Teaching Skills Module Essay

As teachers it is imperative that we know ourselves and our subject, so that we can best advise our students. We are guides helping them to be prepared and also to prepare them in their journey for fluency in English.  As well as allowing them to see the fruition of their hard work and unlock a world that may have intrigued them, but has been out of their reach. As their teacher we help them close the gap.

There are many teaching styles with varying levels of efficiency or usefulness for the needs of the students which also fit with the teacher’s style.

Different methods

As with many things in life there are many schools of thought in regards to reaching or obtaining a goal. We can think of many and as teachers we have many roads before us whereon we can travel and lead our students through to the promised land of English fluency.

“The means vs The way”

Many teaching methods wrestle with being placed on a side of mainly concentrating on being the means or the way.

The ‘means’ can be broken down into, the means of achieving the goal and the way of achieving the goal or reaching the destination.

A brief listing of the various teaching styles:

• G.T.M(Grammar Translation Method)
• The Direct Method(Berlitz)
• The Audio-Lingual Method
• The Silent Way
• Suggestopedia
• Total Physical Response
• Communicative Approach
• Oxbridge Method

In perhaps simpler terms you can possibly breakdown these methods between those that believe or practice that they have found their way and those that are striving to perfect the means.

And with these schools of thoughts being divided up under two banners we can see similarities between those under one banner and how these ways or means are approached. We can see these approaches being viewed through and from the student, students and teachers.

They seem very similar but are the two juxtaposed positions within which teaching lies. The traditional method is the axis of the way. There is a focal centre and knowledge is passed or is held in one location from which it trickles down and knowledge is an indirect one to one with a teacher but can often become a monologue with a lack of direct feedback.

The skills that need to be developed in learners are the strengths to overcome the fear of making mistakes and to resist the urge to fly under the radar. On the other hand teachers need to cultivate the skill of correction. Which is a very important skill to have and with experience the proficiency of the skill can even be missed on observers let alone students. The goal for us as teachers is to stimulate and guide the growth of our students like plants which grow towards the light regardless of how.

If we provide no correction or not the right kind of correction we can contort their growth in English language proficiency, and when these errors become engrained habits, they are hard and sometimes it is nigh impossible for the student to shake. But with correcting them so that they can reach their goal and potential, we must also not stifle with the manner of correction. Which is why with praise we must not be reluctant to use it for it is a useful and available tool in our arsenal as a teacher. But with wielding this tool we cannot be haphazard or too reckless as to cheapen the praise or to misuse it so it does not carry it potency.

With lesson plans we can approach them with different intensities depending on the nature of students you will be encountering. With some lesson plans they can be akin to a blanket whereas with some they may be more on the meticulous side. With different teaching methods there are different emphasis put on the materials used. Some are from the idea of the magician’s beautiful assistant and some are heavier handed and can be likened road signs.

On one hand we have certain methods which work from materials such as textbooks and cassette tapes and I remember in school dreading seeing the cassette player being dusted off and brought out.  On the other hand the focus is for materials to aide learning by using more than one sense to ingrain learning.

For example with Suggestapedia, its use of music and props to aid in the learning process, is believed or at least professed to utilise the conscious and subconscious. Then with the Oxbridge method, along with conversing with the student, the use of imagery, and if required visual media as props are used to clarify or accentuate what cannot or may not be conveyed through conversation.

So, with the teaching classes you must be prepared for all or at least many possible outcomes and be flexible with the classes. For as teacher we must be facilitators of knowledge and be able to channel their zeal in a proactive way.  Since students levels can be an abstract and a temporal affair it is best to be prepared. There may be times where a student is higher than other students prior to the class or takes like to a duck to water during the class and this is the kind of student one as a teacher must manage. To not derail the lesson and turn around and sabotage the learning of the other students in the class, the way you assess and deal with the student will determine how well the lesson goes. It is a balancing act playing the role of a coach, playmaker and a psychologist.

The future of English teaching is a future involving technology with some of these futuristic implementations realised in some ways today. Such as video lessons, providing teachers and students with a wider reach and scope. Boosting the range of people and students you can meet as well as being able to use a range of interactive props and aides.

So in conclusion I’d contribute as a teacher will be in a variety of ways such as my range of life experiences. From merely being not homogenous to any place I may travel to teach English to my varied life time experiences, which shape you into the person the student sees before them. As well as that I am person who endeavours to seek knowledge and learn which allows me to understand the shoes they are in, in regards to learning a new language.

Also coming from the land where English originated, I have encountered many varying dialects and tonal discrepancies in regards of usage of the written and spoken word. As well as having travelled to a few nations that have it as a first language and seeing the nuances that make it the same language but also give it a different feel.

My style of teaching would be one which fuses technological advancements with core human traits and aims to find a balance. For example, I would take the best elements from different schools of thought on teaching. Such as incorporating music and engaging a number of the bodies senses in the process of learning. I would also incorporate adding elements of fun where learning is not a chore and time seems to drag on. And that it is not a lecture but a learning experience is being provided from them with real time problem solving and usage of the acquired skill.