3602. Toward Excellence in the Classroom, Some Tries

 You are the teacher? And want to teach a language effectively? I’m working on it myself. 

These days I’m reading from great British expert Jeremy Harmer, and you know what? I’m finding out a couple of principles that may serve to teach in that effective way. 

Namely I’m reading about language teaching methods. And I would highlight, as I said, two principles that I think they are at the basis of any success. They are: it’s the learner who has to really wish to learn a language, plus the teacher ought to foster in the classroom to lower the affective filter. 

Among the methods I’m reading and studying about, those two principles come up as common in most of the methods. 

You are the teacher, okay, well you should bear in mind that it is the student the one who should WISH to learn. If we achieve this learner would WISH to really learn a language, well we will accomplish success, believe me! 

In those methods I’m reading about the student is so active at learning, participating, studying, striving, acquiring that language that he or she will achieve to learn the target language. That student is the co-protagonist in the classroom – together with their teacher. 

You as a teacher should engage your learner in the noble and beautiful task of learning. 

Any example? 

The learner frequently participates and intervenes in the lesson – and his teacher is willing to give him the word to so participate. Maybe that learner participates 10, 20, 30 times in a lesson! And afterward that student on his own will carry on his learning, also out of the classroom: he is the first person interested in actually learning. 

And his teacher has effectively passed on and transmitted the lure for learning the language. 

Secondly I said that the teacher will try and lower the overloading and excessive anxiety.

How? 

There’re different ways. One of them might be for the teacher to get interested in supporting his student. You need to learn that any lesson is a piece of service: the teacher attends his workplace with a mind of serving his students. 

Even more, he will profoundly get committed on serving, teaching, going beyond what is stipulated in his job contract… trying to make his students happy, BUT  without being too intrusive in his students’ lives: looking for their happiness and not being too intrusive are absolutely compatible. Think of it. I’m seen it in quite many colleagues. Have a nice day.