Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Zhangshe Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Qingdao Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.
A teacher is one who conveys knowledge by guiding and by example. A teacher’s role is to encourage students to go beyond their current abilities. A teacher has the knowledge a student seeks or needs. A teacher corrects mistakes, disciplines when necessary but does not intimidate. A teacher is also a student and must continue to learn and research in order to keep lessons fresh, relevant to the times and identify with the students. When specifically taking on the role of teaching the English language to foreign students there are many traits that a good teacher has to possess. The teacher must have a very good knowledge of the English subject but also knowledge of how to teach it through methods and techniques. In addition, a teacher needs to consider the age, level, purpose the student has for learning the language and life experiences the student has had. Knowledge of the English subject includes, but is not limited to, grammar such as the parts of speech, tenses and vocabulary as well as other aspects of grammar that include modals, phrasal verbs, and passive voice. In addition, the teacher needs to know that teaching receptive skills (reading and listening) and productive skills (speaking and writing), pronunciation and phonology of the language are equally important. Having good knowledge of the subject matter allows the learner to make good progress. Besides having the solid knowledge of the English language, the role of the teacher is to know how to best convey this subject matter to the student in a comprehensive, logical and interesting way. There are a plethora of methods and techniques and the role of the teacher is to find and research the best one or ones and combinations of these that will best aid learning. Classroom management, good organization, lesson planning, the use of course books and lesson materials, being able to evaluate and test students as well as knowing how to troubleshoot are all skills the teacher must be able to put into use when teaching. Understanding what type of student that is in the classroom is a very important role of the teacher. Pre-schoolers, primary schoolers, teenager and adult learners all have different capacities, needs and ways of learning. A teacher should be sensitive to the individuals in the group of the class by observing culture, monitoring shyness issues, noting weaknesses for further tutoring and praising strengths for motivation. When a teacher is kind and patient, can use humor to put students at ease, involve all students in activities and use the names of the students, a personal, fun and productive learning environment can be achieved. Lastly, the role of the teacher is to continue to learn. By keeping a record of lessons, this not only gives direction for future lessons, but allows the teacher to study what went well and what could be improved in the lessons to help the student learn.The teacher can then become a better teacher. Learning new technologies to use in the classroom will keep the lessons interesting and as mentioned before, relevant to the times.The teacher has many roles: to manage, organize, to assess, prompt, tutor, to be a resource, a model, to observe and monitor with patients, kindness and respect.
