Teach English in Xiaochi Zhen - Huanggang Shi

Being an early education teacher is very challenging. It requires a good physical health, so that the teacher can stay energetic and agile during the lesson even if he/she cannot find a moment to sit and rest. It also requires teachers to be mentally and emotionally prepared as they have to be continually active and always seeking for ways and methods to increase the children’s development and strengthen their learning. Teaching young children is more complicated than teaching older ones. However, it is enormously satisfying when teachers see how young children become independent and self-reliant doers, thinkers and problem-solvers. The following list represents the roles of an early education teacher, roles that every teacher should posses in order to produce learning experiences of high quality. By accomplishing all these roles, the teacher will be able to teach the children to judge independently, to receive answers from them through experimenting, to appreciate their uniqueness and to regard themselves as invaluable human beings, as well as to have a good relationship with people surrounding them. Therefore, the most important roles of an early education teacher are: 1. Planner- The most important step that teachers have to do is to prepare and plan the environment for learning. Young children learn a lot through play, so it is important to supply the lesson with different materials and equipment required for play activities in order to help with the development of multiple abilities. The classroom, as well as the outside area should be carefully prepared so that children will find interesting, meaningful, stimulating, challenging activities to do in an environment that is happy, safe and where they can discover, explore and learn many things about themselves and the world surrounding them. 2. Facilitator- When the planning is finished, the teacher has to make sure that all children will have the possibility to experience all the activities and games and learn according to their personal needs and abilities. It is very important for the teacher to watch, to listen and to talk to the children while they are performing a task or an activity. It is also important to ask children open-ended questions in order to enlarge their vocabulary and thinking skills. Teachers should remember that all children are different. They remember things in their own way and the teacher should not give them the answer, but let all of them to determine the answer according to their way and time, because teachers are only facilitators that encourage and motivate them. 3. Observer- The teacher should watch the children while performing a task or a game in order to detect the skills that are already mastered and those skills that still need improvement. While doing so, the teacher will easily plan the lesson for the next day or week so he/she will be able to concentrate on areas that need more time. It is very useful to make records on observations for each student and to add these records in the personal file of the students, so it will provide the information of the excellent progress of the children when meeting with the parents. 4. Model- Even if they are little, children watch everything adults do, so the teachers are a model and an example for them. There are some social skills that can be assembled through the teacher’s actions and words, such as: getting along with each other, cooperation, and communicating adequately in order to solve problems. For example, if the teacher uses such words as ‘thank you’, ‘please’, ‘sorry’ the children will copy him/her, in such a way they will learn how to be polite. Moreover, the teacher can clean the room and put all the toys away, showing them how to keep their room clean and tidy. When performing these activities it is very important to talk to children and to explain to them what is the teacher doing that and why. Modeling is one of the most powerful techniques that teachers can use in order to develop their students’ social skills. 5. Supervisor- Preschool students are still very young so they need to be supervised all the time. The teacher has to make sure that the environment is safe, so the children will feel comfortable and relaxed. During the school hours, the teachers are those persons on whom children depend the most, as their parents or tutors are not present there. Being a teacher is not an easy task. I believe that every teacher should seriously take into consideration his roles, to think about how these roles might help students’ learning and development.