-
Module 1 - Your Role 0/1
-
Lecture1.1
-
Lecture1.2
-
Lecture1.3
-
Lecture1.4
-
Quiz1.1
-
-
Module 2 - Grammar 0/13
-
Lecture2.1
-
Lecture2.2
-
Quiz2.1
-
Lecture2.3
-
Quiz2.2
-
Lecture2.4
-
Quiz2.3
-
Lecture2.5
-
Quiz2.4
-
Lecture2.6
-
Quiz2.5
-
Lecture2.7
-
Quiz2.6
-
-
Module 3 - Teaching Grammar 0/4
-
Lecture3.1
-
Lecture3.2
-
Lecture3.3
-
Quiz3.1
-
-
Module 4 - Teaching Vocabulary and Pronunciation 0/3
-
Lecture4.1
-
Lecture4.2
-
Quiz4.1
-
-
Module 5 - Teaching Strategies and Methods 0/3
-
Lecture5.1
-
Lecture5.2
-
Quiz5.1
-
-
Module 6 - Lesson Planning 0/6
-
Lecture6.1
-
Lecture6.2
-
Lecture6.3
-
Lecture6.4
-
Lecture6.5
-
Assignment6.1
-
-
Module 7 - Managing The Classroom 0/6
-
Lecture7.1
-
Lecture7.2
-
Lecture7.3
-
Lecture7.4
-
Lecture7.5
-
Quiz7.1
-
The Role of the Teacher
The role of a teacher encompasses many different elements, that you need to be aware of from the beginning.
The manager – The teacher will always be the manager, managing the class activity, group work, discussions and planning. When working with young people, they may have to manage behaviour and will often manage the flow and pace of the lesson.
The instructor – At some point during the lesson, the teacher will become the instructor who imparts knowledge and information to the students. In TEFL teaching, it is important to allow a small amount of time for instructing, as lessons should be predominately student-centered, meaning it should be student-led activities.
The Facilitator – In TEFL teaching, the teacher will often become the facilitator, a knowledgable person to support and guide student discussion and learning. This occurs when students are given a particularly activity and the teacher supports students (often one-to-one or in small groups) to reach the learning objective.
The Assessor – The teacher will always be the assessor during and after lessons. The teacher will plan opportunities to assess students and give feedback. Students completed work, response to activities, answers to teachers questioning and module tests can all aid teachers assessment of the students understanding.
The Adaptor – What happens when you plan to teach a lesson on nouns and the students already know what a noun is? Or they don’t speak any English at all? As a teacher, you will always need to adapt lessons depending on students responses and progress within the lesson. We look at this in depth later on.
The Observer – Whilst students are undertaking an activity, the teacher may wish to take a step back and observe. This is a great time for the teacher to assess students understanding, notice who may need additional support and guidance but also reflect on their own teaching practise.
The Elicitor – It is said that the best way for someone to learn a skill is by working it out themselves. If you work something out for yourself, it is argued that you will remember and understand the skill more than if you were simply told it. So that is what you will be doing as the teacher and elicitor. When students are working out an answer, you use questioning and prompts to elicit the correct answer.
The Participator – There may be occasions when the teacher will become a participator and join in with an activity. This works particularly well in TEFL lessons because the students are supported and motivated from working alongside their teacher.
The Tutor – TEFL Tutoring is a popular job position and you may find yourself teaching a full class one hour, then in the next hour, tutoring a student one-to-one. This means you can give more guidance and support but will often need to plan more work than you would normally do if you were teaching a group of 15.
The self-reflector – As a teacher, it is important you find time to reflect on your own practice. It is very easy for you to teach a lesson and, at the end, decide that “”the lesson was good, the students understood the activity.” But you will not improve as a teacher unless you scrutinise your own practice. Was it paced appropriately? Were any students bored during the lesson? Could I have made the lesson more interactive? How can I accurately assess all children? What can I do next time? We will look at this in more detail later on in the course.
The Resource – Perhaps, most importantly in TEFL teaching, you are the main resource for the students. You are a most likely a native English-speaker for the students to learn from and be exposed to, in order to enhance their own learning of the English language.
The role(s) you take on in your lessons depends greatly on who, what, where and how. Be sure to include a variety of these roles within one lesson to engage and motivate students.
Prev
Course Introduction