G Usha started her career in teaching English in the year 1985, eight years after her marriage and with two school-going children. A literature graduate from SIET, Chennai, she completed her B.Ed and M A (English) with the sole intention of effectively utilising her spare time as a housewife. Teaching English to school children started off as a pastime, but turned into a passion very soon. Today, a single day without the company of her students makes her restless. The students also reciprocate the same amount of love and respect for her.

After two decades, she doesn't find teaching monotonous, instead she looks forward to each day to bring new experiences along. This is also because she tries out several different things like language labs, enrichment programmes, compering, scripting for AIR/Doordarshan, organising inter-school competitions, exhibitions, etc in the school campus.

Initially, she taught primary classes and enjoyed it very much. She then started teaching classes 6 to 10. She feels that these five years in a child's life is the period the child should be moulded properly. The role of the English teacher, in this, is phenomenal. She considers her seven years at Padma Seshadri school as perhaps the best in her teaching career. Not only was she entrusted with important responsibilities, she was also given a free hand to try out new teaching methods and practices to bring out the latent talents in the children. She was in-charge of the enrichment programme for gifted children. Her duties also included preparing programmes for the morning assembly and compering for various school functions. She was also sponsored for various orientation programmes, which motivated her in developing her own personality and knowledge.

At present, she teaches classes 7 to 10 at Bala Vidya Mandir, Adyar. She co-ordinates the works of the English department, such as, Literary Club, school magazine, skits for school functions, to name a few.

According to her, communication, verbal as well as non-verbal is of paramount importance and English is a link language. Insight and mastering anything, be it science, IT, engineering or medicine will not be possible without the knowledge of English. We are not the native speakers of English and the children are exposed to more of 'Tanglish', 'Hinglish' etc, than the original language. Usually, people 'think' in their mother tongue and then literally translate their thoughts into English. The challenge that lies before the English teacher is to teach English in such a manner that students, right from kindergarten begin to think in English before expressing it in words.