®

Teach
Yourself

!
¡
1
_j

1
1
i
1
1
¡
i

.;/ '
• ' -.....
~:1-7.;
1 f
complete guide
1

'It answers ali

.~.,
:z -

those questions
new language
teachers have.'
David Carr, Director of
Teacher Training,
International House ....
London ~ij
 Being a teacher

Most people remember at least sorne of their teachers fro

whether positively or negatively. Teachers make an impres;~hooldays,
students hove expectations. lf being a student is a ·compli · And
· t ene~,' th en being
ex1s · a t eacher ·1s t rying
· to meet the. manycated
varying
expect~t1ons that students hove, and that the teacher herself ha
teacher s role. Perhaps we should soy 'roles' because 'teachin , . s, of the
9 15
of what the teacher has to do inside - and outside _ the cla only Part
ssroorn.
TASK
1 Think b~ck to your_ own schooldays andthe teachers you
had. Wh1ch ones d1d you consider to be 'good' and which
'bad'? Why? were
2 If you studied a language at school, how did that teacher
approach her lessons? What was effective and not effective and
why? How did you learn? Was anything lacking in your lessons?
3 On the basis of your previous answers, what do you think
constitutes an effective and popular teacher of English to
speakers of other languages? Make a list of the most important
qualities.

Many people have experienced the 'listen and take notes' approach to
language learning, followed by doing practice exercises from a book,
and with a strong emphasis on remembering what has been learnt, as
opposed to using the language. It must be stated that sorne students
do prefer this approach (which is not necessarily to soy that it is an
effective approach). This method implies a very limited responsibility for
the teacher whereas, in reality, the effective and popular teacher hasª
multitude of responsibilities.
The survey I did with students highlighted not only this multitude º'.
responsibilities, but also the expectations that students hove of th eir
teacher. Students, of any subject, are a critica! and discerning audlence,
which can rnake a teacher's job hard. However, if teachers can respond to
their students' personalities, attitudes, needs and backgrounds, they will
becorne better teachers.

What makes a good teacher?

I asked the sorne students featured in Unit 1 'What rnakes a good
teacher?' Of all the questions I asked, it was this one that produced the
rnost opinions. In no particular order, these are sorne of the qualities
rnentioned in their replies:
'they rnust be passionate about teaching, and patient, adapting to the
level of the students'
'a good teacher rnust be strict, friendly, interesting'
'should be passionate and intelligent'
'should teach grarnrnar clearly'
'should not rely on the course book only'
'rnust know students' individual needs'
'help students rnake progress'
'give interesting lessons'
'be kind'
'not show a distance'
'be funny'
'have an original teaching style'
'have energy'
'have lots of patience'
'adapt the course book'
'treat students as individuals'
'be stimulating'
'know the students' names'
'you must know your students'
'mustcare'
'it is not enough to know your subject'

2 Beíng a teacher 11
 -'Knowing your subject is not enough'
Just from these comments it Is obvlous that a teacher has t b
than a 'teacher'. That last comment - 'lt Is not enough to knºowe more
subject' - underlines the point that lt Is not enough for a tea h Your
into a classroom and effectively 'glve a lecture' whlle student~ er to Qo
make n
Of course, the teacher has to know her su b1ect - thls Is essentlal _ b 0tes.
not enough. ut lt Is
For new or trainee teachers, however, 'knowlng your subject' feel
more than enoughl What strikes terror into new teachers' heart/is
the 'G-word' - grammar. The most common cry I hear is 'I don't kn
grammar - I never did it at school.' Or, if grammar was learnt at sc~: , .
0
was in the form of so-ca~led rules ~f language, and terminology that h~t
all been forgotten. Well, grammar is, or should be, much much more th
this. We will see in a later unit what is involved in learning 'grammar' adn
how it can-be 'taug ht.' However, t hat -is t he 'teaching' not the 'knowing'.
' an
Yes, as teachers we do hove to know how the present perfect simple is
formed and how it is used. We need to know what a phrasal verb is and -
the different kinds that exist. We need to know why we can say 'if I Jeft
now' rather than 'if I wi// leave now', and we need to know why may has
_different meanings in the sentences 'You may leave now if you want'
and 'Luc's late, he may hove missed the bus'. The 'mistake' new or trainee
teachers sometimes make is to think that they hove to know everything
straight away. Well, relax. First, no teacher knows everything about the
language they are teaching and never will.
Second, teachers startíng out are students themselves, students ofthe
láriguage they are teachíng. You learn as you go along and you build up
your knowledge. This is how it has to be. So don't read a grammar book
from cover to cover. Instead, concentrate on understanding the language
that you are going to be focusing on next in the classroom. Little by little
your confidence will grow.
The teacher also has to know how to teach. She has to have an
awareness of effective and successful methodology. The comments about
the teacher not relying on the course book, gívíng interestíng lessons,
having an original teachíng style, and being stimulating, all confirrn
that students want - expect - theír teacher to teach in a much more
challenging and interesting way than simply setting them work frorn th e
course book. The main part of this book deals with this very area - th e
methodology.

12
 'Give interesting lessons'
Students get bored easily. They expect the teacher to plan her lessons so
that learnlng becomes lnterestlng, challenglng and varled. They expect
the teacher to teach In a way that Is approprlate to the level belng taught,
and to the indlviduals In the class. They expect the teacher to adapt and
supplement the course book being used and definltely not to rely on lt as
the sole resource. In short, they expect the teacher to know how to teach
effectively, and for the teacher to 'be stimulating'.
We saw in Unit 1 that students generally respond better, and benefit most,
from a communicative approach to learning, and it is this approach that
we will focus on here. Very frequently, people who hove undertaken training
courses in teaching English in the communicative way hove told me they
wish they had learnt a language in the sorne way. I certainly wish I had.

'Know your students'

. But still that is not enough. A teacher may know her subject: She may
know how to teach it, but she has to know the people that she is teaching
- and I don't just mean 'know their names', though that is important,
too. So, find out about the students - the people - tha.t you are teaching:
what they like and are interested in; and what they don't like and are not
interested in. Find out about their previous learning experiences. Find out
what their expectations are of the course you are going to be teaching.
Find out what their aims are. Ask them about themselves: their country,
their culture, their interests. Speak to them outside class. Speak to them
inside class. Listen to them. Show an interest in what they are saying.
Show an interest in them as human beings. Be approachable. Help and
support them. Be friendly. Respond to their needs. Be tolerant. Be patient.
In my opinion, no teacher is complete if they do not go beyond 'teaching
the lesson'. The personal qualities required by the teacher described here
can be summed up in the phrase 'show an interest'. If you do not want to
show an interest in students as human beings, you will only hove limited
success as a teacher.

'Be passionate and patient'

Thomas Grossmann, remember, can look at the roles of the teacher
from both perspectives. When he gave me his views on being an English

2 Being a teacher 13
 teacher he had only recently started hls first
fi Job,
· andf only a short tlrne
before that had Passed his Cambridge Pro c1ency o English exarn· He
. d.in England and went on to teach In hls home country, Switzerland.
trame
This ¡5 what he says:

1think to be a successful teacher you hove to like the Job. One

should be able to motivate the students and make lessons fun.
A dash of humour would be good, too. The ability to explain
something complicated in a clear way is important. Having
patience, creativity, and good communication skills are an
advantage, too.
I started teaching and it's great fun. I was really nervous befare
the first lesson but everything went smoothly. Ttie worst thing that ·
has happened to me as a teacher was that I wanted to teach thern
too much - I had three so-minute lessons and prepared a lesson
pla~ for each lesson. But after two lessons I was still doing material
which I had prepared for the first and in the end I hurried them just
to get through everything. Looking back, I think that was
a mistake.

You hove to 'like the job'. Yes, you do. Of course, at times all teachers
want to scream and do anything but go and teach their 25th hour of
the week. But there are few jobs, if any, which are always positive. With
this job, you meet people from all Over the world; you hove the scope for
creativity (mentioned by Thomas)., and can hove a very good time. As one
of my students saio, a teacher needs to hove energy - you hove to always
appear enthusiastic about what you are doing, even at g a.m. on Monday.
If the teacher appears uninterested, the students will become thatway
thernselves. ·

~ut, as Thornas says, you do need enormous patience at times. And when,
rnevitably, the time comes when you do want to scream just think back
to how difficult you found it to learn a new language or ~o remember it
the next doy In oth d k . . '
. · er
maybe trred rnaybe f t wor s, deep th1nking of how the student is feeling -
i . ' rus rote , maybe stressed - and if you then show
rnpat,ence, how Will that affect them thereafter?
Thomos also mentions h .
to be an t . umour. This doesn't mean the teacher has
en erta1ner, but that th h Id . .
relief from time to time M ey s ou . lílJect sorne fun, sorne light
st
· o humour anses naturally from the different

1~
sltuations that occur wlth the varlous students In your class. The sound
of students laughing Is {usuallyl) a very welcome sound, so encourage·lt
when appropriate.

'Help students make progress'

Teachers must know how to plan their lessons approprlately (see Unlts
18-21), and how to assess objectively the strengths and weaknesses of
their own teaching in general, and of specific lessons. This Is all part of
professional development {Unit 27).
If there is not this critica! self-evaluation, there will be no development
or progress. New or trainee teachers have a tendency to dismiss most
of their lessons as 'disasters', but this usually revolves around something
terribly minor like 'I forgot to give the instructions before handing out the
papers'. As we shall see later, one of the first questions the teacher should
ask herself is 'Did I achieve my aims?' The better the planning, the more
likely the lesson will be effective.

Summary
Teachers have many different roles inside and outside the classroom.
They need to know their subject.
They need to use appropriate teaching methodology.
They need to find out about their students; know them; respond
tothem.
They need to demonstrate various personal qualities.
They need to show interest in their work and their students, and they
must have limitless energy!
They need to plan lessons according to the needs of their class.
They need to know how to properly evaluate the success of a lesson,
and evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses.
As this whole book is about 'being a teacher', this unit has been no more
than an introduction. One point not mentioned in this unit - but another
vital aspect of the teacher's role - is classroom manner and management.
This is what we will focus on in the next unit.

2 Being a teacher 15