Qualities of a Good English Teacher - Essay Example

Qualities of a Good English Teacher Teaching English as a second language requires a great deal of skills from the teacher. It is not enough that theteacher knows the language; a good teacher must know how to impart the knowledge that he or she has. According to (Krashen, 1981), language acquisition can be faster if the learner is not “on the defensive.” In other words, if the student is at home with his or her teacher, he or she will be able to learn English faster. When teaching English as a second language, the teacher must never force the student to acquire the language but rather facilitate the learning process and wait until the student is ready to produce good results. Since real language acquisition may come slowly (Krashen 1981) for many people, especially among adults, it is imperative that the student and the teacher get along well. Where there is cooperation between the students and the teacher, the learning process could become easier and more enjoyable. Moreover, where the teacher is able to build good rapport with his or her students, the students will learn to trust and respect the teacher better. There are many approaches to teaching English as a second language. For instance, in the language awareness approach, the teacher leads the students to pay close attention to the features of the language that they are trying to learn (Tomlinson 2003). The role of the teacher in this approach can be quite exhaustive since the teacher has the duty to help the students focus their attention on the certain features of the language and then help the students take cognizant of the difference in the way native and the non-natives speakers uses the language. By helping the students recognize the gap in the way native and non-native speakers uses the language, the teacher can stimulate a readiness among the students to learn (Tomlinson 2003). Since the English teacher plays a big role in the learning process of the students, the teacher must have the desired skills and attitudes that could encourage learning. Good teachers make good lesson plans that are suitable to the needs of his or her students. Since different students have different levels of learning, a good teacher try to gauge the learning abilities of his or her students before he or she makes his or her lesson plan. Although most schools conduct their student evaluation upon enrolment and furnish the profile of the students to the teacher, it is still advisable for the teacher to conduct his or her own assessment as to the level of English language proficiency of the students in the class. An evaluation of the learning skills of the students can be conducted by the teacher during the first of class. If the school has some standard teaching syllabus, the teacher must be able to use the syllabus to meet the needs of the students and not the other way around. A good teacher knows that there is no such thing as one “syllabus fits all” and that there is a need to introduce modifications into the syllabus to fit the need of the students. Aside from knowing how to prepare lessons plans, a good teacher must be flexible. Although planning and organizing the classroom activities is essential, a teacher must learn to be spontaneous. A good teacher must prepare for the activities of his or her class but he or she must also be open to the possibility of disregarding all his or her lesson plans whenever necessary. Always remember that when it comes to learning languages, a teacher may hit a brick wall every now and then. When this happens, the teacher need to deviate from the lessons that he or she has prepared for the day and introduce something that will stimulate learning among the students. Aside form being flexible, a good teacher must be creative. Creativity is very important especially when you are dealing with multi-racial crowd. Note that since the students come from different countries and speak different languages, it is not easy for them to grasp the meaning of the English words. To help them learn more, the teacher must be very clever when it comes to using the hands and other parts of the body to get a message across. A good teacher must know how to use different medium of instruction like games to get the attention of your students (Matheidesz, M. 1988). Note that both children and adults love to play games so teachers can most likely draw the attention of their students and facilitate learning if they introduce some of the lessons in the form of games. According to Radnofsky, M.L. (1988), it is important that the students are given some sort of mental warm-up to stimulate learning. Mental warm-ups could take the form of multi-media presentation where the students are allowed to watch as short presentation in English (Stoller, F. 1988). After the presentation, the teacher could start asking the students some questions on what they have just seen. By creating a good atmosphere from classroom interaction, the teacher will be able to help the students take more active role in class. A good English teacher must know how to ask the right question from his or her students. Questioning the students is one of the best ways to facilitate learning especially in language classes. A good teacher must be able to draw his or her students to talk in class and ask questions too. There are some new technologies that can help the teacher in teaching the English language to students. If the school provides for some advance facilities like computer software in teaching the English language, it is imperative that the teacher knows how to use these facilities. A good teacher does not stop learning and must always keep abreast will all the developments of his field of concentration. When teaching English as second language, a good teacher must learn to empathize with his or her students and not sympathize. Empathy towards the students is very important for teachers. Empathy leaves the dignity of the student intact while sympathy tends to lead to self pity. Always remember that language acquisition takes time and you cannot expect your students to speak and write fluent English in such a short span of time. There may be times when the going gets really tough for the students so you must learn to encourage them gently instead of bullying them. A good teacher must be tolerant towards the difficulties of his or her students and knows how to give verbal support. For instance, when teaching young children or even adults, the teacher must know how to acknowledge the ideas of the students. By letting the students talk about their ideas, the teacher empowers the student to take control of his or her learning process. Once the student feels that he or she is making progress, he or she will feel more confident to go on. Besides, letting the students express their ideas help them to practice their language skills. The more the students are encouraged to express themselves using the English language, the more they will be proficient in the use of that language. A good teacher knows how to lead his or her students into setting realistic short-term goals for their studies. By guiding the students in setting up their goals, the teacher will be able to help the students make small victories along the way. We must always remember that students need to have small victories to encourage them to work harder to achieve their long-term goals. For example, if the students are on individual learning programs, the English teacher must divide the program into learning modules to make the learning process less burdensome. The level of energy and enthusiasm of the teacher affects the learning process of the students. A good teacher must display positive attitude towards learning. He or she must adopt that “can do” attitude. Aside from being always positive, a good English teacher must also display a good amount of sense of humour. Laughter reduces tension. Making the students laugh every now and then will help facilitate learning. Being a teacher of foreign language is never an easy task that it is very important for the teacher to be very determined. A teacher must never give up on his or her students. If a student is having difficult in learning the English language, the teacher must never choose the easy way out and put down the child as a failure. For teachers who are committed to teach their students, failure is never an option and no student should go without support and encourage in whatever form possible. Teachers who want their students to learn the English language is not afraid to take risk and try new things. For instance, not following the traditional classroom arrangement can help the students and the teacher work better together. Note that the traditional setting of the classroom force the students to seat in rows where some of the students have to stay at the back while the other stay closer to the teacher. If a teacher would really like to create a more dynamic atmosphere in the classroom, he or she could alter the sitting pattern of the classroom and allow the students to interact more freely with each other. References: 1. Bolitho, R, Carter, R, Hughes, R, Ivanic, R, Masuhara, H, and Tomlinson, B (2003) Ten Questions about Language Awareness. ELT Journal 57/3. 2. Krashen, Stephen D. 1981. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. English Language Teaching series. London: Prentice-Hall International (UK) Ltd. 3. Matheidesz, M. (1988). "Communication games-Are they really effective?" (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 299 820)  4. Pinker, Stephen (1994). The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language. New York: Harper Collins.  5. Radnofsky, M.L. (1988). "The mental warm-up: An activity to promote quality learning." (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 301 042)  6. Stoller, F. (1988). "Films and videotapes in the ESL/EFL classroom." (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 299 835)  7. University of Wisconsin Stevens Point http://www.uwsp.edu/Education/stwea/tenqualitiesofoutstandingteachers.htm Read More