11 signs of a good English teacher

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

A good teacher is an essential ingredient for success in learning English. How not to get confused in the variety of proposals and by what criteria to choose a teacher - says the head of the school of foreign languages Alisa Reznikova.

You pulled yourself together and once again decided to learn English. You are looking for a teacher, and your eyes are dazzled by the abundance of options. You are promised a tutor with many years of experience and three degrees, instant results, royal pronunciation, preparation for Cambridge exams and training for your pet dog. Before you is the first difficulty - the choice of a teacher. However, if you make the right decision at this stage, this same difficulty will be the last one on the way to the long-awaited understandable English.

What to look for when choosing a specialist? Here are 11 main aspects.

1. Education

International diplomas and certificates really confirm an excellent level of fluency in modern English, but a linguist diploma can often be a wake-up call. It is important to understand whether the teacher is interested in the development of the language or is limited to what was learned from the textbook many years ago.

Remember how in school you were taught to say we shall to convey the future tense? In modern English, this form has long been considered obsolete and is practically not used. Unfortunately, the situation with teaching English in many universities is similar to that in schools.

At the same time, if your teacher has a psychological and pedagogical education, this can be a tangible advantage, since the teacher will better feel the peculiarities of your perception and will be able to find an approach to you, regardless of personal sympathies.

2. Work experience

No diploma can guarantee that the teacher will hear your questions, sensitively adapt their materials to your level and quickly find solutions to non-standard problems that may arise during training. It comes with practice. In addition, only an experienced educator will be able to determine what exactly is holding you back on your path to language acquisition, and select materials that exactly meet your goals.

Even if you choose a teacher whose native language is English, their work experience is still one of the most important criteria. Especially now, when any native speaker can start teaching simply because it is in demand in the education market. But for a person who thinks in the same language with you, it is much easier to understand your problems and suggest ways to solve them. Try to think of it yourself, how would you explain the pronunciation of the sound [s] to a foreigner studying Russian? And the fact that the almost identical phrases "I'm leaving the office" and "I'm leaving work" need different pretexts?

A native speaker always uses its rules intuitively, without thinking about how they actually work. Remember this when it seems to you that a fully English-language course with a foreigner is a simple solution to all problems.

3. Honesty and professionalism

You should not refuse a teacher who answered one of your questions: “I don’t know”. After all, you do not know your native language perfectly. Do you know the meaning of these primordially Russian words: locker, belongings, orar? Unlikely. But these gaps in knowledge, rather, are your opportunities for growth and certainly do not prevent you from freely communicating, working, getting an education in Russian.

An important amendment: a good teacher will never leave you alone with a problem and after his “I don’t know” it will be followed by “I will clarify the information and answer you next time”.

4. Engagement

Any popular language in the modern world is changing at lightning speed. Even 15 years ago, we would have been perplexed when we heard phrases like "Get out on the soap" or "Throw money on a mobile phone." Now they are the norm in our daily life.

The situation with English is even more interesting. Due to the fact that it is the language of international communication, it is changing even more rapidly. About 4 thousand new words appear in the English language every year! Moreover, the changes are happening so quickly that the Russian school does not always keep up with them: you can still find the use of the word supper in English lessons to denote dinner, although in reality it has long been supplanted by dinner.

The teacher may be fluent in English, but if he is not in love with this language, he will be able to teach you only what is written in the textbooks, and not the living language that you will encounter at the end of the class. Ask a potential educator about new trends in vocabulary or grammar. And be sure, if the teacher did not just learn the language once, but really lives it every day, he will have something to tell you.

5. Training program

It is obvious that the promises from the series "learn English while you sleep" do not correspond to reality. If there was a universal method that works easily, quickly and for everyone, the whole world would have spoken English for a long time.

The bottom line is that there is no perfect method, but there is always a method that is right for you.

Agree, it would be useless to teach the snake to swim breaststroke. However, snakes swim well, despite their "shortcomings" in the form of lack of paws. Exactly the same is the case with English: any person can learn to communicate, despite their "shortcomings" in the form of personal characteristics of information perception. Your task is to find a teacher who is ready to adapt his course for you, and not convincing you of the need to follow the general structure.

6. Specialization

In English, the saying “Jack of all trades, master of none” is very popular, which describes a person who takes on everything, but is not a master at anything. Very often, in their advertisements, teachers indicate that they can prepare you for the exam, and for international exams, and for admission to a medical school, and for a business trip, and for a tourist trip to South Africa.

Yes, indeed, in all these cases you will need one language - English. But the difference can be significant, both in terminology and in grammar. If a teacher has such a range of programs in his resume, be sure to specify whether he teaches all these specialties himself or cooperates with other teachers. If he works alone, ask for his experience in your target area.

7. Price

The cost of English classes can vary from $ 5 to $ 225 per academic hour. Paradoxically, it is not at all a fact that expensive exercises will lead you to the desired goal. The main criterion for you should not be the cost of training itself, but the ratio of price and quality. It is unlikely that you want to study English for many years, even if it will be classes for only $ 5.

8. Timing

This criterion is very often not indicated in the announcements of teachers for a simple reason: they are not ready to take responsibility for your result. Most likely, when asked about the timing of training, they will answer you that everything is very individual, because everyone has different learning capabilities. This is true, but the trick is that your learning ability will become apparent to a good teacher in the first 2-4 meetings. Therefore, it is ideal if, when asked about the duration of the course, the teacher gives approximate terms and indicates that the exact numbers will be able to tell you after about a week of classes.

9. Results

An insecure teacher will move away from discussing your results into lengthy reflections on how much they will depend on you, on the frequency of classes and on the position of the Moon in the third house. An experienced teacher, on the other hand, will concisely present you the possible scenarios for the development of events: what efforts and for how long can lead to certain results.

10. Summary and first communication

There are two important points here. Of course, the resume should be laconic and literate, because it reflects how the teacher relates to work and conducts business. But another aspect is more interesting: how the teacher presents information to you. If at the first meeting he showered you with incomprehensible terms and abbreviations, think about it: most likely, he will conduct your classes in the same manner.

A good teacher will not make you blush for not knowing simple things - instead, he will make them so for you. Not to look down on, to be understandable and intelligible is the norm for such a teacher to communicate.

11. Love and hate

As much as it is important that you are attracted and inspired by the personality of a teacher, it is just as important that it is easy and pleasant for you in the classroom with this teacher. A true teacher will not try to please you, will not follow your whims. He will do exactly what will help you achieve your chosen goal. In the process, you may not understand his motives, you may be annoyed by his pickiness. But you will laugh at all of this together as you discuss in English how your class began by the end of the course.

It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of a conscious choice of a teacher for the effective learning of a foreign language. After all, it is here, at the very beginning of the path, that it is decided whether you will waste your resources, falling in your own eyes and harboring grievances against the teacher, or fall in love with the language, reach the intended level and with the help of a powerful new tool in your hands you will achieve the goals about which previously only dreamed.