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The qualities that are important for English teachers can vary. However, I think some of the key qualities are empathy, punctuality, preparedness, flexibility and attention to details. Empathy, because you are often trying to teach someone who is working outside their comfort zone, and this can cause frustration, anger or fear in the student. The best way to help them work through heir own internal blockages is to be empathetic to why they might struggle and to constantly work to provide a positive and rewarding learning experience. For some students, just getting them to continue to turn up is a great achievement. Hopefully if the student starts to feel more comfortable with you as a teacher and with the other students, they will start to learn in their own way. Being empathetic can also help in relation to your experience in a foreign culture and country. You as a teacher are also going to face problems as the cultural norm may vary considerably to your personal upbringing or selfie beliefs. Therefore maintaining empathy for the culture as a whole will also help you to stay sane and balanced in what can be a confronting life experience. Punctuality and preparedness are excellent qualities because, for starters, it’s a job! and most employers will appreciate that you are taking your role seriously. Being punctual is also demonstrating great role modelling for your students. For all you know, they may end up working in the country you are from and punctuality is very necessary. Most English speaking countries (USA, Canada, Australia, England, New Zealand) do adhere to the idea that you need to be punctual for work or study and you need to be prepared with your work as a teacher, or with your homework as a student. By teaching your English students this by living as a positive example is an excellent quality for a teacher to have. Flexibility is important because if you are too rigid on your lesson plans, you may miss excellent opportunities for secondary teaching (perhaps there is a teaching point you didn’t consider, but is coming up a lot for your students). As a teacher, you don’t know everything, hopefully you know English and how to teach it very well! But your students can also teach you a lot about idioms in the country, cultural expectations or religious holidays you didn’t know existed, so it’s also a good idea as a teacher to be flexible to listen to what is happening in you classroom, school or community so that you can fully participate in your new country. The final quality (this list is not exhaustive) I think is very important is attention to detail. You are teaching English because you love the language. You should have a good grasp on how to teach it, and be able to research and develop your teaching materials to continue to grow as a person and as an English teacher. Most teachers of English as a second language may be native speakers but didn’t study the structure of English when they learnt it. As such, undertaking further training and development will also make you an in-demand teacher. Attention to details also helps when planning your next move to a country, signing contracts with work, and being attentive to the needs of your new community. Finally i think a good English teacher also is curious about the world, doesn’t believe in a mono culture and has a flair for adventure! These are more life qualities, than qualities that make you a good teacher however.
