Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified in Oregon? Are you interested in teaching English in Culp Creek, Oregon? Check out our opportunities in Culp Creek, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English in your community or abroad! Teflonline.net offers a wide variety of Online TESOL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language. Here Below you can check out the feedback (for one of our units) of one of the 16.000 students that last year took an online course with ITTT!
I have gained a more in-dept view of the qualities, responsibilities and roles of both the teacher and student.
Qualities that make a good teacher, can be divided into
1. qualities concerning the teacher’s personality, such as a love of teaching, patience, kindness, being lively and able to motivate students.
2. a good knowledge of the subject they teach
3. a reflection of the relationship between the teacher and student. These include establishing good rapport with students, correct students without taking away their motivation or insulting them, giving an equal amount of attention to all students (being fair), know the students’ weaknesses and help them individually when necessary.
This part of the unit forced me to look at my own personality and previous teaching experience to see if I actually possess these qualities and if I was able to establish the right kind of relationship with my students to provide them with an optimal learning environment to work on their English skills while enjoying the class.
I previously did not know all the different roles a teacher could have (or at least I wouldn't have been able to name all of them): manager / controller, organizer, prompter, participant, model, tutor, resource facilitator and the observer / monitor. I plan to keep these roles in mind while studying the next units on how to manage a class and how to improve my teaching skills by switching between these roles more than I previously did. This should be easier now I know all the different kinds of roles a teacher can have.
I did already approach my previous students differently depending on their age group:
- adults
- Young learners (age 2-7 pre-schoolers, 8-12 primary school students / pre-puberty and 13+ post puberty / early teen)
and also based on their language level:
- Beginner (true beginner and the false beginner) (
- Elementary
- Pre-intermediate
- Intermediate
- Upper-intermediate
- Advanced
I only knew this general system, the Common European Framework levels however where completely new to me:
- Basic User A1, Breakthrough
- Basic User A2, Waystage
- Independent User B1, Threshold
- Independent User B2, Vantage
- Proficient User C1, Effective Operational Proficiency
- Proficient User C2, Mastery
Until now, I have only tutored students in the P.R.China and they commonly use the beginner to advanced levels to describe the level of the student. The European framework might be useful to me in the future; You never know what the future brings.
The students’ motivations are also an important point to consider when teaching in my opinion. The more motivated the student is the better they can study and learn. It is also up to the teacher to keep the students motivated. Class content can be adjusted based on the students’ motivation and the same goes for the activities a teacher uses in class. Some reasons why students decide to study English:
- Career prospects
- Improve grades in school
- Wanting to live or study in an English-speaking country
- To communicate when travelling
- To communicate with friends/partners/colleagues
- Because they are interested in languages
