Of headbangers, New York City and crochet

"I am The Headbanger Teacher."

Yesterday, I said that to my coordinator, who looked at me unsure on how to proceed. "What does that mean?"

This post is about how I became the Headbanger Teacher. And how 3 main passions in my life has lead me to become The Headbanger Teacher.



Well, I am a headbanger. And I am a teacher.

This is my identity. Headbangers are people who go like this in a metal song:




Most importantly, headbangers are people who listen to heavy metal, who enjoys listening to loud and energetic kind of metal.

But what does that have to do to my classes?

Absolutely everything! For one, I use music to prepare my classes, this is how I get most of my inspiration. The sound, the lyrics, the artists, they all help me set up my lesson plan.


Also, I kind of want my students super-hyper in my classes: I like the dynamics, the energy we get. Just like in a concert, or just like when I listen to my favorite metal album.

I really like to think of my classes as if I am a singer getting ready for a concert: I know what to do, but I prepare myself for it all the same, and I get a bit of stage fright before every class.

However, I´d like to talk about how I learned to teach: in a bar. Precisely, behind a bar, working as a bartender in NYC.

How? How do you go from bartending to teaching English?!

Simple: I learned to read people. I learned rapport based on how people sat down, where they placed their arms, their choice of words towards me. I had to deal with many people, from all over the world: after all, it was NY, the capital of the world. It was in this restaurant and bar that I learned how to cook, too. I learned the hard way to cook, chopping veggies at 6 am, but I didn´t care. I loved it.
I worked in the best restaurants in the city that never sleeps. I never slept, as well.

Working in a restaurant and living in NYC taught me to be resilient to problems, and pragmatic towards solutions. It is a jungle out there, believe me, but I survived it.

But then, life can´t be all about work. And when you live in a jungle, you need to have an escape, and I found mine to be totally against my principles: I like to crochet. When I hold the needle, if I hold it too tight, my stitches will be ugly. If I hold it too loose, my stitches will be ugly. So crochet is all about balance: you need to apply the right pressure in order to have the perfect stitch. And also concentration: sometimes you have to do exactly 50 stitches, so you need to keep your focus in order to keep counting, otherwise you have to start over. And, finally, crochet is about relaxing; once you do it, you focus on the piece you´re working on, and you don´t think about anything else. It´s liberating!

I don't do it for money, it's my hobby: I like to make pieces, especially flowers, to give away as gifts for the people I come across. 


So there you have it: I like to listen to heavy metal, which gives me my strength and energy, I like to cook, which helps me ponder about my problems and find solutions, and I like to crochet, which helps me focus and keep me calm.