Interview with Farhood Taghipour, Instructor and Coordinator

I was really glad that Farhood Taghipour gave me a few minutes of his time despite the fact that he had to deal with multitude of issues in his busy schedule. Farhood Taghipour woks as a head teacher (in charge of arranging classes for the teachers and registering students), instructor and coordinator at an institute of language learning ; he is 32 years old, graduated in mechanical engineering and of course married.

    Unlike many younger instructors, Mr.Taghipour has been teaching English since the year 2001.

    He started studying English for more than ten years before acquiring his CPE degree, and also has been teaching English for quite a substantial amount of time.

    I asked Farhood to describe how it feels to be both an instructor and a coordinator? In response he said "my responsibilities here are somehow difficult because I've got to deal with students and teachers and management…. it is a central part and, yes it is sometimes complicated".On a side note, being the equivalent of a hub for the institute has certainly influenced the way Farhood treats other people in an admirably warm manner.

    I then proceeded and asked him the reason behind choosing ESL as his main line of work and he replied that due to the fact that English is not only Iran's but also many other countries' second language, then as a result, it is of significant importance and is absolutely necessary.

    While Farhood did not comment on the way English is treated and handled in Iran, he instead showed his satisfaction regarding the students attending English classes who welcome the system's unquestionable focus on learning through engaging speaking and conversation in various courses with open arms. Farhood constantly talked about the grandness of communication in all English courses even those which might not initially sound exactly pertained such as grammar courses, but this emphasis has certainly worked simply because the results contain notable improvements amongst students.

    I asked him to describe the place of English language in the Iranian society , and in response he believes that since the majority of the population in Iran is made up of youth and youngsters English is considered crucial if not absolutely vital." They appreciate this speaking [in English], they love to speak in English because it is really common here in Iran" said Farhood.

    I then called for some thoughts regarding the ESL teachers, which unfortunately was  immediately faced with the word "shortcomings".

Mr. Taghipour believes that the major problem when it comes to Iranian teachers is the universities that fail to transfer the teaching techniques wholly and thoroughly by not emphasizing on communication and speaking methods. Although this problem could be solved by adding new conversation courses to college curriculums.

    When I asked him about the financial aspect of ESL in Iran, unlike our previous interviewee, he was quite satisfied by it, and considered it lucrative due to the fact that the emigration rate is so high in Iran; many people constantly reach out for such classes and as a result provide an uninterrupted demand for a solid market.

    As a tip for the students, Farhood believes that learners need to accept the significance of communication in English learning and fill this supposed gap by attending classes that are solely focused on the aforementioned skill. For the final comment Farhood Taghipour wants the learners "to start as soon as you can".