How to recognze a perfect teacher

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The Bilingua Times

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Issue #3

July, 2002

www.bilingua.ru

How to Recognize a Perfect English Teacher? By Kordjukova Tatiana

We usually face this problem when we are seeking ways of improving our language skills and think about taking some English courses or hiring a private tutor. It is generally accepted that the teacher's qualifications and personality are the key points of the students' success in studying the language.

Firstly, let's define the main features of a good teacher in general, with no regard to the English language. For this purpose we need to determine the role of the teacher in the process of education. It is the teacher who is to convey his or her knowledge to the students and to stimulate the students' aspiration for studying. It requires great attainments in the supject as well as the ability to explain difficult points in simple words. I would describe this group of qualities as professional skills. They are absolutely essential for every teacher and do not depend on specialization. As for the encouraging and stimulating, the teacher's personal qualities are foremost here, but the combination of these qualities can vary, depending on the supject and the students to be taught.

A language teacher (or an English teacher in our case) distinguishes from other teachers, as he or she has not only to describe the key principles of the science, but also to acquaint the students with all linguistic peculiarities that don't always go with our mentality. It requires from the teacher spending more time on explaining things which seem natural to her, but are not so obvious for the students. And it should never irritate the teacher, as there is nothing so harmful for the process of studying as a nervous and irritated teacher.

Another negative feature is selfishness. It is a barrier, which does not allow the teacher to listen to the students and, hence, to understand the students' needs.

A person who tells lies is not a teacher. If a student finds out that the teacher tells him lies, or he is not confident, or he is not sincere about the students' achievements, he will never believe the teacher again and will doubt the teacher's words. And how could we expect positive results if the teacher and the students do not cooperate?

However, I can't work out a universal formula of teacher's personal qualities. Tastes differ. For me, a good teacher is a person who is devoted to the work and is ready to share the knowledge with the students This is a bright personality, with a good sense o humor, imaginative, and able to make a boring lesson dynamic and exciting.

And now, when we have defined the key characteristics of a perfect teacher, there is only one problem left - how to find an ideal in our real life.

It's human to be lazy by Felix Agel

Students should care about the proper balance between compulsory and optional courses. Compulsory courses are set in high school curriculum by default. In addition to this, a student can choose some optional courses according to his or her preferences.

On one hand the possibility to choose the subjects guarantees the necessary flexibility, and allows the student to attend only the most important courses. In most cases the right to choose is regarded as an element of personal freedom - everybody should have the right to determine the amount and quality of knowledge to be obtained in the high school.

One the other hand, everyone is aware of such a thing as natural laziness of a human being. Our system of education is designed to make people study, while a lot of students unwittingly try to avoid hard work, preferring to it easy, funny and relaxing courses. It's unfair, but prominent skills and useful experience are always the result of hard work, and require a lot of effort and time.

A lot, of course, depends on the person. Matured students should have wider choice than newcomers (first year students). For instance, while compulsory courses should reach up to 80% for first year students, a final year student may choose up to 80% of the total curriculum.

There is another concept that can be proposed to the students, the concept of "limited or regulated freedom'. All courses can be divided into several groups. The group of basic courses comprises mandatory disciplines (depends on a particular specialization). For future mathematicians it can be math, physics, programming and others, and that will be in the first group. The more the number of the group, the more freedom has a student in selecting disciplines. One may even reject studying all the subjects from the last group.

To put it in other words, every course should have its rank, and the total score of the disciplines, selected by a student for the coming academic year, cannot be lower than it is determined by the University administration.

A Perfect Foreign Language Teacher

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Let us have a closer look at the matter by Nastenko Ilja

If one have ever tried to learn any foreign language, he is likely to have his own opinion about the idea of an ideal language teacher. The question might seem to be clear enough and the requirements quite obvious. But let us have a closer look at the matter.

Being asked about the requirements for a "perfect" teacher, I would claim the following features as the main ones: language awareness, anxiety for sharing the knowledge with the students and care for the results, attention to the students, ability to be encouraging and demanding at the same time. I believe, that the vast majority of students would say approximately the same.

But think of all these qualities a poor teacher should possess to meet the requirements. Let us try to enumerate them. So, he (or she) has to be clever, patient, generous, encouraging, truthful, impartial, attentive, convincing, able to explain whatever needed, and so on and so forth. Doesn't it look like a description of a holy person? I wonder if there is any sense at all in putting forward special requirements. Many of us could give examples of real teachers possessing none of the qualities mentioned, but considered by both students and colleagues to be very good professionals. Moreover, they might possess some opposite qualities. Does it make them less respected?

Still, the fact, that it is desirable for a teacher to meet at least half of the given requirements, is not to be argued. I dare to state that there can't be a perfect teacher, as the requirements vary from pupil to pupil. I would offer an alternative definition. For every person willing to master foreign language the perfect teacher is that, who can teach him, whatever the manner he would do it in.

Practical Things First By Peter Zatsarnyi

As for me I think that we need more practical things at the lessons of the English language in our case.

We are adult people. Have no so much time like students or pupils in schools. And most of us need foreign language for everyday conversation (e.g. with our boss) and to explain our ideas to foreigners. I think only spoken language... Yes, of coz, we need some knowledge in spelling and grammar for writing, but in less quantity than practice in "everyday conversation"

Ok, for example: today I needed to explain some problem with IT in our company to my chef. I have enough vocabulary for explaining. I use only correct word in my explanations BUT I can't connect one part of the phrases with another. As for me - it's easy to use some conjunctive stamps and my "database" of English words...

And I think people like me (hard working, busy etc.) need three programs for educating themselves:

1. Program for people with "huge vocabulary": Practice with some grammar stamps

2. Program for people with good memory only: "huge passive voc." but without much practice and knowledge in grammar structures (like me - I can understand 90-95% of fluent Engl.): practice, some grammar patterns, some usual grammar, and practice, practice, practice with synonymous (non-recurring, different words) to increase active vocabulary and put in order the knowledge of grammar.

3. Program for real beginners - with no voc. And with no knowledge in grammar of English... - It must be like a school program - from the first step and .....

I can say only from my humble point of view but I keep on pressing that we don't need a level of English like interpreters. We need only "everyday spoken language" connected to business and "non-home" vocabulary.

One can't do without rules either by Tatiana Karpova

I do not think that we can get rid of theory and practice phrases only. The point is that all these theoretical moments, that do not seem important at the first glance, are really very important. Theoretical knowledge helps us economize on time. We cannot learn English like we learnt Russian. Leaning a native language and a foreign language are different things. We cannot just keep in mind all the situations where this or that grammar tense is used, we have to understand it. The same is about parts of speech and members of the sentence. It can cause misunderstanding if we do not use the right word order. It is very important if you have friends from another country, and write letters to each other. When you speak, you see it at once, that something goes wrong. But if your friend reads a letter, he cannot ask you to explain if something is not clear to him.

I believe, that we should pay much attention to studying grammar and even theoretical things we do not remember in Russian. But also we should practice speaking a lot, and listen to real English from films and broadcasting.

Any Teacher Must Be Bright By Felix Agel

A language teacher is an outstanding person in the system of education. There are some common characteristics inherent to every teacher. He or she should be attentive to the audience; it does not mean focusing on the supject only, but such personal qualities as generosity, tolerance, flexibility and understanding. Ability to encourage students in order to launch the mechanism of self-improvement and self-educating is both the main target and a method of teaching. It's necessary for the teacher to be able to control himself, as it usually takes much time to explain things, especially when the class is not very bright or even just stupid. The teacher should avoid being bad-tempered or ill-natured, as it's often the result of lack of confidence and disability to understand pupils.

Every teacher should be a kind of a psychologist. A good teacher is to recognize the internal motivation of her or his student. And at the same time he should be strict towards those guys who ask for trouble. Some students like teachers to make them feel clever and to demonstrate her or his faith in them. Some students are always trying to say as much as can. Although a good teacher cares for students' opinion, in this case the time of speaking should be restricted, as the teacher should stand up for other students' interests. Also, the teacher should help students feel confident; they usually cope with different problems easier when the teacher makes them feel clever. Public recognition fuels ambitions and contributes to the future development of the person.

At the same time, success of a language teacher depends a lot on his or her personal contact with the students. The requirements to a language teacher's personal qualities are more rigid than to other teachers. A language teacher cannot afford being dull, mean or narrow-minded, because he or she spends a lot of time discussing various issues with students. It will help the teacher if he or she is stuck.

Another thing is that a language teacher should obtain a set of specific skills. For instance, good pronunciation can hardly be achieved without a certain gift for music. The teacher should always tell the truth, should always be dressed in good taste. Only bright personalities are respected by audience.

I Believe Ideal Teachers Exist By Tichatchov Vladimir

I believe ideal teachers exist. An ideal teacher of foreign languages should know the language very well and have experience in teaching it.

It does not matter how old the teacher is and if the teacher is a man or a woman. What really matters it is how he or she explains the material to the students and makes them understand it. It is also important for a teacher to have a good sense of humour.

There are many teachers like that. One of them is my teacher of English. At the lessons time flies and I do not notice it. And I think there should be more such teachers.

Everything should be balanced By Kordjukova Tatiana

The balance of theoretical and practical courses is the crucial point of the process of education. What is more important - to get a strong theoretical basis or to use the knowledge in practice?

In general, there are two main approaches to this point - deductive and inductive ones. These are two ways how the brain functions in cognition, and it comes from philosophy. The first one is based on transition from the general to the particular. It means that first you have to learn the general terms - the theory - and only after it, you can move to studying particular cases. The second method implies the opposite approach - first you study the particular cases, then analyze the information and work out the general principles and rules.

Let's analyze the both methods. The first one is very useful with the tense forms, as the subject has been studied enough and we are sure that the generalized rules are appropriate for all specific cases. Learning the theoretical aspects of the system of English tenses is highly helpful to train your language skills.

On the other hand there are so many exceptions, that sometimes it is easier to practice some particular situations and phrases instead of trying to find common features in piles of different cases. This is the inductive method, and it is based on the practical approach.

My point of view is that everything should be balanced. We can't study the subject without the theoretical basement, but all the same, the theory is nothing without the practice. I see an ideal curriculum as a comprehensive course where scientific points are supplemented with practical exercises.

Issue #2, July, 2002

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