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Teachers are bound to meet many learners along their career. These learners have their own characteristics, personalities and intelligence that play an important role in learning. I strongly believe that every child is unique, thus they have the capacity to learn when guided accordingly. It is the teacher's responsibility to help the learners discover their own intelligence. If students' intelligence will be fostered, they can achieve their full potential. So we can understand why every child is unique, let's talk about Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligence. These intelligence are: - Linguistic intelligence (“word smart”) - Logical-mathematical intelligence (“number/reasoning smart”) - Spatial intelligence (“picture smart”) - Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence (“body smart”) - Musical intelligence (“music smart”) - Interpersonal intelligence (“people smart”) - Intrapersonal intelligence (“self smart”) - Naturalist intelligence (“nature smart”) (Multiple Intelligences. Dr. Armstrong www.institute4learning.com/resources/articles/multiple-intelligences/ ) It is apparent that different students have different intelligence. It is one of the challenging roles of teachers to identify their intelligence and inject appropriate activities to address their skills. Moreover, teachers' role in developing students' skills is relevant in all aspects. The students are skilled in various ways, however these skills will not be developed and nurtured without the guidance of the teachers. Honing the skills if each student is the teachers' top priority and primary objective. I remember when I was teaching in a formal school, I witnessed and met students who expressed themselves differently. Some were very out spoken , some excelled in activities which require actions, some were good in written activities, some were musically inclined and some were excelling in all intelligence. Ergo, it proved that students apply different perceptions in doing some activities. In addition, Gardner proposed the said theory which actually aims to "empower learners", not restrict them to one modality of learning. According to Gardner, an intelligence is "a bio psychological potential to process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture." (Theory of multiple intelligences, Gardner 1983, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences) As an ESL online teacher, it will be more easier to apply teaching techniques that will suit the learner as the class is one-to-one. I have thought of teaching approach for every student I will be facing. First, I can be more effective by assessing the kind of intelligence my learner has. For word smart, I will let them do activities such as word games, book discussion, free-talking etc. For number/ reasoning smart, I will be more concerned in giving patterns or forms as these learners are also logical thinkers. For picture smart, I will show more pictures to unlock their learning and be more interested with the topic. For body smart, I will incorporate my explanation with gestures. For music smart, I will start to learn songs for kinds (young learners) or incorporate a famous song with the topic we have. For people smart, intrapersonal smart and naturalistic smart I will consider their intelligence so I can understand the kind of personality and characteristics they have. In that way, I can deliver the topic with the best teaching techniques as possible. This theory of Gardner may or may not be true in every teaching and learning environment, however we as facilitators of learning must be equipped and be more particular in teaching at large. Gauging the potential of learners also gauges the ability of the teacher to teach mixed levels of students in different facets. Understanding not only the knowledge capabilities of the learners but also the behavior will boost teacher's productivity in teaching the language. Thus we must understand that every learner has its own potential and ability that must need to be developed. As a teacher who understands that every child has its own intelligence, I will commit seeing the potential in everyone; every child is unique.
