No two teachers are created the same!

This is so true, as any experienced trainer will tell you. Having to deal with a wide variety of personalities, potentials and idiosyncrasies is what makes the teaching field so challenging … and fascinating! Still, quite early on in a teaching career, a teacher decides what their professional persona is; how they perceive themselves and how they wish to be perceived in class. What I have listed below is a list of very wide categories most teachers fall under, but it is by no means exclusive or scientifically proven!!! It is simply based on my empirical observations. I call them teaching styles, and are to be taken with a grain of salt.

TEACHING STYLES

Chirpy and cheerful
Serious professional
Creative maverick
Quiet and supportive
Traditional and effective

But what makes a teacher opt for one specific style, other than personal preferences of course? Could there be some common denominators between all these different options, shaping those choices to a certain degree?

Well, you must have heard the term rapport being tossed around in relation to teacher training, to refer to the way you approach and engage learners during the lesson. It is often paired with another term, (learner) motivation – hardly surprising, since these two feed off each other! What is more interesting is how these terms are being interpreted according to the wider educational and teacher training contexts. I believe that the way you interpret these terms largely defines your teaching style, and I have composed a quiz to prove it!

So, what is your teaching style? Take the quiz here and find out!

QUIZ

Choose THE ONE answer that BEST summarises your approach to teaching and learning in each area:

A. Learning philosophy

Every learner is different, and a teacher needs to take that into account and be flexible.
Syllabuses are there for a reason and they must be followed for a successful outcome.
Learners should be allowed to express themselves at all times.
There should be little or no homework: most of the learning should be done in class.
If learners are not motivated, there is very little you can teach them.

B. Control over learners

The teacher should follow the lesson plan no matter what.
Learners can learn a lot when given freedom of choice.
The teacher should be in control at all times.
The teacher should act as a facilitator most of the time.
Learners’ attention will fail if left to their own devices.

C. Teacher talk

The teacher should speak loudly to draw the learners’ attention.
Learners don’t need to be told what to do in detail the whole time.
Learners should talk more than the teacher.
Repetition is always helpful.
Proper terminology should be used at all times.

D. Overall demeanour

The teacher should be cheerful at all times.
The teacher should be serious and avoid smiling.
Teachers should keep a distance from learners so as to preserve their authority.
The teacher’s pastoral role is critical.
Teachers should treat learners like equals.

E. Attitude to correction and feedback

Learners should be allowed to make mistakes as it facilitates learning.
Teachers should correct all the mistakes learners make, at some point.
Teachers can choose which mistakes they should correct and when.
Learners should not be asked to correct themselves or each other: it is the teacher’s job.
Teachers should never make mistakes in their language: it makes them look unprofessional.

F. Preparation and planning

Each lesson should be planned in detail.
It is usually enough to have a quick look at the coursebook pages you are teaching and have an answer key at hand.
We should never use designated coursebooks: we can ask learners what they want to do in each lesson and go from there.
You can find materials online and prepare a quick task or two, if needed.
It is important that you have a clear idea of where your lesson is going, but you also need to be prepared to make changes on the fly.

KEY: Click on the link to find out your results.

I do hope you’ve enjoyed this! Were you the type you thought you would be? Please drop a line in the comments.

Learn

I do not understand my CELTA grade!

January 8, 2024 Alexandra Koukoumialou

First of all, Happy 2024 everyone!

(I very much doubt it with everything that’s going on, but it can’t hurt to wish it, right?)

We’re starting off the New Year with a post prompted by a very common phenomenon, in my experience: trainees are often at a loss when it comes to how their performance is assessed and what grade they should be able to achieve, based on their performance on the course.

This results in two broad categories of misconceptions, depending on the trainees’ personality, the amount of explicit feedback they get on the course and, of course, their rapport with their tutors.

Category 1: I can’t get it right, no matter what I do

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

These trainees constantly underestimate themselves, are in fear of failing the course and refuse to stop worrying about it, even in the face of very positive feedback from the course tutors. This is not as rare as you might think, especially when it comes to trainees being perfectionists and/or high achievers, either by character or by necessity. This is not uncommon in a labour market that has become very competitive and increasingly insecure! People think they have to be perfect in order to secure a decent teaching position.

Category 2: I deserved a better grade

This is admittedly a larger category, as many tutors can testify! These trainees may have a very high opinion of their teaching skills and language expertise. This is not necessarily unjustified, nor is it solely due to their being over-confident by nature. Some trainees may have achieved high academic grades or have even excelled in a variety of teaching environments, although normally this would entail courses that are either academically focused or traditionally very T-centred, or both. Other trainees may have little teaching experience and cannot understand what is needed in order to pass the course; I have even encountered candidates who believed that paying the course fees automatically ensured their passing.

So, what do you do?

Both of these seemingly very different types of trainees have two things in common:

They can both feel very demotivated and disappointed throughout the course. This is a very real hurdle in their development, as they either try too hard or not enough in some cases. It may also have a negative impact on the other trainees on the course, if there is a constant climate of confusion and uncertainty.
They have not been given clear, explicit feedback as to what the course grading criteria are and how they translate in their individual cases, other than the standard CELTA5 page.

Needless to say, in both cases, it can be useful to clarify the grading criteria during individual tutorials, so that trainees have a clearer picture of where they stand and what they need to do in order to pass the course or achieve a higher grade.

This is post is targeted at current or future CELTA trainees, who enter the course with certain expectations regarding their performance and the grade they should achieve. I would use it during individual tutorials throughout the course to help raise trainee awareness as to how the grading criteria meet their course expectations. In that sense, it may be helpful to tutors as well! So here it is.

In the following table, I’ve tried to break down the performance descriptors - the grading criteria, in simple English – set by Cambridge into more digestible bits by using simpler, trainee-friendly language.

Is this table crystal clear? Probably not!

Is it clearer than the relevant page on the CELTA 5 course record that trainees receive?

I should say yes!

What do you think?

Does it raise trainee awareness of what they need to achieve in order to get the desired grade? In my experience, again yes!

So, if you are/were a trainee, would this table give you a clear idea as to what is needed for a higher grade?

Answer here!

As a trainer, would you find this useful?

What do you think?

As usual, please let me know what you think in the comments , and feel free to offer suggestions for improvement.

Teach

Using your voice and presence in class

December 27, 2023December 28, 2023 Alexandra Koukoumialou

This post kicks off our Back-to-Basics series, focusing mainly on – you guessed it – basic classroom techniques! The idea for this series came to me as I frequently had to train pre-service teachers, who had a practical need for core techniques that would help them function in a classroom environment with some efficiency.

Most beginner training courses do not spend much time on these techniques, either for reasons of expediency or because they are taken for granted. Still, many trainees have never been in a classroom setting before, and the fact that many training courses involve online teaching (and a set of additional basic skills) does not make things any easier.

Establishing a teacher presence

Each individual trainee has their own teaching style, and this is based a lot on what kind of teacher presence they may project. Some teachers may be quiet and low-key, others may be louder and enthusiastic, or laid-back and subtle – the list can go on. It usually takes some time to decide what your teaching style is and what image you want to project to your learners, usually based on your personal traits and preferences. Many teachers harbour under the misconception that they should be a specific type of teacher in order to be effective, which can be quite an obstacle to development.

Nevertheless, there is one thing most teachers have in common: they have a selection of common basic tools at their disposal, and this is their starting point. The way each teacher decides to use these tools is what defines their teaching style. Let’s have a look at these tools one by one.

Facial expressions

This includes eye-contact, smiling and using facial expressions to convey feelings and meaning. Some teachers are not very comfortable with facial expressions or are by nature shy and not very expressive: that’s OK. Teachers do not have to be performers! However, there are a couple of things that everyone can do and are usually quite helpful in creating a positive classroom atmosphere.

Look at your learners – not at the floor, the ceiling, the wall, or the board the whole time. Try and establish eye-contact with them, especially the ones that are trying to say something or answer a question. This shows you’re actively paying attention to them, you acknowledge their presence and respect their efforts and contributions. This may also prove a bit more challenging for shy, introverted teachers, but it is definitely worth a try!!!
Remember to smile a few times during the lesson, especially when you are making eye-contact. This immediately makes eye-contact more friendly, and less threatening or awkward – in most cultures at least. In general, smiling at learners can make you look more approachable, creating a less impersonal teaching atmosphere. It can work wonders for encouraging and engaging learners.
Using facial expressions instead of words, when possible: this can be more helpful in clarifying meaning at times, which brings us to our next point.

Show, don’t tell!

Most people automatically resort to words when trying to communicate, give an example or explain. This is fine in everyday life, but you’ll need more than that, for example, in a multilingual classroom where English is the only language common to all. So, here’s what your options are:

Using facial expressions, e.g., to show you don’t understand, to praise, to encourage a learner to continue, even to demonstrate meaning, like in adjectives describing feelings.
Using gestures to do most of the above, plus to clarify instructions or to check understanding.
Demonstrating how something is done rather than trying to explain it verbally.
Miming an action or series of actions, to clarify meaning or give instructions.

Using your voice wisely and effectively

Obviously, your voice is one of your main tools and what you say in class (and what you don’t say!) is very important. Here, however, we are going to talk about how you can use your voice so that:

You do not find you’re losing your voice at the end of a long teaching day.
You do not feel like you’ve been talking a lot but what you say falls on deaf ears, which is extremely frustrating!
You can maximize learner attention and involvement.

The following tips are based on common sense and classroom experience.

Find your teaching voice: avoid using a loud, high-pitched voice, in the hope of drawing attention. Instead, experiment until you find the right register for you: carrying, but comfortable to use over long periods of time without tiring your vocal cords. A good rule of thumb is that your voice should easily carry to learners sitting at the back of the room, under normal circumstances.
Regulate your speed of delivery: speaking too fast can create miscommunication, while speaking too slowly can have a hypnotic quality! Aim at speaking at a normal, average speed.
Vary your intonation. A monotonous voice, even if one is shouting, rarely holds attention. Using a friendly, conversational tone of voice, with all the natural ups and downs, can make a difference even during a long explanation slot. A low, monotonous, “lecture” voice on the other hand can ensure lapses of attention every time!
Finally, for those fortunate enough to teach YL classes, try whispering instead of shouting: when you whisper, the automatic reaction is to quiet down in order to hear you! This can often work with rambunctious learners 😊

Please, leave your own tips in the comments below, as well as questions, suggestions, or a simple hello!

Images by Freepik and Rawpixel.

Infographic created in Canva

Teach

Inside the listener’s head – part 1

December 5, 2022December 15, 2022 Alexandra Koukoumialou

I have to admit this is a bit of a misleading title, since no-one else has access to the listener’s head but themselves! Still, it is our job as teachers to try and guess what is going on in there, using research findings based on empirical data to help us.

I want to give a bit of historical background, not because I want to show off my wealth of knowledge – and, incidentally, bore you to death – but because I have seen that certain old-fashioned beliefs still hold sway in both learners’ and teachers’ attitudes towards classroom listening practice.

Most of you have heard of “bottom-up” and “top-down” processing, concepts that attempt to picture what is happening inside the listener’s head and draw useful conclusions for classroom practice. Many of the teachers I’ve come across over the years still struggle with understanding these concepts. This can be because, despite the many diagrams used, it is not very clear what that vertical direction refers to: up/down towards what exactly? From a general idea to specific information? From the phoneme to the whole text? From using lower to using higher thinking skills?

I believe that a linear representation does not necessarily serve better understanding of the listening process. I’ll now proceed, rather cheekily, with two different diagrams: one representing the more old-fashioned serial view of the listening process and another showing a more complex picture of what is happening inside the listener’s head. I’ll call them the line and the circle.

THE LINE

This view believes that the listener processes what they hear starting from the smallest chunk of sound, then adding them together to form words, which are then added to form sentences and eventually leads to the understanding of the whole text. We do not need all the empirical data of studies conducted with both L1 and L2 listeners, young and adult, beginner and advanced ones, to realise that if this were true, it would take the listener forever to decipher the speaker’s message, let alone formulate an appropriate response. Nevertheless, teachers still use recorded texts, paused and replayed ad nauseum, trying to get learners to understand every little thing they hear, all the time believing they are actually helping their learners develop their listening skills.

Unfortunately, this encourages the learners’ natural tendency to begin with processing the smallest amount of information and thus avoid information overload. Of course, this leads to some rather frustrating listening habits, like relying on the repetition of the information many times (never happening in real life listening) and the learners’ need to understand EVERYTHING before they can feel they’ve understood what the text is about (simply not true!).

Most importantly, it demotivates learners since it is an unrealistic and extremely demanding task. All this focus on detail encourages the segmentation of information, not regarding the text as a whole but as unrelated little chunks and relying solely on the acoustic input to decipher the message. No wonder learner confidence is shattered and motivation plummets!

We’ll contrast this with the circle in our next post.

I think you can guess my question for you now:

Have you found yourself following the line model, consciously or not, in your listening lessons?

I’m the first to admit that I have and that I have also found it extremely difficult to retrain learners to focus on other sources of information and regard the text as a whole.

Looking forward to your comments!

Alexandra

Tag: teaching

What’s your teaching style?