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When I decided to become an English teacher, I had not given a lot of thought to the whole thing. I just thought that you just go into class write some stuff on the blackboard and read from a book and that’s it. However, when I actually started to teach I found that that could not be further from the truth. There are certain skills that a teacher should possess in order to be effective and productive during the lessons. A big part of a teacher’s job is to talk. This means that the teacher must be skilled in the art of communication. This will help with the interaction between the students and the teacher. A good communicator will see that their lessons will move a bit more smoothly because there is an understanding between the two parties. Another important skill especially when teaching young learners that a teacher should have is to be patient. Patience is required because teaching young learners especially can be a very trying task. There are times when your patience will be tested to the max as a teacher and you have to be able to calm yourself down and just defuse the situation. Another skill I learnt from this course is that a teacher should have good classroom management skills. This helps with the dynamic of the classroom. If the class management is bad then the environment will not be convenient for teaching. If even a few students are all over the place and shouting and jumping around it will distract the other serious students who want to learn. A teacher with good class management skills will know their students and will for example not sit the troublemakers together but separate them so that they don’t disrupt the classroom. There are other skills that a teacher should possess naturally like good public speaking ability, kindness, empathy etc etc. Another much overlooked ‘skill’ is at some degree a teacher has to have a likeable personality. This is not usually classified as a skill but with experience one can actually learn how to be likeable and convert this into a skill in order to get the best out of the lessons. Other more formal skills that can be required of a teacher is things like having undergone a TEFL or TESOL course or having Cambridge certification etc. These training skills can be a pre-requisite of an institution before they hire a teacher and so you might have to do these courses first. They do this so that they can be confident that the teacher they are hiring can handle many multiple situations that may arise in the classroom and therefore ensuring the reputation and trustworthiness of the institution remains intact. I think the list is endless as being a teacher is actually harder than most people think. You will be tried and pushed to your limits a lot but the trick is to use all your knowledge and skills to make sure you become the best teacher you can be for your students. In my mind these are the most important skills that any every teacher should possess in order to do their job correctly.
