TEFL Onaga Kansas

It seems that the role of the teacher it is not as simple as our ancestors thought it was. Things have changed and the development of the teaching methods and the role of the teacher come to remind us that we live in a whole different world where new ideas have replaced old fashion aspects in education. To start with, the teacher was a cold person with whom students had no personal contact. The teacher very often did not know things about his/her students. The only common they had was the lesson. He/she was not particularly aware of the students' needs. Also, the educational system was more authoritarian. And the lesson itself was based on this system making things even more difficult for the students to express themselves and have motivation. Nowadays things are quite different. First of all, the relationship between the teacher and the students has changed. Actually, the whole lesson is based on this relation. The teacher has to respect the students' differences, to understand their needs, to advise them, and in general to be there for them. It is believed that this way the students can give their hundred percent of their abilities and be expressed more freely. And all this ends up that the students will be educated more effectively. Support though is not the only characteristic a teacher should have. Sometimes the good will and the counseling are not enough. A teacher must be provided with thorough knowledge of his/her subject and a strategy to accompany his/her lesson. A teacher comes across with several challenges during teaching. So, the teacher must be a manager to deal with arising problems related to the lesson or the students. Also, he/she must be a prompter in order to give students motivation to participate and use the material given. A very important role for the teacher is to be an organizer too. Because it is a common sense that if the lesson is not organized and left on luck, the results will be destructive. It does not matter how good teacher someone is or how much experience he/she has. And not to forget that a teacher is not just an auditor. Participation is also very significant. If he/she does not participate actively, the students will feel there is a distance between them, and they might lose motivation and feel bored. This could be disastrous for the relationship between students and teacher. This way the lesson becomes one more time boring, leaded by a teacher that does not create interest in the class. And create interest to the students is very challenging and very important at the same time. To sum up, a teacher must be aware of his/her role and not to forget to motivate, prompt and support the students. A teacher that is thoughtful and fair with his/her students has nothing to be afraid of. Now that things have changed and teaching has become more student-centred the role of the teacher has changed too. A more democratic educational system has taken its place and now it is time for the teachers to revise their role.