How Teaching Skills in the Classroom are the Gateway to Success
When a teacher walks into a classroom for the first time no matter if they are a new teacher or experienced teacher, their first lesson’s skills and techniques will determine the success for the rest of the class you are offering and to ensure all objectives/ aims are reached effectively by both yourself as a teacher and your students.
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This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Kevin A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
Top Teaching Skills
An important question that all teachers need to ask themselves is “What makes a good teacher?” As teachers we need to understand that by applying the below before, during and after your class you will be ensured success as a teacher and then in effect have a successful class with happy, motivated and striving students:
- Always be kind and patient with your students.
- How your love for teaching
- How lively and entertaining to ensure your lessons are memorable.
- As a teacher, you have to be able to motivate your students.
- Have a good rapport and interaction with your class.
- Correct your students without offending them.
Teacher’s set the pace in a classroom as well as ensuring desired results by both parties in the classroom. The skills and techniques used by the teacher in the classroom have to align with the numerous roles that a teacher has to fulfill in the classroom namely Manager or Controller, Organizer, Assessor, Prompter, Participant, Tutor, Resource or Facilitator, Model and Observer or Monitor. Our role as a teacher is largely dependent on the type of activity and what we wish our students to achieve in our classroom.
Also Read: How Teaching Slang Can Benefit Your ESL Students
Effective Methodology
The most effective and most logical methodology to learn and apply in the classroom as teachers are the ESA – Engage, Study and Activate lesson. As teachers, we have numerous structures we follow depending on our class which are namely Straight Arrow ESA Lesson, Boomerang ESA Lesson and Patchwork ESA Lesson. Teachers use the Engage sequence in the lesson in order to try arouse students interest and get them involved which will lead to students find lesson more stimulating which leads to a more conducive language learning environment. The Study sequence is there for students to focus on the language and how it is conducted. The Activate sequence is where teachers encourage students to use any or all of the language they know. All three ESA elements need to be present in most lessons in order to provide a balanced range of activities for the students in your classroom. It is important for teachers to remember that the aim of giving feedback in the classroom is to encourage self-awareness and improvement.
When you are teaching a new language to students you need to expose students to the language, ensure students understand the languages meaning, understand how the language is conducted and students need to be able to practice and produce the language. This skill set is applied to the class by knowing how to make use of course books, visual aids, etc.
Also Read: What's the best way to apply for TEFL jobs?
Necessary Language Skills
Vocabulary is very important to students, especially in the early stages, therefore, it is vital that a teacher is giving all the information through to the students in a clear and concise manner. Teachers need to have the skills/ techniques to teach students the meaning, usage, word grammar, interaction, spelling, and pronunciation. In the event of introducing grammatical structures, we need to teach the students the meaning, the usage, the forms and patterns, spoken and written form of the language. As well as vocabulary and grammar, language also consists of functions, therefore, a teacher needs the skills of the ESA in order in ensuring that all bases are covered and students understand as well as are comfortable with the language. As teachers we need to have the four basic skills in any language: receptive skills – reading and listening and productive skills – speaking and writing. The four basic skills in language are all equally important and as teachers, we need to ensure wherever possible we try to incorporate all of them in our lessons if we want to have a balanced approach in the classroom.
Teachers need to know how a lesson plan should be written down as well as what should be included on a lesson plan and be organized for the simple reason that we need to know what we are incorporating when and how in order to have a balanced approach in the classroom.
Do you want to acquire new teaching skills? Take a TEFL course!
Even with all the knowledge and techniques as a teacher you need the skills to know how and when to apply certain information and ensure success in your class.
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