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Tips for Teachers

Not for Newly Qualified Teachers Only Perhaps the best way to welcome new teachers to Language Link is by offering them some practical advice concerning the actual teaching of English to Russians. If you are seriously thinking about teaching English as a foreign language in Russia (or anywhere for that matter), then it most fitting to offer some practical advice concerning the actual teaching of English to Russians. Presented in 'tip' form, it has been divided into two sections. The first section, referred to as 'Tips for New Teachers to Russia' and as its title would imply, is not just for newly qualified teachers to Russia. Anyone thinking about teaching English would do well to read over these words and heed the advice given. The second section is, however, meant as practical advice for newly qualified teachers. All too often, newly qualified teachers start out their TEFL career on the wrong foot. They believe, and erroneously so, that being 'new' can serve as an excuse for bad teaching. This simply is not true. Being a newly qualified teacher can serve as an excuse for lack of experience, but never for 'bad teaching'. There is an old saying, 'Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment'. I, for one, believe that this is so. Therefore, no one expects TEFL teachers to be perfect; no one that is except students. So in an effort to help teachers avoid the pitfalls of their profession, the following 'tips' have been amassed. And though many of them may appear self-evident, you'd be surprised how many experienced and first-time teachers fall victim to such 'self-evidency'. A. Tips for New Teachers to Russia Tip №. 1 Honesty is not always the best policy This tip has been placed first and with good reason. Therefore, its importance should not in any way be underestimated. Believe me when I say, "Honesty is not always the best policy." This should not, however, be interpreted as saying, "Lying is OK." To begin with, there is a certain psychological expression referred to as 'disarming yourself'. The implication of this expression is that you are giving up something that can or may be used against you at some future time. With regard to TEFL, a new teacher should consider two issues that are likely to crop up during their first term of teaching. These are 'training' and 'experience'. It is important you realize that in Russia (as with many places), English teachers have spent 5 years at university in order to become English teachers, whereas the average EFL teacher is just fresh off a 4-week course. Understanding this, there are a number of implications. Foremost amongst them is the almost ubiquitous belief that you have spent a similar amount of time preparing for your EFL qualification. Thus, you represent 'the ideal' English language teacher. Not only are you a specialist with regard to the English language understanding the finer points of phonetics, vocabulary, morphology, grammar and discourse, but also being a native speaker, you are capable of providing an element of cultural appropriacy to a lesson. In other words, you are better able to teach pronunciation (sounds, stress and intonation); register (formal and informal speech); phrasal verbs and idioms; etc. It is likewise believed that you are also an expert on modern TEFL methodology. Thus, you know better how to teach all the above using games, music, role-play, drama, pair and group work, projects or any one of a number of other techniques. Understanding this, it should be easy for you to imagine how your students will feel when, or should I say if, you reveal the exact nature of your training or lack of it. Your students pay money to attend your lessons. Therefore, they expect perfection. They want to leave your class saying, "Now that's an English teacher!" Likewise, I guarantee that you do not want your students saying that their former Russian English teacher was a better teacher. So how do you avoid all this without lying? Tip №. 2. Be all that you are First of all, you are a specialist with regard to the English language. You just don't know it. Your major advantage is that you are a native English speaker; therefore your ability to correctly pronounce words, phrases and sentences goes without saying. Unfortunately, most new teachers do not spend enough time doing pronunciation work. This point will be made over and over again. Likewise, doing pronunciation work implies error correction, which again most new teachers do not do enough of. Of course, don't get involved in overkill. Though your students will have tons of confidence in your ability to teach English, they will have absolutely none with regard to their own ability to learn it. Therefore a tablespoon of pronunciation work and a teaspoon of error correction will go a long way. Interested in 18 more tips, then head over to the TEFL Clinic. We're open 24 hours a day.