Teaching Qualities Important for an ESL Class

What exactly are the personal qualities that are important to make a good English teacher?

Every teacher wants to be good. Although every teacher has a unique style of teaching, nine personal qualities are necessary for anyone who wants to be an effective teacher.

This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Chantelle F. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.

Communication skills

First, the teacher should have excellent communication skills You'd think that the most important quality for a teacher to possess would be knowledge, since that's what the job is all about, after all: sharing knowledge. But no matter how knowledgeable a person is, if they can't convey what they know to others in a way that is not only understandable but engaging, the knowledge itself is useless.

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Listening skills

Secondly, the teacher must have superior Listening Skills. In addition to being good communicators, good teachers also happen to be excellent listeners. Great teachers listen hard and then use what they hear to improve communication. As the Turkish proverb says, "If speaking is silver, then listening is gold." Of course, effective communication only happens when at least two parties are actively involved in the process together, and the only way to know if communication is heard is by asking (and listening to the answer). So in an ideal learning environment, teachers ask important questions and then actively, carefully, listen to what learners have to say.

Knowledge and passion

Thirdly Deep Knowledge of and Passion for the Subject Matter is very important. There is a saying that a teacher is only as good as what they know. If a teacher lacks knowledge in a subject, that dearth of understanding is passed along to the students. Passion is infectious. Love of a subject matter inspires a person to learn more, and think harder about it. The best teachers are those that love their subjects and pass that passion and desire to learn more about their students.

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Rapport

Fourthly the ability to develop strong relationships with students. In the best classrooms, hearts are involved, as well. To create successful learning environments, great teachers need to be able to build caring relationships with their students. It is the caring student-teacher relationship that facilitates the exchange of information. The best teachers are often the ones that care the most deeply, not only about their jobs but about every student they serve.

Moral qualities

Fifth a teacher needs to be friendly and approachable. It's the teacher's job to help students learn, they must be easy to approach. Students will have questions that can't be answered if the teacher isn't friendly and easy to talk to. If the students think of their teacher as their enemy, they certainly won't learn much.

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Organization skills

Sixth the teacher has to do the preparation and be organized. If you show up for a class without an excellent plan for how to teach your material, you won't succeed. Great teachers spend endless hours outside of the classroom preparing, designing lessons, participating in professional development, and thinking of fresh and interesting ways to teach the students. The best teachers have excellent lesson plans, that they continually improve. They have studied extensively and read widely about how to teach and methods to facilitate learning. They structure their days, lessons, and units in a way that fosters maximal understanding and interest.

Work ethics

Seventh a teacher has to have a strong work ethic teaching is one of the hardest jobs there is. If something doesn't work, they'll keep working on it until they find a solution. A teacher's work is never done but the best teachers never quit.

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Team work

Eight teachers must understand the importance of building supportive and collaborative environments. In addition to forming caring relationships with each student, the best teachers foster respectful relationships between the students as well. Every student has to feels like they are not only accepted by the larger group but that their presence is a necessity in the classroom.

Goals and expectations

Ninth Studies show that a teacher's expectations have a huge impact on student achievement. The best teachers have high expectations for all of their students that are used as both challenges and goals but teachers only have these high expectations because they believe in their students.

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