Academic Staff

Biography

My name is Zoleikha BabaAli Shahbazi. I was born in Mahabad, Iran in 1981. I graduated from Naqadeh Payam-e-Noor University in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in English Language Translation. I received my master’s degree in English Language Teaching from Imam Khomeini International University in Qazvin in 2014.
I started working as an English teacher after obtaining my BA. I taught English at several institutes in Mahabad. I worked at Iran Language Institute, which is a very well-established one in Iran, for almost ten years. During those years I gained a lot of experience. In 2020, I started teaching at the Language and Development Center at Raparin University.
I am very interested in reading, both academic and non-academic. I try to update and increase my knowledge on the latest effective teaching methodologies. In my opinion, teachers should use the learner-centered approach to make the students more autonomous and active in the process of learning. In addition, a teacher should develop a good rapport with students to motivate them and make a stress-free atmosphere for English learning.

Philosophy of Teaching

English learning has always been a stressful experience for foreign learners. In my opinion, a teacher should develop a good rapport with students to motivate them and make a stress-free atmosphere for English learning. In addition, teachers should use the learner-centered approach to make the students more autonomous and active in the process of learning. I usually make the class activities more fun by encouraging group work and pair work. Also, I try to engage the students in discussions and I ask them to give their own ideas regarding a particular topic. I believe the teacher is a facilitator that guides the students through the process of learning and the students are responsible for their own learning. The students need to discover and investigate by themselves if we want learning to happen.