TEACHERS’ THINKING

(FromPearson Education-Longman Teachers’ Training Courses)

10 THINGS TEACHERS SHOULDN’T THINK (OR TRY NOT TO!)

1. Students learn what we teach them.
    One of theconstant questions of all teacher is “Why don’t students learn what I teach them?” Some students just don’t seem to pick up what we present in the class. Other mutate what we teach into something different and more learn things that we have never mentioned in the class! The resulting teacher frustration can be very negative and destructive. There is a temptation to say to ourselves “You WILL learn what I teach!”
     As far as I am concerned the reason children don’t learn exactly what their teachers teach is because they are all individuals. Each child has his or her own of learning, own motivations and interests. The teaching and learning process is a complex interaction of teacher, student and materials. There are so many potential combinations of factors that learning outcomes are hard to predict.
    Therefore if we cannot predict precisely what children will learn from a lesson, we have to change the criteria for a successful lesson in our minds Since every child will learn something different during the teaching/learning process, as teachers we can only plan that each child makes PROGRESS during our lessons. Our teaching objectives should be based on the PROGRESS of individuals not the homogeneous advancement of the whole class.

2. The teacher needs to be in control.
   One of my deepest fears when I enter the classroom is that things will go wrong and I will lose control of the students. Let’s face it this has happened to most of at sometime. This is perhaps why some of us teachers are accused of talking too much. We think that by talking we will keep the students attention concentrated on us.
   There are many reasons that we teachers fear the class getting out of hand. Firstly of course we worry that teaching/learning objectives will not be met. We are anxious about children thinking we are “weak” and that our colleagues concluding that we are ineffective. In other words most of our concern connected to control are about our own identities. Control is a fundamental part of human relationships which partly defines who we are. Nowhere is the dynamic of control more intense than in the classroom.
   In traditional classroom relationships power lies in the hands of the teacher. However this dynamic does not suit the modern language learning classroom. Students can take more responsibility for their own learning. They must interact with each other in order to practice getting messages across and engaging in meaningful interaction. We may also find the experience of handing over more control to the students liberating. Our role can be redefined as facilitator, manager, resource and initiator.

3. The coursebook is a bible.
   Whilst a modern coursebook is a fantastic aid in the teaching/learning process, it is only as good as the teacher using it. Many coursebook now contain cassettes, videos, teacher resource files and so on, which supplement the core students’ books. This requires new skills of the teacher. Our job is to select from the wealth of material we are given to create a meaningful programme for our students. The idea is not to slavishly follow a coursebook like a recipe but to select, adapt, break down, reuse, recycle and rewrite materials for our own contexts.

4. Grammar is like building blocks.
   Perhaps one of the most controversial topics for teachers is the place of grammar in language teaching/learning. Centuries of traditional teaching has suggested that language can be broken down into blocks which once mastered, allow one to create language. These blocks have their own rules which if learned generate speech and writing.
   I believe sadly that the construction metaphor is well past its by date Linguists have prover that whilst there may be some degree of natural order for the blocks of language that we learn, and that children have a natural inbuilt capacity to learn all language in a similar way, children create their own prototype versions of a language before they master it. In other words individuals make unique versions of a language as they learn it.
   Grammar can be seen as one of the many problem-solving activities involved in language learning.

5. Production comes after practice.
   In our attempt to help students and protect them from the pain of language learning, many of us think that performance should only come after intensive repetition and practise. We want to shield children from mistakes and errors. We want first performances to be perfect.
   Why do we do this? I suggest that we have been fooled into thinking that if we say something frequently enough that when an appropriate situation comes up in real life, we will be able to use it. I think we have it upside down. Instead of preparing resources for possible situations in the future, we should be throwing students into more situation to highlight what they need. Later the required resources can be refined and extended. Good communication comes from making the best of what you know rather than preparing set pieces.



6. Red double-decker buses are culture.
  No-one would doubt the need for culture awareness if students are to be affective users of the English language. Appropriate culture input will enable students to understand why other users are communicating their messages in certain ways. All too often we have based this culture awareness training on content about the target culture rather than on the values, attitudes and norms that are part of the target culture. Information about red double-decker busses and fish and chips, whilst interesting, may not actually help children to communicate better with other English users. Far more important I believe is awareness of topics such as politeness, hospitality or attitudes to money in the target culture to name but a few. It is also worth remembering that many of our students may never visit the target culture or interact with native-speakers but may be doing business in Prague or buying something over the Internet in English.

7. Testing should provide external motivation to learn.
   Most of us believe that the tests we give the students encourage them to study more. This may work on the surface but as most tests are summative assessments which come at the end of a unit or module, they simply check how much students can remember on the day of the test. As a contribution to long-term learning most tests fail. They provide little feedback to the students on their performance and any positive results are soon forgotten.
   The teaching/learning process should provide a more positive dialogue between the teacher and the students. Assessment could be based on the longer-term objective of PROGRESS rather than judgement. The teacher’s role might be to provide feedback which will improve future performances in similar situations. Written feedback on written work, for example, I believe, is essential. The main aim of any assessment procedure should contribute to the internal motivation of the individual student.

8. Speaking in Mother Tongue isn’t useful.
Although it is hard to change teachers thinking, when it happens it happens completely. A good example of this is the use of the first language. We often find now that we feel guilty about the amount of Mother Tongue spoken by our students and sometimes by ourselves. Some teachers have a “no first language” rule. What is the reason for this? Obviously speaking English all the time creates more opportunities for communication. However, it does something make unnatural situations too.
   The key here I think is to define when it is useful, appropriate, time-efficient and effective to use Mother Tongue. Referring to coursebook again, you can find students encouraged to use their first language in new coursebook. Often Mother Tongue can be used at the planning stage of tasks, or to provide feedback.


9. There is a right to do everything .

Many of us are looking  for the perfect method , a method that will solve all our problems and make our teaching really  effective . We look to professors , methodology  books for the answers . like our students , mistakes are something  we try to avoid .often we have inferiority complexes and we imagine that other teachers of English are much better than we  are . moreover sometimes colleagues disapprove of what we do  and we doubt ourselves.

Only we can find the solutions our everyday challenges in the classroom . Also we must have the confidence in what  we do to share with us colleagues. There  are no tried and trusted methods which provide instant success for all teachers.

10. Twenty years of experience or one year`s experience twenty times ?

 Can you  remember how you taught in your first year of teaching ? If you shudder at the thought of it or you can`t remember that probably mean that you have continually tried to develop as a  teacher . it is tempting to do the same year from the same books and never change . However openness  to change  cam be just as rewarding for you as your  student . Attending training courses and conferences ,trying new  materials and identifying our own weaknesses , can  be a liberation for us . We can learn more about teaching and ourselves , uncovering new dimensions of our teaching and personalities.