Teach English in Anjiazhuang Zhen - Tai'an Shi

What is the degree of responsibility of a teacher to build rapport in a teacher-student relationship? Most of you may think that i would be exaggerating when i say the teacher is the most responsible partner in a teacher-student relationship than any partners’ responsibility to build rapport in a husband-wife relationship. The easy parts of the latter is; we assume that both of them are adults so we expect the same responsibility level from each of them to carry out the relation, to understand each other and to know their rights and liabilities. If there is a problem in the teaching/learning process because of the lack of harmony in the classroom, can we put the blame on students? Establishing rapport is not a responsibility of students in the classrom, it’s teachers’. If i have to make a metaphor to describe their relationship, i think of them like mother-child or president-citizens. I know mother-child relationship is a global fact, i made an idealistic approach when i said president-citizens. It is not always the case. There are many motivations to become a teacher. Some of them may be; because it supplies a secure environment to work as a government officer in government schools. In most of the countries if you can start to teach in a government school, retirement is guaranteed from the government sector. An other reason; because there are abundant of holidays for teachers. Semester, any official and religious holidays and a way long summer holiday which noone can dream of in any other occupations. An acceptable and valid reason to become a teacher would be loving teaching. Not only the action of teaching but also solely love itself. The teacher should love human, in our case students. If a teacher loves students, establishing rapport will be neutral, coming from heart. The teacher-student relationship requires a two-sided trust and emotional attachment in which the teacher’s role has the primary affect on. It’s not only gained through ‘what’ he does, but also ‘how’ she/he does things, how he behaves. Teacher can make mistakes, but these will be technical problems that will be solved by alterations that he can handle, not desperate ingrained illnesses. Love of the teacher to his students will be reflected to all of his teaching skills. He can improve himself and find out his missing points easily just by reading, searching out and observing the situation he is in. The benefits of establishing rapport with students are amazing. First of all, it makes teaching/learning process successful, easy and enjoyable. Second; it supplies terms of conditions in the classroom at a humanitarian level and make it a livable place as both of them sometimes spend most of their times in the classroom rather than at home. I kept the vital and core benefit to the last which needs a further explanation. I don’t think teaching is accomplished without maintaining a teacher-student rapport. I don’t know if anyone on earth exists who has a lifetime goal of teaching English. If so, i am sorry for him/her. It’s only a tool, a role of teachers in their lifetimes among other roles like being neighbours, parents, citizens… etc. We are all common in being human. Our goal is self development, becoming better individuals, to find out ourselves who we are. While we are in the teacher role can we do it only by teaching articles, tenses, phrases…etc? When a mother raises up her child, is her work done only by giving food to the child? Child needs sleeping, talking, walking, running, health care, education, love, any activity or state that is associated with motherhood. What about students’ lives, their psychology, their lives, their problems, joys? What about the teacher’s role as mentor, model, as human? A teacher doesn’t only teach to students, he is growing up flowers, he is raising up lives. I always assume that teacher has the knowledge of the subject which is the prerequisite of being a teacher of that branch. Considering this, the most important characteristic of a good teacher is having rapport with his students which also contains some other sub-categories in it. For a teacher, there must be a distinct line between maintaining a good relationship with students and trying to become their favorite teacher. The teacher musn’t compromise from any of his duties that will cause rejection by nature. Child is not always fed with meatballs and sphagetti, mother sometimes give him broccoli. And when he is ill, no matter what he say, mother gives him medicine. And it’s better to keep in mind that it’s not possible to gain everybody’s hearts at the same time. Some students will love you, some will like or less than that. It’s not the end of the world, if you are not the star teacher of the school.