Part 14 - Memories of an English Teacher in Post-revolutionary Iran

A year before my graduation from the TTC, I was planning to continue my education. I was completely desperate about medical school and thought no matter how hard I try, I would not have any chance to succeed as the reason of my failure was not academic in the first place. Now, I think, maybe, that was a wrong idea. Being a TTC student could be a turning point in my status as the TTC graduates were almost half a mullah. The intensive religious training and continuous supervision and control over 2 years in a boarding dormitory could be a good reason to qualify for the medical school. Anyway, I did not try that option and decided to go for English. Therefore, I attended the nation-wide university entrance examination and went for English to get my BA. There were only two options at that time: English and English Translation. I have no idea why there was no TEFL or ELT offered in 1982! It was the first humanities examination after the revolution. I went for English merely because I didn't like translation. I believed that you will never get a good command of English as you always think about the Persian equivants of English words and expressions. We had been told that we have to even think on English in the TTC. Later when I was admitted, I realized that it was actually English Literature! I have no idea why it was not mentioned in their pamphlet before! I did not like literature at all but had no choice as It was done. I was admitted to Allameh Tabatabaie University in Tehran. This university had been created by the combination of a series of colleges that were mainly run by Americans in Tehran at the time of the Shah. Now that Americans had left, they should have been somehow organized in a new way. They combined them all and called it University and used the name of a high rank ayatollah as its name. I still cannot find the reason for this name because this university is not primarily a religious training institution! However, I was happy because Allameh Tabatabaie was never involved in politics and pursued his academic interest in the religious school on Qum. I had my Associate's Degree (AD) In English Language Teaching (ELT) at hand now and hoped that I could skip some courses to compensate for those two years of my life. This never happened and if had to start over. This had made me very disappointed and I always thought that I have lost two years of my life and still should repeat the courses that I have already passed in the TTC. I had no idea that there was a bigger obstacle on my way!

The day I had to register at the university was a big day for me. I was excited to be able to continue my education to a higher level. Being a part of the real higher education system, as compared to the ministry of education TTC, was very interesting and I just wanted to immerse myself in it as soon as I can. I was on time as usual and went to the registration office in the university admin building. I had to submit the documents as listed on their board for official registration. I had all the documents but one. One very important requirement for registration had skipped my eyes. All government employees had to submit an official stamped and sealed letter signed by a high rank official in their ministry stating that they agree with the registration of their personel unconditionally and without any reservation. I was just officially employed by the ministry of education and had no choice but to turn in that letter. Moreover, I could not hide my employment as I was 20 years old and if I were not a government employee, I had to turn in my military service fulfilment card that I did not possess. I just submitted my documents. The registrar noticed the missing document and asked for it. I assured him that I will bring that document and he registered my name conditionally. He also told me that I have only two weeks to submit that document to the faculty directly: otherwise, my admission would become null and void. I thought it is easy to get that letter because after all a more educated teacher is more worthwhile for the ministry, but it turned out that it wasn't. I just informed the school principle that I was admitted to the university and had to attend classes as a full time student, and he kindly accepted to cooperate with me. He arranged my teaching hours so that they did not interfere or conflict with my classes at the university. However, time was passing quickly and I couldn't get that permission letter from the local administration in Karaj. The local authorities believed that this permission is very serious and the decision should be made in the ministry main building in Tehran. This meant a lot of paperwork that was beyond my limited time. I had to postpone it as much As I could. Load-wise, teaching at middle school was no fun. I had to teach for 24 hours per week in Karaj and study at the university in Tehran. It was really hard to arrange everything and commute via the awful public transportation service of that time. There were three grades in the junior high school and I had to teach them all. The textbooks were all written by Iranians and no native speaker author was involved in this project. Therefore, there were not really perfect. In Iran, grade one junior high students have their first contact with English in a formal setting and have to start with the letters of alphabet unless they are sent to private language schools that were rare at that time. It is not currently the case now. English language schools have been mushrooming recently  and it is not a profitable business any longer. I tried to be always neat, clean shaved, and in my suit with my favourite perfume on. My students were always telling me that we could easily guess that you are an English teacher first time we saw you walking to the school yard because of those features. I should confess that I did't like teaching profession at all but do not know what happened that I became interested and in a few years it became my passion. It is exactly 30 years after the first time that I went to the classroom to teach, and I believe that there is no other profession in the world that I like to have. To be honest, I believe that if I get a  second chance to start over my life, I will definitely go for this job.