Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Lanlongkou Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Xining 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.
Dana Heinz TEFL Summative Task The Role of the Teacher There are several different roles that a teacher can have in the classroom, and good teachers will change their role depending on the class activities, the classroom size, and the overall attitude of the students. Good teachers are able to keep their lessons entertaining, motivate learners, and create good rapport with their students. These qualities can be attained or supported simply by being aware or one’s own role in the classroom and changing that role appropriately. TEFL teaches nine different teacher roles, however they can be further divided into three main groups based on whether the role is more Teacher-Centric or Student-Centric. Although many schools are becoming more and more student-centric, a balance of both is needed is every classroom depending on the current activities and the overall environment. The most Teacher-Centric roles are Manager, Model, and Organizer. In these three roles, the teacher is the dominant figure leading, demonstrating, and instructing class activities. They all require high teacher-talk time, and if overused can detract from student experience. As a Manager, teachers are in charge of the class, standing in front of the room and leading activities and lessons. Lectures like these work best when the students are quiet and listening, but can easily become dull if the role is used daily. As a Model, the teacher demonstrates live to the students how the language is used. Again, this works best if the students are quiet and attentive while the teacher is modeling. And as an Organizer, the teacher gives instructions, organizes students into groups, and initiates and closes activities. In this role the teacher also requires students to be listening and paying close attention. Teacher-Centric roles work best when introducing new material to the class during a Study phase or beginning a new activity in the first part of an Activate phase, but should be used in moderation so that their classes stay interesting by allowing students to talk and participate. The Student-Centric roles are Observer, Resource, and Participant. In these roles, the teacher is almost entirely ‘hands-off’, allowing the students to explore the language on their own. As an Observer, the teacher simply monitors the timing of the activity and overhears students’ pronunciation, without distracting or correcting them. As a Resource, the teacher leaves students alone to complete an activity, only interferring to answer a students’ questions. As a Participant, a teacher even works as a student to balance out unequal group sizes and liven up the activity. Student-Centric roles such as these create a more lively classroom and help build student rapport, however they should also be balanced with Teacher-Centric roles so that the classroom noise level is kept to a minimum. The last three teacher roles TEFL recognizes is the Assessor, Tutor, and Prompter. These can be either Teacher-Centric nor Student-Centric, depending on how the teacher uses them. As a Tutor, the teacher gives individual guidance to the student, and as an Assessor they give feedback to the students and correct them. As a Prompter, the teacher gently pushes the students to improve. In these roles, the teacher can either prompt the student to correct their own errors, or they can simply give them the right answer. The difference can either help motivate students by encouraging them, or it can hurt their confidence levels and decrease their participation in class. It is important, therefore, that a teacher again uses these roles in balance, to avoid unnecessarily overcorrecting their students. It is important for the teacher to be aware of all of these roles so that they can properly motivate their students, have a good rapport with them, and keep the lessons lively and entertaining. All of these roles need to be used in moderation, since overuse of any one of them can bore, distract, or discourage students. When used in balance during the right activities, however, these roles can promote an animated learning environment with enthusiastic learners.
