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"A Good Language Teacher"
- 1. THE GOOD LANGUAGE TEACHER HUARTE AIME, PÉREZ FLORENCIA, YORGOVAN RAMIRO
- 2. Students’ needs This article reports the results of a survey designed to discover students’ views of good and bad language teaching
- 3. Survey 40 students of intermediate and advanced level Context: large mixed-ability class Little access to expensive equipment Examination fever is predominant
- 4. Survey The survey took the form of: Interviews Written assignments Students were asked to : recall their favourite and least favourite teachers say why they thought some teachers were more successful tan others
- 5. Students’ answers The Good Language Teacher Friendly Gave good notes She got close to students Played games She was forceful but not strict She made sure everyone understood She told jokes She was very experienced The Bad Language Teacher Very strict and rigid She was fixed in a chair Gave a lot of tests Distant Sarcastic and ironic Shouted when we made mistakes Started the lesson immediately Didn’t smile
- 6. Survey’s result: There is no formula for good teaching
- 7. General principles of good teachers
- 8. “Incentive value” of theory in ELT • We, as future teachers, have the responsability of representing teaching as a challenging intellectual enterprise Adherence to a formulae = enemy of incentive Teaching without a link to the theory = self – defeating • No recipe for success. We have to create our own magic trick but avoid overusing them Possibility to generate new techniques and ideas
- 9. Teacher development Some ways of improving one’s knowledge of ELT and thereby increasing one’s confidence as a teacher include: Subscribing to ELT magazines and journals. Joining profesional organizations and attending conferences. Forming local teachers’ groups to meet and discuss common problems. Inviting fellow teachers to contribute lectures and workshops. Publishing an ELT newsletter on a local or national scale. Joining a special-interest group Arranging ELT book exhibitions
- 10. Authority, errormania and testomania The diverse roles of a succesful teacher are collapsed by an overwhelmed teacher of a large mixed-ability class into : TESTER and JUDGE Testing approach based on: dispensing of marks the detection and penalisation of error Both testing and teaching are essential in language learning, but it is vital to distinguish between them and make use of them wisely. Insecurity and anxiety will increase
- 11. Outer circle = roles of the teacher Teachers fulfill many other roles outside the professional and pedagogic circle : *Model for the students *Manager *Facilitator of learning * Social worker, among others. Importance of the teaching adapting a variety of roles inside the classroom Not the ones found in a traditional classroom • Controller of activities • Presenter of information • Assesor of correctness or errror
- 12. Main differences Testing emphasizes: Failure Correctness Impersonality Anxiety Marks Boring content Judgement Extrinsic motivation Competition Teacher control Teaching emphasizes: Success Appropiacy Personalisation Pleasure Results Interesting content Support Intrinsic motivation Cooperation Student control
- 13. Classroom management: some ways of making a lesson fall apart The teacher Doesn’t use their names Doesn’t check or cross check Ignores time Ignores space Doesn’t look at students Doesn’t use the board Doesn’t look at students Doesn’t use the board Doesn’t look at students Doesn’t use the board
- 14. The Names. Why are they important? Use students’ names when eliciting and checking. Using names makes for better rapport with students, and involves them directly and rapidly.
- 15. Time, friend or enemy? Time is very important and it can become catastprophic if we ignore it. In a mixed-ability class time is particularly significant because good learners sometimes differ not so much in knowledge but in the pace at which they apply that knowledge. Time has an important cohesive role.
- 16. Ten ways of taking time into account! 1: Don’t plan to do too much in a lesson. Have an extra like a joke or an anecdote before cramming the lesson with elaborate activities.
- 17. 2:Tell students at the start of the lesson roughly what you intend to do and how long it’s going to take
- 18. 3:Tell students how long they have for a particular activity
- 19. 4: Warn the class one or two minutes before an activity is due to finish
- 20. 5: Use the last few minutes to check that learning has taken place and to summarise what the lesson has been all about.
- 21. 6.Allow students time to copy important information from the board before you rub it all off, particularly at the end of the lesson.
- 22. 7.Give ‘slower’ students time to answer your questions or present the results of a task before moving on to another student.
- 23. 8. Don’t wait too long for a student to answer, as this slows the lesson down, and it may be difficult to pick up momentum again.
- 24. 9: If you forget your watch, borrow one from the students.
- 25. 10: Vary the timing of relaxed and intensive activity to build up a sense of rhythm in the lesson, to give it shape.
- 26. Cross-checking This involves checking a response given by one student with that of other students in different part of the classroom This is useful where a ‘good’ student stops listening when a ‘less able’ student is speaking. Points in the lesson when this is likely to happen:
- 27. *Answering comprehension questions. *Suggesting words to fill blanks in a text *Reporting results of pair or group work *Asking the teacher to explain a point of grammar or vocabulary *Asking the teacher to clarify instructions in a task *Discussing a topic arising from a reading text.
- 28. Checking: The power of the Written Word This has a number of advantages in the mixed-ability class: It encourages reluctant learners to complete the task (the end-product is a record of work done or not done) It discourages them from using only the mother tong as they learn to expect a feedback phase in English. It gives the teacher something to discuss with early finishers if their answers have been written down. When answers are written checking and cross-checking
- 29. Eye contact or Star gazing? Eye contact is one such detail of teacher style that may have surprisingly significant effects. Try looking at the class as you are speaking, allowing your gaze to travel gently round the class, without staring inhibitingly at any one student. Look at the student who is speaking, occasionally letting your eyes rest on another student before coming back to the speaking student.
- 30. The Magic Board Use the board to record gramar, vocabulary, and content and point students’ attention to this information when the lesson seems to be going off the rails. Use the board as one way of ensuring that instructins are clear. Write example sentences of the target structure on the board and remind students before the task and during it that they should be using these structures. Use the board to write points made by all students as a discreet way of emphasising the value of their contribution. At the end of the lesson, make sure students have copied into their notebooks any useful information from the board.