Describing Teachers

“If the teacher is indeed wise, he does not you to enter the house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind”. Khalil Gibran.

In the classroom

    Students observe the way we walk and talk.
  There should be a distinction between who we are, and who we are as teachers.
  Honest to yourself and honest to the students.

      Students want someone who looks like a teacher.

Roles of a teacher

Other roles of a teacher.

ü  Organizing students and activities.

This often involves giving the students information telling them how they are going to do the activities.

ü  The teacher as performer.

Knowing that different teachers act differently and that individual teachers vary their behavior, depending upon what they are doing, gives us insights into classroom behavior.

Rapport.

o   It is a class where there is a positive, enjoyable and respectful relationship among students and teachers and students.

o   Successful rapport derives from the student’s perception of the teacher as a good leader and successful professional.

o   Is better given by recognizing Students, Listening to students, respecting students being even-handed.

Characteristics of the rapport:

 v  Recognizing students: students would like that the teacher to know the names and appreciate some understanding of the characters.

 v  Listening to students: they need to listen to the students' comments on how they are getting on, and which activities and techniques they respond well or badly to.

 v  Respecting students: teachers who respect the students do their best to see them in a positive light. They do not react with anger or ridicule when students do unplanned things, but instead of use a respectful professionalism to solve the problems.

     v Being even-handed: the teachers have some students that they warm to more than others, because they are cheerful, cooperative and take responsibilities for they own learning, and they do what is asked without complaint.

The teacher as teaching aid.

In a language classroom there are specific ways in which we can help our students both hear and understand language.

      Mime and gesture.

One of the things that we are uniquely able to do on the spot is to use mime, gestures and expressions to convey meaning and atmosphere.

      The teacher as language model.

Students get models of language from textbook, reading materials of all sorts and from audio and video tapes.

      The teacher as provider of comprehensible input.

     Many teachers in classroom is how much they themselves should talk, and what kind of talk this should be.

Native-speaker teachers and non-native speaker teacher.

Advantages and Disadvantages of native  speaker:

1.    The students think that being taught by someone who has English as a mother tongue will help them learn better.

2.    A native speaker teacher´s ability to communicate effectively with students.

Advantages and Disadvantages of non-  native speaker.

1.    The teachers are frequently considerably more familiar with local mores and learning styles than visiting native speakers are.

2.    Some non-native speaker do not have the advantages that the native speakers have.

      To conclude, the value of a teacher depends not just on their ability to use a language, but also on their knowledge about the language and their understanding of how to enable both that ability and that knowledge in the minds of their students.