TEFL Renqiu

I chose to do my article about establishing rapport because I think it is one of the most important subjects when you are dealing with meeting new people all the time. You really have to know how to establish rapport in order to make other individuals feel comfortable and be able to open up to you and trust you. This is something that when teaching, it is a very important subject to be good at and understand. Especially when you’re teaching another language, it makes it that much more difficult. When I first started thinking about teaching english as a foreign language I thought, how am I going to establish good rapport between me and my students especially if we don’t speak the same language. SO that’s why I wanted to use the information that I learned in my tefl course, but also research this topic more to better understand how to handle it and be better at it. *Dictionary.com defines rapport as: relation; connection, especially harmonious or sympathetic relation (A teacher trying to establish close rapport with students.) *I found a very helpful explanation of things on: Squidoo. There is ‘The Rapport Ladder’ and a great you tube video clip that explains ‘The Human Behavior’ What exactly is Rapport? Rapport is a process of building a relationship of mutual trust, harmony and understanding. It is essentially meeting individuals in their model of the world. This happens through matching the accessing cues from words, eye movements and body language. Rapport is the ability to be on the same wavelength and to connect mentally and emotionally. It is the ability to join people where they are in order to build a climate of trust and respect. Having rapport doesn’t mean that you have to agree, but that you understand where the other person or people are coming from. It is a deep level of relationship. To create rapport it is important to mirror, match and pace the person/persons with whom you are speaking to. In order to do so, it is important for you to open your sensory channels. You can train yourself to build and refine this operational skill. Opening your sensory channels, provides you with the ability to see, hear and sense external changes such as: minimal cues, both verbal and nonverbal that are presented by individuals with whom you are communicating with. The Rapport Ladder How Different People Build Rapport The rapport building process has four stages: 1.Connection: At this stage of the process, people know each other. They work in the same office, they have traded business cards, etc. Somehow they know each other. 2.Trust: At this stage of the process, people trust each other. Different people tend to have different ways of looking at trust: Task-oriented people tend to view trust transactionally. Do you do what you say you are going to do? People-oriented people tend to view trust relationally. Do you treat people nicely? Do I believe that you will treat me nicely. 3.Relationship at this stage of the process, people have something of a relationship with each other. You have not reached rapport yet. You do have a relationship. Task-oriented people tend to view relationships transactionally as well. They tend to move into the relationship stage of the process after they decide if they can trust you based on how you handle tasks. People-oriented people tend to move to relationship quickly. They often decide if they like before they decide if they trust you. 4.Rapport this is the deepest, strongest form of relationship. It usually takes some time and effort to get there. How can you tell the difference between task and people orientation? People who talk about what they “think” or “how things are” are often task-oriented. People who talk about what they “feel” or “how things seem to me” are often people-oriented. There comes a time in every conversation with someone you’ve just met when you must come across the chasm between “How are you?” and “Who are you?” A helpful technique for doing so is by asking creative, open ended questions. Spark creativity and invite people to share their experiences and preferences with you. Find out about the other person. Rapport is achieved when two people can see the other person’s point of view, appreciate each other’s feelings and be on the same