TEFL summary period 1
Chapter 1
Paragraph 1. Classrooms at work
The most useful thing is simply to watch other people teach. You can incorporate a lot from this into
your own teaching. It isn’t always easy to work out how apparently ‘natural’ things can be achieved
in a classroom (atmosphere for instance). The ‘magic’ in a lesson is almost always achieved by very
specific actions, comments, and attitudes.
Important things noticed in the four lesson situations:
- Activity was set up properly
- Managing the conversation
- Drawing attention
- Not a lot of ‘teacher talk’
- Manage feedback and checking
It’s reasonable to argue that much of modern language teaching involves this (shown in the four
lesson situations in paragraph 1) classroom management as much or more than it involves the
upfront explanations and testing that many people imagine as the core of a teacher’s job.
Paragraph 2. What is a teacher?
Immersion= picking up a language just by living and communicating in a place where the language is
used (language learners don’t always need teachers, but what difference does it make?).
It is important to check out if the classes of an ‘entertainer’ style of teacher are genuinely leading to
any real learning. Traditional teaching comes in many different varieties but is often characterised by
the teacher spending a lot of class time using the board to explain things. After these explanations,
the students will often do some practice exercises to test whether they have understood what they
have been told.
With traditional teaching, it is often seen that the teacher is the ‘knower’. The question is: is this the
most effective way? Some lessons might even be tense and frightening. In a positive leaning
atmosphere, the teacher…
, Being jokey, chatty, and easy-going doesn’t always lead to good teaching. Lessons must be
memorable. There are three core teacher characteristics that help to create an effective learning
environment:
- Respect (a positive and non-judgemental regard for another person)
- Empathy (being able to see things from the other person’s perspective, as if looking through
their eyes)
- Authenticity (being oneself without hiding behind job titles, roles or masks)
This way, the relationships within the classroom are likely to be stronger and deeper, and
communication between people much more open and honest. The educational climate becomes
positive, forward-looking and supportive. The learners are able to work with less fear of taking risks
or facing challenges.
‘The foundation is to learn yourself enough that you know what style you have and when you are
being truthful to yourself.’
You cannot play the role of respect or any other qualities. On the contrary, they are rooted at the
level of your genuine intentions.
Different types of teachers:
- The explainer (students
are not personally
involved or challenged)
- The involver (involving
the students actively and
puts effort in finding activities that fit with that)
- The enabler (confident enough to share control with the learners or even hand it over
completely)
Paragraph 3. Teaching and learning
The process of learning often involves five steps:
Again, it is important
to distinguish
between learning
and teaching.
Information,
feedback, guidance
and support from
other people may
come in at any of the
five steps of the
cycle on the right.
One fundamental assumption behind this book and the teaching approaches suggested in it is that
people learn more by doing things themselves rather than by being told about them. Learning is not
simply a one-dimensional intellectual activity but involves the whole person.
A second assumption is that learners are intelligent, fully functioning humans, not simply receptacles
for passed-on knowledge. Learning is not simply a one-dimensional intellectual activity but involves
the whole person. Students bring a lot of things with them to class: their needs, wishes, home
background, etc. We can make use of whatever knowledge and experience we have in order to help
us learn and understand new things. Teaching is fundamentally about working with people – and
about remaining alive to the many different things that go on when people hack their own path
through the jungle towards new learning.
TEACHING =/ LEARNING
Chapter 1
Paragraph 1. Classrooms at work
The most useful thing is simply to watch other people teach. You can incorporate a lot from this into
your own teaching. It isn’t always easy to work out how apparently ‘natural’ things can be achieved
in a classroom (atmosphere for instance). The ‘magic’ in a lesson is almost always achieved by very
specific actions, comments, and attitudes.
Important things noticed in the four lesson situations:
- Activity was set up properly
- Managing the conversation
- Drawing attention
- Not a lot of ‘teacher talk’
- Manage feedback and checking
It’s reasonable to argue that much of modern language teaching involves this (shown in the four
lesson situations in paragraph 1) classroom management as much or more than it involves the
upfront explanations and testing that many people imagine as the core of a teacher’s job.
Paragraph 2. What is a teacher?
Immersion= picking up a language just by living and communicating in a place where the language is
used (language learners don’t always need teachers, but what difference does it make?).
It is important to check out if the classes of an ‘entertainer’ style of teacher are genuinely leading to
any real learning. Traditional teaching comes in many different varieties but is often characterised by
the teacher spending a lot of class time using the board to explain things. After these explanations,
the students will often do some practice exercises to test whether they have understood what they
have been told.
With traditional teaching, it is often seen that the teacher is the ‘knower’. The question is: is this the
most effective way? Some lessons might even be tense and frightening. In a positive leaning
atmosphere, the teacher…
, Being jokey, chatty, and easy-going doesn’t always lead to good teaching. Lessons must be
memorable. There are three core teacher characteristics that help to create an effective learning
environment:
- Respect (a positive and non-judgemental regard for another person)
- Empathy (being able to see things from the other person’s perspective, as if looking through
their eyes)
- Authenticity (being oneself without hiding behind job titles, roles or masks)
This way, the relationships within the classroom are likely to be stronger and deeper, and
communication between people much more open and honest. The educational climate becomes
positive, forward-looking and supportive. The learners are able to work with less fear of taking risks
or facing challenges.
‘The foundation is to learn yourself enough that you know what style you have and when you are
being truthful to yourself.’
You cannot play the role of respect or any other qualities. On the contrary, they are rooted at the
level of your genuine intentions.
Different types of teachers:
- The explainer (students
are not personally
involved or challenged)
- The involver (involving
the students actively and
puts effort in finding activities that fit with that)
- The enabler (confident enough to share control with the learners or even hand it over
completely)
Paragraph 3. Teaching and learning
The process of learning often involves five steps:
Again, it is important
to distinguish
between learning
and teaching.
Information,
feedback, guidance
and support from
other people may
come in at any of the
five steps of the
cycle on the right.
One fundamental assumption behind this book and the teaching approaches suggested in it is that
people learn more by doing things themselves rather than by being told about them. Learning is not
simply a one-dimensional intellectual activity but involves the whole person.
A second assumption is that learners are intelligent, fully functioning humans, not simply receptacles
for passed-on knowledge. Learning is not simply a one-dimensional intellectual activity but involves
the whole person. Students bring a lot of things with them to class: their needs, wishes, home
background, etc. We can make use of whatever knowledge and experience we have in order to help
us learn and understand new things. Teaching is fundamentally about working with people – and
about remaining alive to the many different things that go on when people hack their own path
through the jungle towards new learning.
TEACHING =/ LEARNING
