I have always believed that teaching involves the sharing of much more than the subject being taught. In the educational process, a teacher must bring his or her whole personality and life experience to the classroom to help students in learn. A teacher should strive to help students learn the subject, but also something about themselves. Since I began teaching, I have thought of my work as a mission and an opportunity to introduce students to the wonderful world of the subject I am teaching, to open their eyes to how rich the world is and help them to find their place in it.. I love teaching, I feel motivated by my students` success and development and I am proud of the fact that I can contribute to their lives and careers. Concerning my subject field, I am blessed because as a student I had so many remarkable professors. They introduced me to different languages in ways that always included literature, history and culture. Since I was very young I have learned that grammar and vocabulary are hardly enough to communicate with people of different countries. On the contrary, there are whole worlds behind and beyond mere language skills. I believe in the importance of using literature, cinema and other cultural information in the classroom; the teacher must encourage students to use more sources than the textbook. In my former appointment at the University of California, Los Angeles, I had the chance to work with students of very different backgrounds. There I learned even more about the responsability of language educators to help break down barriers between cultures and prepare students to live and work in a diverse global environment. Both in Hungary and in the United States I have been fortunate to have extraordinary opportunities to build relationships with students and collegaues, in spite of differences in backgrounds, life styles and life experiences.