Teach English in Tianning Zhen - Luliang Shi

Role of the teacher is a complex issue to reason and can be viewed from different angles. I made my own research and had a discussion about learning process with my friends. Everyone was telling about his school years and we reached a conclusion that in most cases when we had a strong passion for some subject, the main and only reason for that passion was our teacher. As an example, one of my friends told that his whole class felt a real affection for computers. It was in 90s and a computer industry wasn’t as developed as it is now, especially in Russia, where he was raised. His story became very demonstrative for me as it contained one highly amusing detail. The school he was attending was located in a very small and poor city, so they had only one single computer for all pupils. Furthermore, none of them had their own computer at home. So, basically he and his classmates were getting knowledge that they even couldn’t apply anywhere. But their teacher had such a great personality that his lessons were the most popular among kids. I experienced the same when I was learning English. I had no initial interest in any foreign language but meeting my English teacher changed my perception of foreign languages as something too complicated and boring. Every English class felt like a birthday party. We sang Abba’s songs, discussed interesting topics and every lesson was so fascinating and dynamic that I was always looking forward to the next one. My teacher looked like an ordinary old lady, she wore neat dresses and had a quiet voice but somehow managed to hold everyone’s attention. Despite enormous age difference with us, her young students, there was no generation gap at all as she knew exactly how to build a good rapport and seemed like she did it effortlessly. From my point of view, these two cases are good examples of the teacher’s role and its influence. But, after I completed my 120-hour TESOL course and assimilated detailed information that was given in 20 units, I realize that basically there is no single role of the teacher. Because there are multiple roles every teacher should be able to employ in order to make his lessons as effective as possible. However, in my opinion, there are two teacher’s roles that are most vital. The first one is a manager in a global meaning of this word. Getting new knowledge and particulary second language acquisition is a long time project that should be well prepared. Prior to commencing any activity, a teacher should evaluate students’s level and analyze their needs. Only after collecting this information he can create a proper syllabus that could lead his students to success. Even an ‘ordinary’ lesson plan implies making a lot of decisions. How to balance grammar, vocabulary and functions, what equipment should be used, which activities are more or less appropriate and useful for his students, taking into consideration their level, age, nationality, aspirations etc. Also, the teacher is responsible for choosing and preparing lesson materials. It’s a well-known fact that both authentic and created materials carry equal importance but they can’t be chosen in a random way and must be geared to students’ interests, objectives and language level. Not to mention the rest of the teacher’s every day duties and things he has to organize. Summing up, the teacher is in charge of plenty of processes he has to manage and that’s why I think it would be correct to call him a manager. Second role of the teacher, as I see it, is to be sensitive and caring person with his students. Subject knowledge only can’t guarantee productive lessons because, above all, each student is a personality who has individual traits of character and weaknesses. Learning new often makes people feel vulnerable and awakes lots of fears such as a fear of face loss in front of peers or a fear of acting awkward. Therefore, a professional teacher have to be able to build a good rapport with his students and make them feel that they are in a safe and friendly environment. Also, there are students who are reluctant to participate and again, it’s a teacher’s responsibility to encourage and motivate them. Another issue that might be emotive is correction because it can make or break student’s motivation and confidence. So, a good teacher should be both gentle and polite and know how to correct without offending. Besides, there are situations when someone asks for individual attention and a good teacher should define whether it’s necessary or it would be spoon-feeding. In conclusion, I want to repeat my idea that every teacher plays many roles during his practice. And these roles mostly depend on his students. It’s obvious that when we are dealing with kids we need to be more entertaining and lively then when we are dealing with businessmen. So, the teacher always has to choose which role would be more suitable for a certain situation.