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From unit 1, I could know qualities that a good teacher and a good learner should have, essential roles of a teacher, as well as how to distinguish the differences between adult and young learners. In addition, I have also learnt the way to classify learners into different English levels, and known some of the reasons why learners have decided to attend English classes.
To begin with, some qualities that a good teacher should have are being kind and patient; having a passion for teaching; having good subject knowledge...Firstly, a good teacher should be patient and kind. For example, a teacher who has patience is the one who is always ready to answer one question given over and over again by their students until their students could feel satisfied with the answer. In my opinion, a good teacher is kind when he or she is a good listener. This means a good teacher should be reliable for students to share all their problems they face, and he or she should be able to help those learners get through those obstacles. The second quality that a good teacher should have is loving teaching. A good teacher should consider teaching their dream job. They should feel happy when transmitting knowledge to their students or witnessing them progress day by day. Another quality I think a good teacher should have is having good subject knowledge. In other words we could say a good teacher should be an expert in their field. Thanks to this, Students will be motivated and inspired to become a specialist like their good teachers.
The next part of Unit 1 is about some important roles of a teacher. In my opinion, 3 most important roles of a teacher are: being an Assessor, a Prompter and a Model. First of all, a teacher should be an assessor. As an Assessor, a teacher could help students progress in their studying by giving feedback, corrections as well as evaluating their performance in class. For example, an English teacher should correct pronunciation errors students have so that learners could improve their speaking skills. Secondly, a teacher should be a prompter. Sometimes, students do not know how to express their opinions; therefore, teachers should give them some questions which could encourage students to give their ideas by answering those questions. Last but not least, a teacher should be a specialist in their field. For instance, an English teacher should have deep knowledge in English which allows them to speak like a native-speaker. This could help students imitate the way their teacher speaks and improve their speaking skills day by day.
Another section in Unit 1 provides learners with some qualities we should expect to find in a good learner. From this section, I know that a good learner should be willing to ask questions, accept error corrections and always desire to learn. Firstly, students who are willing to ask questions are those who feel curious about the subject. This also means they want much deeper knowledge relating to lessons. By asking questions, learners could easily learn everything by heart. Another quality I think a good learner should have is the acceptance of error corrections. Thanks to this quality, a student could learn from their faults, and keep moving forward in his or her learning process. The third quality that a good learner always has is a desire to learn. No matter how hard they learn English they always feel it is not enough. This desire helps them learn constantly and sooner or later they could become an expert in English.
Unit one also mentions the differences between adult and young learners. Some of the major differences between adult and young learners are motivation, nervousness, language awareness and behavior problems. First of all is the motivation. Adults attend classes due to their own choices while children might join English classes because their parents require them to do so. That’s the reason why adults could be often more motivated in learning than children could. The second difference between adult and young learners is Nervousness. Adults could feel shy when speaking in front of class due to the fact that they feel afraid that their opinions could be wrong, and they could be laughed at by others. By contrast, children could often feel free to express their opinions, and give their own questions over and over again without any hesitation. Another difference between adult and young learners is language awareness. Due to the affections of the way they used to learn their mother tongue for a long time, Adults could face much more difficulties when learning a new language. In contrast, children adopt a new language like the way they learn their mother tongue. Lastly, Behavior problems are one of the differences between adult and young learners. Adults could be able to focus on the lessons better than children could. This could lead to less discipline in the classroom for adult learners.
Unit one also shows the way to classify English Level of Leaners. There are 5 levels we use to classify English learners. They are: Beginners, low-intermediate, intermediate, upper intermediate and advanced. The most common breakdown is as follows:
Beginners: people who do not know anything about English or have a very basic knowledge of English.
Elementary: Learners could know how to form and use basic sentences.
Low-Intermediate: Students could communicate and understand more various topics than they used to know in Beginner level; however, they could not speak fluently, and sometimes they even make some mistakes when using basic structures.
Intermediate: learners could have the ability to understand and communicate on various topics, but not always in an accurate and fluent way.
Upper Intermediate: they could be able to communicate on almost all issues with a wide range of vocabularies. Nevertheless, they still have a lack of accuracy in communicating.
Advanced: They should be quite good in all 4 skills: speaking, listening, writing and reading; and now they will be studying more subtle language items.
However, the way we classify English ability of learners could still base on our teaching environments, or which teaching materials we are using. For instance, an intermediate student in this country could be low-intermediate in another one.
Basing on English level of learners, a good teacher should have suitable methods for his or her class. For example, visual method is often used for students at Lower level. For Mid-level students, teachers should provide a wider range of Vocabulary, and create more opportunities for students to speak in more various topics. For Higher level students, the problem that students at this level could face is sometimes they feel satisfied with what they have, and do not want to continue learning. As a result, it is more likely that they could fail to progress.
The last part of Unit 1 is about the motivations of English learners. There are a wide variety of reasons why students might have decided to learn English. Firstly, some learners want to study English is because Leaning English could increase their chances of getting a good job in a multination company. Secondly, since English is the official language of 53 countries, a good English ability could allow learners to meet and make friends with many people in various nations in the world. Another reason might be that English is one of the obligatory subjects at school of some learners; therefore, they want to attend English classes to improve their academic results.
In conclusion, all knowledge in Unit 1 allows me to know more clearly about the relationship between learners and teachers. This could make me become a better English teacher in the near future.