My_Teachers

Advanced TEFL Certificate Discussion : My Teachers By: Anies P. Weller In my view, the characteristics of an effective teacher are the ability to convey positive expectations towards the students at all times, having good classroom management skills and designing lessons to match student ability so they are able to experience the positive feeling of achievement as they go along. A good and effective teacher should also continuously motivate, encourage and guide their students to achieve their goal and show pride for their achievements. It is also very important for the teacher to always display confidence in their student’s abilities and achievements by recognising and appreciating the progress they make. Even it has been a long time since I myself was a student, I do recall vividly the very first time I was attending English language classes in my home country of Indonesia. I was in grade 7 and I do remember like yesterday my first few months of learning English. I just loved the subject and the new language and often dreamed about traveling the world visiting places and countries where English language is spoken. My English teacher was in every way an inspiration for me. Being dedicated and supportive, her teaching methods and techniques were varied, creating interest for the subject matter in me and my fellow students. Her approach made the student wanting to learn more and immerse further into the topic. She often did “Role Plays” and showed us many pictures of English speaking countries. For me this English teacher was the most ideal teacher anybody could ask for. Passionate and engaging, her way of teaching was motivating and inspiring for the students and allowing them to understand how important the language skill was and where the knowledge of English language could take us to. She always went an extra mile in presenting and revisiting lessons, making sure that at the end of each class all students had understood their subject matter and were able to complete their study tasks. Her confidence in speaking and knowing the language motivated the student to do better. Furthermore an effective teacher must always show enthusiasm and be able to make learning interesting and while creating a save and comfortable environment for the students. To be an effective teacher means that one has to show competence of the subject by knowing what has to be done and then doing the right things consistently. This will not only build trust from the students, but as well establish a lesson flow. On the contrary, an ineffective teacher holds certain characteristics that are not difficult to spot. An inefficient teacher steps into the classroom often without proper planning and no goals set to achieve. At the end of the day, nothing can be achieved since no progress has been made. An obvious characteristic of ineffective teacher is as well the inability to bridge a communication gap between student and teacher. An Ineffective teacher tends to be defensive, rather blaming the student for bad result. Instead considering it may be not because he/she has not taught but because they have not learnt. This type of teacher is usually can not be bothered to adopt any new teaching techniques or methods, or using correct and updated teaching materials. Such teachers choose to conduct the classes in same way over and over, creating a boring class environment where students are neither guided nor motivated to follow and understand a lesson. Students falling under the care of such teacher will be hugely disadvantaged in several ways. Not only they will not know the topics they should have learned, but they will not be able to achieve their study goals in other areas. They do not become inspired with the will and satisfaction to learn, lacking interest and motivation to make an effort. Such students will be facing a problems when it comes to examinations, compounding the negative effect by adding failure. Other than having dissatisfying results on the subject, students will also be exposed to an unpleasant teaching experience and environment, lack confidence in their ability and not knowing how to improve themselves. The qualities I would like to adopt in teaching are to build a good rapport with the students. I will be effectively planning my lesson and guide the students to maximize their learning with confidence in a save and enjoyable teaching environment. 19 November 2010