In the photograph above, my students are “cinnamon rolling” me: circling around and wrapping me into a group hug. It is a playful moment, but it captures something I take very seriously—the relationship between a student and a teacher.
Here is how I see it: whether you are learning a language or teaching it, you can be a hero in someone’s life. By a hero, I mean someone admired for having done something difficult or good. Learning another language takes time, effort, and courage. Teaching it well takes knowledge, patience, and a long-term commitment to the person learning.
The title of this article was inspired by Heroes (We Could Be). In another context, it is a good song. In this context, its idea feels fitting to language learners and teachers. We help each other do things that once seemed beyond our reach.
First, I Was a Student.
During college, when I was learning Hindi as a second language, we were assigned several good books. Those books became my close friends. I spent hours with them in the college library and language lab, trying to understand how the language worked.
After college, my collection of Hindi grammar books and dictionaries continued to grow. I was looking for the right combination of books for the diverse group of students I would work with as a private Hindi tutor. We met in cafés, offices, and homes, and worked through the language step by step.
I appreciate those authors, and the teachers who helped me along the way. Without that foundation, it would have been much harder to learn Hindi as I did, or to explain it to someone else. Being a learner myself also meant I understood something of what my students were going through: the questions, the confusion, and the pleasure of finally understanding.
Then Came the Responsibility of Teaching.
Over the years, I kept returning to those grammar books and dictionaries. I wanted to be the best Hindi teacher I could be for my students. I was keen to understand the language as fully as possible, while also trying to understand all the reasons they wanted to learn it.
But the main reason I tried so hard was that I admired my students to the core. They were committing their time, energy, and resources to learning another community’s language. They were doing the work right before my eyes, and I was walking with them from knowing little or nothing to being able to communicate. Fascinating!
Their desire to learn brought a real responsibility. Experienced language teachers were not always easy to find outside universities, and I knew how much my own opportunity to study Hindi had mattered. I wanted my students to have that opportunity too.
A student’s progress depends on many things: their starting point, previous language experience, goals, practice, and the intensity of their study. There is no single number of classroom hours that guarantees a particular level. What a good teacher can provide is a clear path, careful explanations, and steady support along the way.
A Place to Learn and Teach.
Before moving to India in 2009, I had thought about opening a language institute. Where it would be, what it would look like, and how it would work, I did not yet know. I just knew I wanted to keep teaching and create a place where students could learn and committed teachers could teach.
That place became Zabaan, in New Delhi. Since then, it has grown through the work of teachers and students who care about languages and the people who speak them.
One of the pleasures of studying in Delhi is that the language does not stop at the classroom door. Students can go out into the city and put what they have learned into practice. A conversation becomes possible that would not have been possible before. That is a wonderful thing to help someone achieve.
What Students Give Back.
The relationship between a language student and a teacher is a special one. Imagine teaching students at different levels throughout a week: some are just beginning, some are working through a difficult stage, and others are reaching goals they once thought impossible. Now imagine doing that over years.
You learn a great deal about the language, but you also learn about people. Students bring their lives into the classroom—their work, families, interests, and reasons for wanting to speak. Their questions send you back to your books. Their experiences give you new ways to understand and explain something. Teaching keeps you learning.
And when a student begins communicating with people in Hindi, those people often show their appreciation too. They recognise the effort it took to learn their language. The student feels encouraged, and the teacher feels grateful to have helped.
That gratitude works in both directions. My students’ commitment makes me want to teach better. Their progress gives me energy to keep studying and teaching. We fuel each other’s ability to learn.
Me and You.
Really, when we teach a language, we help someone connect with people in a way they could not before. When students learn, they give their teachers the experience of seeing that connection happen.
That is what the photograph brings me back to. There is joy in working with students, and there is joy in finding a teacher who understands what you are trying to do. At Zabaan, we get to share both.
A difficult goal becomes possible because people commit themselves to it together. The student keeps learning. The teacher keeps teaching—and learning too. The admiration goes round and round.
We could be heroes. Me and you.
Ali Taqi
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