Teach English in Yushan Zhen - Bazhong Shi

English as a world language is the most favoured one. Many individuals study it as a second language. It is estimated that over two billion people speak the language. In addition, many people learn English to get a position, to get information from the internet, to communicate with their friends or for some business purposes. The ways people learn English are different as well as their learning objectives. Every student has a different ability when learning a second language. Some can receive it simply and proceed consistently while others may have struggles in their learning progress. These changes not only affect English classes but also affect the learners. The aim of this paper will focus on teachers` roles in teaching English classes within the light of the shift of language learning. Given these factors; “What can a tutor do to teach effectively?”, “What kinds of roles do teachers need to perform in their classes?” will be some of the questions that will be discussed. All great teachers are expected to act certain roles that are regarded essential in their jobs so that they can achieve the best efficiency. I think a teacher should play different roles in his/her classes to cover the students’ expectations. First, a teacher should be a learner. Before teaching the students a teacher has to first put himself/herself in the students’ shoes and think from their point of view. When an instructor plans his/her classes with the learners’ perspective and starts teaching, students can learn easier. Second, a teacher should become the best resource or facilitator to his/her learners. S/he has to provide supplementary material or establish a good learning atmosphere for the learners. As a facilitator s/he has to support students in learning for themselves as an explorer. Third, the assessment is another tool to make a teacher’s teaching perfect. The teacher always assesses the students’ learning progress. According to the results s/he has, can develop extra lessons, and revise the materials. Above all, a teacher can correct their students and give feedback to their performances. S/He can also apply for the new teaching methodologies, or plan his/her teaching techniques for the future lessons. Another key role of the teachers is being a manager. As a manager, a teacher has to arrange his/her lessons very accurately. The teacher should take into consideration the time and the students’ levels when preparing the lessons. A proper organisation ensures that the teacher is prepared for the unanticipated situations and helps the teacher to keep the discipline throughout the lesson. One of the most crucial roles of the teacher is to be a participant. A teacher should be able to descend to the level of the students in order to increase efficiency of the lesson or to make it more enjoyable. S/He sometimes should be involved in doing activities to encourage their students. Besides the teacher roles I touched on above, another major role is to be an investigator. A teacher constantly should investigate the innovations s/he will apply in his/her course. As a researcher a teacher observes the students’ learning patterns to improve the quality of his/her lessons, analyses his/her teaching methods and displays the best s/he can. Furthermore, each learner has different English learning objectives. Adults, themselves determine the reasons for learning English; therefore, it is directly proportional to their efforts of learning it. Since they are adults, the teacher can help the students to motivate partially. As for the young learners, they try to learn English at the wish or forcing of their parents, especially at this point we cannot deny the motivating role of the teacher. Sometimes students may be unmotivated in classes, or students may get stuck in the paths they follow, and they may not know what to do. In such cases teachers should know very well what to do. Should they leave their students? Or should they encourage and lead a way? Of course, the second way is the right one. A sensible teacher always makes his/her lessons engaging and tries to keep her students motivated. The last but not the least is teachers’ position in the classroom. Every teacher wants to know what is going on during the lesson. Thus, s/he sees which activity is effective and how much time it takes. This enables the teacher to continue teaching in a sound manner. A teacher should be in proximity of activities. To make a good observation, s/he should sometimes be close to his/her students, sometimes be away and sometimes stand in front of the board. This may vary depending on the teacher’s activities. To sum up, there are many roles for a teacher. The most challenging task for a highly effective teacher is to decide which role to play, when to play and how to play. A highly effective teacher can switch between the roles depending on their decisions. If you want to play these roles in the best way and become an outstanding teacher, of course, you need experience. The more experienced a teacher is, the better decision makers they are.