Editorial
The text below was first published in the Millenium Edition of ROMANCE - publication funded by British Council, Romania, May 2000.

A Teacher Never Stops Being a Student

Georgeta Stoenescu – Galati, Romania

Georgeta Stoenescu-Galati has been a teacher of English for 35 years. Between 1998-2001 she worked as inspector for English for her region and did lesson observation and supervised the work of the teachers of English. She attended some ELT conferences and gave some presentations; in 2001 she was involved in a Creative Writing project financed by the British Council and published a few articles in Romance, a magazine for the Romanian teachers of English. At present she is a teacher of English. E-mail: g_stoenescu@yahoo.com

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Introduction
Collection of data
Analysis
Conclusions
References

Introduction

Though a student may have graduated from University, it does not mean that he/she has stopped learning. Not until he/she steps into a classroom does the new-arrival become aware of how little he/she knows. It is only then that he/she discovers what a demanding job has been chosen. There is a multitude of new challenges wherever the teacher looks- more and more textbooks are being written, new approaches are regularly being developed. Besides, students are different not only from one classroom to another but also within the same class. So, the teacher has to know how to deal with each circumstance, as individuals and as a group.

It is no wonder that young teachers are overwhelmed by the diversity of situations they find themselves in. They feel as if they were in a labyrinth. How can they find their way out? There is only one answer. By learning.

This category of teachers may envy their more-experienced colleagues. It is only later that they will realize how experience is not a constant state. A teacher should never stop being a student. Experience itself, without reflecting and sharing, learning and working together with others, cannot help teachers keep pace with the ever changing English language teaching process.

I have been a teacher for twenty-eight years. However, there is still much for me to learn. Getting feedback from the students is a technique which is meant to raise one’s own awareness of the effectiveness of teaching.

Collection of data

Being a devotee of the saying ‘One never knows enough’, I administered a questionnaire to my 9th grade philology students (With my responsibilities as an inspector, these are the only students I am teaching at the moment). Out of the 26 students questioned, all filled in the information required. The questionnaire asked the following:

1. Point out your English teacher’s strong points and weak points.
2. Have you made any progress with your English since school started? Circle the right answer (Yes/No). Give reasons.
3. Is the Teacher-Student relationship encouraging or discouraging? Circle the appropriate answer (Yes/No). Give reasons for your answer.
4. What would you recommend to your teacher in order for her to be more successful in her work?

Analysis

When analysing the answers to the four questions I have found the following:

1. Twenty-two of the questioned students identified both the weak and the strong points. Four of them mentioned only weak points. Here are some of their answers:
Strong points

• She knows very well what to do with her pupils, working hard to teach them as much as possible
• She makes use of pair work and group work giving us the chance to develop fluency while homework
• Correct, intelligent
• A good teacher with a strong personality. She is dedicated to her work and to her students. She loves her work.
Weak points

• She has no patience with us pupils,
• She expects too much from us
• She gets easily upset
• She gives us a lot of homework
• She wants too much from a student who doesn’t know English very well
• She speaks too loud for 7 am.
2. Twenty-two students have made progress with their English while four have not made any progress,
3. Twenty-two students chose "Yes" for Question 3 indicating they find the Teacher-Student relationship encouraging.
It is appropriate to mention a few reasons for the choices of these 22 and the 4 who chose "Discouraging".

Encouraging

• We have a great chance to enter college if she doesn’t leave us
• She stimulates me to learn English
• She knows what questions to ask me
• For me, the how is important
Discouraging

• She asks too much from us
• She tries to encourage me but sometimes she spoils everything
• She thinks of some things as being very easy, passing over them very quickly and moving on to new topics
4. Eight respondents feel that they do not have anything to recommend to me as a teacher while eighteen of them share more or less the same opinion. Their suggestions sound like this:
• She should be more patient and understanding
• She should listen to the students’ problems and help them find an answer to them
• She should be more patient with us keeping in mind the fact that we come from different schools whose teachers were not all interested in teaching English properly
• She should give us less homework

Conclusions

My students’ answers give me reasons for reflection. Their suggestions reinforce the idea expressed in the title helping me to consider teaching a life-long learning process. With this idea in mind, teachers of English "can give tomorrow’s generations valid reasons to live and hope".

References

Bowen, T. & Marks, J. (1944) Inside Teaching: Heinemann

Woodward, T. (1995) Ways of Teaching: Longman

Ur, P. (1996) A Course in Language Teaching: Cambridge University Press

Fergusson, M. (1982) The Aquarian Conspiracy: London: Garuda

Please check the Skills of Teacher Training course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Expert Teacher course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Building Positive Group Dynamics course at Pilgrims website.