“what do you do?” is question often asked when meeting someone new, and lately i have found myself challenged with an answer when asked. i know what category i need to check on official forms when i have to specify my occupation, but “teacher” is not a word i would choose to use for myself. a person cannot teach in isolation – only a learner can define another person as a teacher, so should it not be left up to learners to actually define who their teachers are? instead i would describe myself as someone who tries to help people learn. not easily defined in a word perhaps, but true for me.