Experience doesn’t always equate to competence.
A few weeks ago, I attended a conference in Andijan where a group of decent teachers gathered. I was clearly the youngest among them, but also one of the best—if not *the* best. One woman, around 35-37 years old, started boasting about her 15 years of teaching experience. I remained silent because I knew she was bluffing—not about the length of her career, but about her language skills. As a teacher, she was making numerous mistakes, which shouldn’t happen frequently at her level.
We organized a quick contest, where each teacher had 10 minutes to teach a lesson, and the others assessed them. The woman I mentioned scored the lowest, 5 out of 10. This demonstrated that "experience" doesn’t always translate to skill.
Many people judge teachers solely by the number of years they've been in the profession. But years alone don't define true experience. In the contest, I earned the highest score—9.5 for teaching and a perfect 10 for language skills. There was another teacher who performed at my level, scoring a perfect 10 for teaching and 9.5 for language. There were around 50 teachers present.
What I’m trying to say is that many people waste years claiming experience, while looking down on younger candidates like me. Yet, in reality, they stagnate and end up worse off. Like learning English, you can become an excellent teacher faster than others if you put in the effort and time to improve.
Take me, for example. I’ve only been teaching for two years—six months online and 1.5 years offline. That’s not long compared to those who claim decades of "experience." But I know very few, if any, who teach better than I do among the teachers I’ve met.
#just