Do you want to be TEFL or TESOL-certified and teach in Shifosi Zhen? Are you interested in teaching English in Huanggang Shi? Check out ITTT’s online and in-class courses, Become certified to Teach English as a Foreign Language and start teaching English ONLINE or abroad! ITTT offers a wide variety of Online TEFL Courses and a great number of opportunities for English Teachers and for Teachers of English as a Second Language.
If somebody asks me, a teacher, this question, I will have only one firm answer “No”. In spite of the fact that teachers from different countries and societies have a different attitude for this topic, most of the teaches would agree that punishment brings no good to the teaching process. There are many persuasive arguments to support this point of view. Firstly, the teacher who simply punishes does not show the student how to behave instead. Many children suppose that the only way to attract attention is to misbehave, and they do not know any alternative. If the teacher loses his/her temper and punishes without any word, the situation will repeat over and over again. And it is much easier to prevent incorrect behavior in establishing rapport than to solve problems connected with discipline. Secondly, punishments always influence the interrelation between teacher and students. In most cases, they either hate this teacher or afraid of him and for sure, creates an unhealthy atmosphere in the class. This method could work in some countries ten or even twenty years ago when strict upbringing in the family was followed by severe discipline in class. But in the realia of the developing world, teachers are to establish rapport with students and gain respect, or they will not be treated as good teachers. They are likely to reduce or even remove triggers of poor behavior and encourage good behavior than go down to punishment. Thirdly, being constantly punished, even only for bad behavior, students start to treat the word “mistake” incorrectly. They try to avoid or even hide their mistakes instead of learning on them. They cheat, lie and these problems usually have a snowball effect, which is really hard to stop. Instead, students need to get to know that mistakes are made to be corrected but not punished for, to be sure that the teacher always helps to solve a difficult problem or at least show the correct direction how to do this. On the contrary, too kind and forgiving teachers can cause disorder in class. Any student will relax and will not follow any rules if he is sure to get away clean. In some cases, even a good teacher may fail to maintain discipline in the class, for example, in groups of more than 20 students. But a professional teacher knows how to control the discipline in the class and conduct effective lesson using some tricks, like appointing leaders for groups of students, choosing appropriate activities and exercises to encourage everybody or even establishing a competition. To conclude, a teacher’s main aim is to prevent or foresee misbehavior, ensure that students are always involved and interested in the learning process as it is much easier to prevent the problem than to solve it. Also, a good teacher should perform a balance between an encouraging mentor and demanding instructor, feel the fine line between strictness and rudeness. This balance altogether with knowledge of subject and ability to solve any problem without losing temper, makes a professional teacher.
