But a fact that people aren’t really aware of is that nobody awaits the summer break as much as teachers. It’s surprising, but true.

Teachers work much more than they are credited for by preparing lessons suited to the different levels of students in the same classroom, attending professional development workshops, correcting notebooks, making question papers, scoring the answer scripts, preparing the students for various intra and inter-school competitions and events, meeting parents and checking emails. The list is endless. All this, with the rule of not being allowed to sit in the classroom during lessons, makes it a job that is physically demanding and mentally strenuous. So much so that it leaves us with no time to attend to our families or even prepare a meal.

So these holidays come as a blessing and are welcomed like the rain in a desert. It is the time when we finally get to unwind, to pamper ourselves and to let loose the child in us. We get time to enjoy with our loved ones or pursue our hobbies. A time to just do nothing for a change. Such times are indispensable, because happy teachers make good teachers and good teachers make great students.

So here we are, getting our batteries charged to gear up for the upcoming semester and it surely is going to create a better version of us. But until then, sleep, relax, enjoy and have fun!

- The reader is a teacher based in Dubai.