Monday, February 21, 2005

Discovering your own teaching style

Hi April,

From what I could gather from your emial below, your ex-colleague got fired. She did not resign. She got fired. Why do you think your employer fired her? Why do employers fire employees? She must have done something that irked your boss. If she's good, your boss would not have let her go. Simple.

Fast teaching? Is it a strategy? Is your boss referring to the pacing of your lesson, or pacing of your presentation [or how you teach in class]? Or how fast you speak?

In my opinion, every teacher is different. You're different- perhaps better than your ex-colleague. To compare yourself to somebody who got fired is not a good start to develop confidence. You teach in a way that your students learn. Look at their language needs- focus on them and develop a strategy that addresses these needs. Your school has its own working atmosphere, you follow the working regulations and report to work on time. But when it comes to students, you could always suggest. now there's a technique to this. You say it in a nice way, like you're doing your boss a favor, more like confiding, telling him/her what you think then ask for his/her opinion.

Another point that I wish to stress is that, I think your boss wants you to be able to gain your students' interest. Make it a fun learning experience for them. now it's not all about games, but how you arrange your activities.

I hope this helps.

/aiden
p.s.

any chance on putting up your blog, April. This is an interesting thread that you brought up here. You could continue on reflecting on this on your blog. Are you available Saturday evenings, say 9-10 pm for online discussions?



April wrote:

I am teaching one class in my cream school now. The students are
about 2~3 grade students who have been learning English for 2 years.
Because their first teacher who has 10 years experience was fired by
my boss so I replace her position. I have pressure when I teach
English because the students get used to their first teacher's style
already(very fast teaching style). Including my boss,they think the
tempo of teaching English should be as fast as possible.Do you agree
or not? They think when teacher's tempo of teaching is fast, the
students can pay much attention to the class and also they can learn
more .....Should I be like her or just be myself?

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