Jumat, 27 Maret 2015
Minggu, 22 Maret 2015
Selasa, 17 Maret 2015
Good teacher
Ten
Characteristics of a Good Teacher
There is a line in Saint-Exupery’s The Little
Prince that applies to any endeavor, but especially taching. It reads:
“That which is essential cannot be seen with the eye. Only with the heart can one know it rightly.” These essence of teaching id difficult to qualify but that line leads directly into my most essential criterion.
“That which is essential cannot be seen with the eye. Only with the heart can one know it rightly.” These essence of teaching id difficult to qualify but that line leads directly into my most essential criterion.
1.
I want a teacher who has a contagious enthusiasm for his teaching—one who, as
Rich ard Via says, loves his students and his work. Mr. Via
is an educational specialist in using drama techniques to teach EFL at the East West
Center in Hawaii. I was fortunate enough to attend
his teacher-training seminar in Korea in 1976.
It was a pleasure to be in his audience. His
enjoyment in
transmitting knowledge and participating in theseminar was apparent and
infectious. His passion for
teaching instilled a passion for learning in
all the participants. For me, the most crucial factors in effectivete aching
are who the teacher is and how he acts in the classroom. This influences the
way the students react toward the target language and, therefore, their success
in learning it.
2. I want a teacher who is creative. Teaching
must be more than simply opening a book, doing exercises, and following an
outline written by someone else. In the tedium of repetition, the student can
go through the motions of doing the exercises without his mind being engaged.
What can a teacher do to engage the student’s mind? There are a myriad of
techniques that the creative teacher can employ—information-gap exercises, games,
songs, jazz chants, problem solving, and other techniques that allow the
student to utilize the skills he has already developed in his first language.
3. I want a teacher who can add pace and
humor to the class. The humor of one of my teachers had the effect of
alleviating my nervousness—of reducing my affective filter. There was a rapport
among the students and the teacher because we were all laughing together. We
had a good time learning, and we made a lot of progress because we were not
afraid to make mistakes; we could take chances. As Krashen would say, the
affective filters of the students were low, facilitating acquisition.
Another teacher that I had maintained an
excellent pace in the class. She never lost an instant consulting a list or
thinking about what to do next; she had prepared—that was evident—and she was
going to capitalize on every second. I was somewhat nervous in her class, but I
didn’t have time to worry about it because events moved so quickly. I was
literally sitting on the edge of my seat so that I wouldn’t miss anything, and
my adrenalin was a positive force.
I should add that humor is a double-edged
sword: it can backfire, for what is funny to one person may not be funny to
another. Humor across cultures can add a layer of difficulty to communication.
4. I want a teacher who challenges me. I had
several teachers who always spoke to me in Spanish, both in and out of class. I
felt they were showing confidence in me and chal lenging me to speak Spanish.
The student’s passive knowledge of the target language is always greater than
his active knowledge. There is no reason why a teacher should use any language
other than the target language except possibly for purposes of expediency. When
a teacher reverts to the native language, he is showing a lack of patience with
the students’ struggles in the target
language. In addition, switching codes is confusing. I was given a test in which all the in structions
were read to me in English, so that I
would be sure to understand every-thing. Then I had to answer in Spanish. But
the test had three parts and I had to continue switching codes back and forth from En glish to Spanish; I found
this very confus ing. It is like going
off a diet—once you cheat a little, then
you want to cheat a little more. If someone
speaks to me in English, this activates my English chan-nel and I am
prepared to think in English. Speaking in
the target language to the learner prepares and challeng-es him to speak
in that language.
In
addition, I want a teacher who can maintain a level of difficulty high enough
to challenge me, but not so high as to discourage me.
5. I want a
teacher who is encouraging and patient, and who will not give up on me. Some of
the teachers that I have had demonstrated incredible patience with all of their
students, never allowing even a shadow of displeasure to cross their faces in
reaction to continued incor-rect speaking after endless correction (which may
say something about the policy of correction). When the teacher is
positive—encouraging initial and repeated attempts—the students will apply
themselves more diligently. Motivation thrives on success.
6. I want a
teacher who will take an interest in me as a per-son—one who will try to
discover discussion topics that interest
me. When I was teaching, one of the first
things I did was to try to find out what my students’ in-terests were:
hobbies, past employment, family, travel, etc. The easiest, most accessible
area of conversation is oneself. The initial and intermediate stages of
devel-opment for the language student do not abound with opportunities for
coherent self-expression. Most of the time, we language students feel fairly
incompetent be-cause we cannot express ourselves adequately, as we are
accustomed to doing in our native language. Thus, if we can discuss some little
accomplishment we’ve had, or something that we take pleasure in or are proud
of, so
much the better.
7. I want a
teacher who knows grammar well and who can explain something on the spot 1
if necessary.I also want a teacher
who is realistic and has the simple courage
to admit that he doesn’t know an answer if indeed he doesn’t. I have had
some teachers who, probably as the result of the de-emphasis on grammar
explanation in the structuralist tradition, did not provide enough
explanations. It seems to me that a more eclectic ap-proach would take into
consideration the needs of the adult learner, who should be given some insight
into the intricacies of grammar.
8. I want a
teacher who will take a minute or two to answer a question after class, or who
will take five minutes to correct something that I have done on my own. I had
several teachers who did this willingly and who encouraged the students to do
extra work on their own. I also had a teacher who made some corrections for me
at my request, but somehow I felt as if I had
encroached on her time. Is teaching to be exactly 50 minutes of the hour
and no more? First, we as teach-ers need to encourage students not only to
study what is required, but to pursue on their own areas in which they are
interested. Acquisition is facilitated when it concerns information that we need
or are interested in. And second, we need to appreciate our students’ efforts.
9. I want a
teacher who will treat me as a per son, on an equal basis with all the members
of the class, regardless of sex, marital status, race, or my future need for
the language. In some of my classes women were given discussion topics relating
only to the home and family, and men were rarely asked to talk about their
families. Men were also given more “talk” time than the women. This can be
discouraging to the student, and that is not conducive to progress. As
teachers, we must look carefully at our classes to be certain that we are
in-cluding everyone equally. I know that I have prob-ably been guilty of bias
toward the brighter and more energetic students—they’re more challenging for
the teacher and more interesting for the class. But now that I have been a
victim of bias my self, I will cer-tainly be more aware of treating my students
equally.
10. Finally, I
want a teacher who will leave his emotional baggage outside the classroom. The
classroom is a stage, and to be effective the teacher must in some cases be an
actor. I do not want to interrupt my concentration by worrying about what might
be bothering the teacher. Nor do I want a teacher who sustains himself through ridicule or sarcasm, playing havoc with the
emotions of his students and thereby blocking any learning/acqui-sition that
might take place.
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