Teach English in Cilin Zhen - Changzhi Shi

Imagine walking into a classroom, being greeted by name, by a teacher with a smile; the classroom is clean and neat, and the other students are interested and ready to learn. Or imagine walking in a cluttered room, the teacher hasn’t arrived yet, perhaps only some of the other students are there, and no one there even cares what your name is. Which class would you want to be in? How much does a teacher influence the atmosphere of the class? Teachers are people of influence. They may influence for good or they may influence for bad, but they will influence. With influence unconsciously oozing from a teacher, knowing and understanding the roles they will play is of utmost importance. Every individual has different strengths and weaknesses, and because of that, no two teachers will be the same, yet there are several different roles every teacher should endeavor to emulate, while realizing that the way those roles are played out will be different with each teacher. The first role that comes to mind is a role model. A role model is someone that students want to imitate, someone who inspires them to be the best that they can, someone who will lead students beyond their mental blocks, to achieve more than they thought possible! Our setting is to teach English, and as such the class role model should be capable of exemplifying clear, confident, and proficient English skills that encourage and spur their students to excel. The role of an artist is the second role I think of when imagining a teacher. An artist strives for excellence, reaches for the sky, and is creative. As an artist, a teacher needs to be able to creatively spin a potentially dry, boring grammar lesson into one that is interesting, useful, and retainable. It means learning to look at something from different angles and helping the students to see past the words on a page to find the story or to understand the communication. A guide is the third role I envision when thinking of a teacher. As a guide a teacher can steer their classroom through stormy waters. They can confidently guide a group over unfamiliar trails, and can lead a group of students to the top of a scholastic mountain without losing anyone along the way. Think of a tour guide or a trail guide...Their job is to ensure that each person in a group reaches every point on the itinerary, that no one is lost, and that along the way the individuals and groups learn more about where they are touring or the path they are taking. An English teacher as a guide is potentially the only source of English some students have. Will they be guided comprehensively to a thorough knowledge of English? Only a good guide can do that. The last role that I think of in relation to a teacher is that of a thermostat. I say a thermostat because the difference between a thermostat and a thermometer is the key point I am making. A thermostat is used to sense the temperature of a room and make adjustments to maintain the room at the desired temperature. In contrast to that, a thermometer merely tells what the temperature is, without doing anything to change the temperature. If the teacher was merely a thermometer of the classroom, the atmosphere of the classroom could rapidly change from positive to negative. A thermostat is therefore a good example of how a teacher can change the atmosphere of the classroom to keep it positive, welcoming, relaxed, controlled, and learning friendly. I hope you can see that a teacher has many roles, and that the ones listed here are not exhaustive. Each of these roles shows a way in which a teacher can exert their influence on their students. In the variety of classes I’ve taken over the years, I have experienced teachers who have exerted their best efforts to teach and who have exemplified at least one, if not many of these roles. These men and women have role modelled in such a way that I wanted to learn. They have been able to take something difficult to understand and teach it so creatively that it was grasped with clarity. They have guided me over difficult trails until we arrived safely at the finish, and they have always been upbeat and positive in the classroom, making learning a joy! These are the great role models that I desire to imitate. I hope that in the years to come, new students will walk into my classrooms to find a smiling teacher, someone who cares what their name is, and someone who genuinely wants to see them succeed. I hope my students will find me a person who will influence them for good.