If you love teaching them……
From Paul Davis
Dear Mario,
Just incidentally I think love is the key to good teaching as I said to you on Saturday.
Some trainers are said to be hard working and creative. .
My most common compliment in feedback is energy and enthusiasm.
These examples are random but I think the trainees are just commenting on the underlying feeling that you love teaching (them). .
.
In my 10 years at Eurocentre I had four exceptional students who learnt English from low level to near native speaker in 3 to 4 months. It was very difficult to find anything in common: .
Some were extrovert and some introvert.
Some systematic and bookish some apparently dis-organised and auditory.
Some learnt most in the pub, some in the class.
etc etc . .
.
After much thought I could find only one thing that all four had in common: .
they were very secure in their love: they knew that their partners, family, friends were .
there for them at any time and so were relaxed about their present task. .
.
Obvious, given Maslow, but worth saying. I don't think the trainees care much about teaching style as long as there is underlying love. In my view Gattegno had this ( at least most people could recognise it) although I think he had an underlying frustration that his hard work had not paid off and had a horror of irrationality in his audience. .
.
Incidentally, the ace learners above - all four of them seemed to need four months (not three, the normal length of a Eurocentre course).they all stayed on one more month as far as I remember. .
.
Have a good week.
.
Cheers, .
.
Paul.
How useful is teaching experience?
From Khoram Balaee, Tehran Iran
Dear Editor,
I surprise my self by wanting to comment on an article so long after its publication. The article you wrote (2002) " Experience is a comb nature gives to the bald" in MET was so interesting and convincing that made me, someone who does not write much, wants to make a point, however.
I found your article amazingly right as I had a nice experience about "experience". Here comes the story:
It was the second year of my job as an EFL teacher and the beginning of a new term. Customarily, teachers asked each other about the level of the classes they were given. Some looked for the colleague who had had their class the previous term to inquire about the students. All was words on how naughty this student or how polite the other was.
A colleague approached me, one who taught UI levels and had a high opinion of himself, and asked about my class. It happened to have been his the previous term." You're going to have troubles with this class, there are difficult ones in there." He warned me. It did not strike me much at first. But I got butterflies in my stomach when a second experienced colleague confirmed what he said.
The first colleague put me on guard especially about one particular student. He was supposedly very difficult, impolite and usually late. I had no way but to have the class and like it.
Just before going to our classes another colleague, who had seen all what happened, called me and made this suggestion. He said "Personally I don't know this class and this student, but don't take what others say and their experience for granted. They might be wrong and you may know how to teach and manage your class better than them". I liked his words and tried to enter my class without any bias, pre-judgment, or "experience".
What you say in your article is right. That class came to be one of the best classes I've ever had. I tried to know the troublemaker and understand him instead of finding fault with him. He was a very ambitious and wise boy who also talked freely and said courageously what he thought even if some didn't like it. And I happened to know what had gone on between his previous teacher and him. The teacher had gone to class late and started the lesson without any apology (probably, this was not the first time). The lesson was on the structure 'should have done', and when the teacher asked the students to make comments on the things and people around them the troublemaker said said" I think you should have apologized when you came late."
The teacher, who I believe was suffering from a known condition called 'Teacher-Is-God Syndrome', took this to heart and expelled the boy from class. The boy went back to class later after he gave a formal promise to the school manager not to misbehave again and he was made to apologize to the teacher.
I need to make it clear that I didn't hear the story from the student. It came out from what the teacher himself said. Up to here things could be forgotten. However, the student happened to be with the same teacher again and this time the teacher made sure that he never could come back and register in our institute and all its branches which is a rival-less institute. He was expelled from school. I hate to say that I guess it was my colleague's fault.
What I've learned from this experience: "never rely on others". Experience particularly when it is passed on by another is of dubious value. See things with your own honest and fair eyes. Others' eyes could be half-blind or they could be suffering from poor eye-sight.
Sincerely yours,
Khoram Balaee
Personal description:
I have an MA in TEFL. I work for Kish Language Institute in Tehran, Iran. My interests include grammar ( I really loved grammar fallacies by Martin Parrot and others. Thanks to Martin), writing, and culture. I started reading MET in 2002. Now I don't have access to MET as I graduated from university. I found your magazine very interesting, informative, and reader-friendly.
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