I. Chapter one; How to be a good teacher?

:
1. What makes a good teacher?

How to be a good teacher: In order to answer this question, we have asked a variety of people, students and teachers
and the answers were:

- He Makes his lessons interesting

- He Love his job
- He shows his personality, to show that he is not only a teacher but a person as well

Students tend to be interesting in their teachers. The ones who share their personalities often have better results.
- Has a lot of knowledge, not only his subject
- His is an entertainer in a positive way, balance between entertainments and teaching/learning.

Most people who answered were more interested in the teachers-learner relationship rather than the teachers themselves.
- Someone who you can talk to the teacher when you have problems
- Has an affinity with the students (a spontaneous or natural liking or sympathy)
- Should draw the quite ones and control the more talkative ones.
- Be able to correct people without offending them
- Someone who helps rather than shouts
- Someone who knows ours names

Class management is a fundamental skill. In a book written by Sally Brown & Donald Mcintyre “Making Sense of
Teaching” Teachers answered why they are good teachers and how they do their job we found that the common feature
among them was:

They almost talked about what their pupils were doing more than what they were doing themselves.
A good answer is that a good teacher cares more about their students’ learning rather than their teaching.

2. How Teachers talk to Students? The way teachers talk to their students is also crucial teachers’ skill
- Parents are naturally and unconsciously always adapting their language to their children, using simple
grammatical structure, vocabs, use more exaggerated tones of voices and attempt to make eye contact or any
other way of contact more than they do when talking to adults.
- The ability to Rough-tune the language is a skill in common between parents and teachers. It means
simplifying or adjusting the language to the audience.

Experienced teachers use physical movements: gestures, expressions and mime.

3. How should teachers Give Instructions?

 The best activity in the world is a waste of time if students don’t understand what it is they are supposed to do
There are two general rules for giving instructions:

a) They must be kept as simple as possible b) They must be logical

Before giving instructions, teachers should ask themselves this:

a) What is the important information that I want to c) Which information do they need first?
convey? d) Which should come next?
b) What must the students know in order to
complete this activity successfully?

It is important for teachers to check whether their students have understood the instructions. By asking them to repeat
what the activity asks from them, or asking someone to show the others how to do the activity.

4. Who should talk In class?

- Students are the people who need to practice. A good teacher maximizes STT and minimizes TTT
- Teachers should know how to rough-tune their language. Then, the students get a chance to hear language that
is above their production level but they can more or less understand. Such “comprehensible input” where
students receive rough-tuned input in a relaxed way. ( coined by an American methodologist Stephen Krashen)
- Best lesson are when STT is maximized. But where at appropriate moments teachers should not be afraid to
summarize what is happening, tell la story or enter into discussion.
5. What are the best kinds of lesson?

Students’ boredom is one of the greatest enemies of the teacher. It may happen by deadening predictability of
much classroom time. Students know what will happen next because it will be the same as what happened in previews
classes and the whole string of old classes and the classes to come.

John Fanselow “Breaking Rules”. Suggests that, teachers should violate their behavior patterns. i.e. Change behavior.

- The need for a surprise and variety within fifty-minute lesson is overwhelming. Teachers should mix tasks and
activities to keep students interested in the lesson.
- Variety is not anarchy, students like some kind of predictability. They appreciate safe structure which they can
rely on.
6. How important is it to follow a pre-arranged plan?

It is important to be able to plan a lesson that includes a variety of tasks. But being flexible when the class is taking place
is also important. A balance should be made between what teachers attempt to achieve and what students are saying or
doing.
II. Chapter Two: How to be a Good Learner?:
1. Why is it difficult to Describe a good Learner?:

II. Chapter Two: How to be a Good Learner?:

1. Why is it difficult to Describe a good Learner?:

There are so many researches which have described a good learner, but still they don’t give us a satisfying
answer. Many factors need to be taken into account when considering the qualities of a good learner. Such as,
what are their backgrounds, their past learning. Why are they in the classroom…etc.
The book didn’t answer the question

2. How Important is the students’ motivation

One of the most successful language learning was after WW2 when the Americans military needed to train in
languages of the countries they will deal with. The success of this learning was amazing. The teachers and
learners here were highly motivated; they really wanted to learn and had powerful reasons.
The desire to learn can come from loving the subject or being interested to see what it is like. Or perhaps They
have practical reasons for learning. Research’s carried by Gardner and Lambert suggested that students who felt
most warmly about the language and who wanted to integrate into culture of its speakers were most highly
motivated.
Integrative motivation is more powerful than instrumental motivation. Learners with an instrumental motivation
want to learn a language because of a practical reason such as getting a salary bonus or getting into college. Many
college language learners have a clear instrumental motivation for language learning: They want to fulfill a
college language requirement! Interactively motivated learners want to learn the language so that they can
better understand and get to know the people who speak that language.
One of the main task of teachers is to motivate students, by choosing a topic or activity…etc. teachers are not,
however, ultimately responsible for their students’ motivation. They can only encourage theem by words and
deeds. Real motivation comes from within the individual

3. Who is responsible for learning?

In many modern language institutes, a sizeable percentage of time is given to “self-learning”. Students take
responsibility for their own learning. The philosophy here is that students who are ready to take this
responsibility are good learners. In other words, good learners don’t wait to be taught.
Not every school has self-access facilities where student learn by themselves. But we need to promet the idea to
our students that teachers can’t teach them everything unless they themselves are prepared to take some of the
strain. Learning is a partnership between teachers and learners.
For some students from different culture, if they have been led to believe that it is the teacher’s job to provide
learning. it is difficult to convey the message of self-learning. Therefore, teachers should start gradually so
students start taking their own decisions about learning.
Getting students to do various kinds of home works is the best way to encourage student’s autonomy. What is
important for teachers is to choose the right kind of tasks that students can grasp, and not take much of their
ime. In addition, teachers should follow up home works when they say they will, imposing the same deadlines
upon themselves as they do on their students.
As teachers it is up to us to promote self-learning and being available to discuss individual plans for study.
The most important thing is to be sensitive to their expectations of learning and act accordingly

4. What characteristic do good classroom learners share?

The willingness to listen: not only paying attention but really listen and soak the English that is being used.
The Willingness to experiment: to have a go, and take risks. No all learners are extroverts but the urg to use the
language (loudly or quietly) is important.
The willingness to ask questions: Even though some teachers can become irritated when students ask hard
questions or irrelevant ones. Good teachers invite learners to ask questions if they didn’t understand something,
and good learners do this.
The Willingness to think about how to learn: Good learners bring or invent their own study skills, in class or when
they learn by themselves.
The Willingness to accept correction: Good learners are ready to be corrected. Teachers should laways provide
constructive feedback, by praising students for the things they have done well and offering them the ability to do
things better where they were less successful.
If these are the qualities of a good learner, teachers should encourage and provide an atmosphere to show
students that their experimentation and questions are welcome (within reason).

5. What’s special about teaching adults?

Perhaps the great difference between teaching youngest and adult is that adults have long history of learning
experiences. These experiences, both bad and good, will have helped them to form a strong opinion on how
teaching and learning should be carried out. They also come with their own record of success and failure. Those
who have underachieved at schools before will assume that they will fail again and vice versa.
Young learners also have learning history. But it is more likely to be shorter and less fixed.
Losing face is greater in older learners. Even though, young learners also have anxiety of losing face but many
factors may be involved.
One of the nightmares of teaching young learners is losing control. Due to students’ unwillingness to learn,
hatign the subject or the teacher or just don’t feel like it. On the other hand In adult learners, teachers fail
sometimes to control them, not the same way as young learners, but teachers of this age group will have
experiences of students spending time talking to their neighbors where teachers want to focus their attention of
vocabularies. They may arrive late to the class or fail to do the home work…etc.
Teaching adults is more recommended. They bring life experience into the classroom. They may have a view of
the important of learning which will make them stick to the course of study. The attention span that coorerative
adults can offer is almost certainly greater than that of children. Teachers of adults are less likely going to deal
with daily discipline problems.
Teaching young learners take place through play and knowledge, games and songs…etc. Adults don’t need a
camouflage for their learning. If they can see the point of learning and if we were able to explain the reason
behind us asking them to do they will be more cooperative.
It is, off course, possible for adults to suffer from boredom in class, especially if they have been learning the
same way full-time course, or in the same classroom for long. Such people may respond well to lessons that are
entertaining and contain
enjoyable activities. To facilitate language learning activities we don’t want to treat them like children but some
of them might respond well to a lighter style of learning which does include puzzles and quizzes…etc
6. What are the different levels?

 Beginners are those who don’t understand anything in English.

 False Beginner: The can’t use any English but still know a lot about it and they can develop fast (can be
activated)
 Elementary are no longer beginners and able to communicate in a basic way. They can string some sentences
together, construct simple stories or take part of predictable spoken interaction. However, they have not
achieved intermediate competence which involves greater fluency and general comprehension of some authentic
English. Still some areas for knowledge (tenses, noun phrases…etc)
 Upper Intermediate have competency of intermediate students plus extended knowledge of gramattical
construction and skill use.
 Advances are those whose level of English is competent. Allowing them to read un-simplified fact and fiction
and communicate fluently with native speakers.
 Intermediate suggests basic competence in speaking and writing and the ability to comprehend fairly
straightforward listening and reading.

- Beginners: Success and failure is easy to see. Some adults may find learning a language is stressful and may give
up
- Intermediate: Success is not easy to see. Learners have already achieved a lot and they may not be able to see
their development. It is call plateau effect. Teachers have to show their students they there still need to learn
more without being discouraging. One of the ways to do this is to make the task more challenging and make
them analyze language more thoroughly. We need to help them set clear goals so they can measure their
achievement by.
- Advanced: Students know a lot of English but still the danger of plateau effect. We need to show students that
they still need to learn but not by little-bit-by-little-bit and not focusing on grammatical accuracy, but more on
the use of language and style. Plus; encouraging students to take more and more responsibility for their learning.

7. How should we teacher the different levels?

Many activities can be used for all the levels but there are some that can be used for beginners such as the
pronunciation or writing a small dialogue, and for advanced such as writing an essay.
Other aspect is language; beginners should be exposed to simple language. Intermediate know most the simple
forms of language such as “what’s you name”…etc. Therefore, we won’t ask them to concentrate on it.
The teacher behavior also is affected by the level of language. Rough-tune our speech is very great. We can
exaggerate our voice tone and gestures. At higher level, such extreme behavior is not needed an it may be seen
as patronizing.
The activities level also depends on the language level. For beginners, we won’t suggest abstract discussions. For
advanced, a drill focusing on simple past tense question is almost certainly inappropriate.
Teachers react both overtly and subconsciously to different level. The materials they use reflect the unique
needs of those studentsc
Chapter Three: How to manage teaching and Learning?

1. How should teachers use their physical presence in class?

- Proximity: Some students resent if the teacher is close to them. Where ofther long distance is a sign of coldness.
Teachers should be conscious of their proximity and assess their students reaction to whats happening in the
classroom and take it into consideration.
- Appropriacy: many teachers like to create friendly atmosphere by crouching down when they work with
students in pairs. In this way, they are the same level as their students. However, some students may find this
informality worrying, and sometimes it may put students off concentration.
All positions that teachers take reflect their own personality and the relationship they want to create with their
learners. It is important, therefore, to consider what kind of effect such physical behavior has.
- Movement: Some teachers like to sit in one place during the lessons. Other like to move from one side to
another. Motionless teachers often bore students, whilst teachers who move a lot can turn their students into
tennis match spectators moving their heads from side to side which will result In making them exhausted.
How much a teacher moves and stands in one place is a matter of style and preferences, and how he or she feelis
it is better to manage his or her class.
- Contact: Most of what have been mentioned above is related to contact. Teacher must be able t osee and hear
everything that is happening inside the classroom. He/she must be aware of every student is doing and how they
are feeling. It means being able to move, getting the proximity right, and making eye contact with students…etc.
It is almost impossible to help students to learn a language without making contact with them.
-

2. How should teachers use their voice in class:

Perhaps the most important instrument the teacher has is his voice. Three issues should be considered when
using the voice to manage a classroom:
a. Audibility: Teachers’ voice should be clear for those who are sitting in the back the same as for those who are
sitting in the front but don’t require shouting. A balance between audibility and volume must be made.
b. Variety: Changing the quality of the voice and the volume is also important. Depending on the lesson the
teacher can choose to rise his voice or reduce it. The volume used when giving instructions is not the same used
when conversing with students or when it is an informal situation.
c. Conservation: Just like opera singers, teacher should take care of their voices and avoid injuries that result from
shouting or wrong breathing. Teachers should take into account this when planning a week’s lesson
d.

3. How should teachers mark the stages of a lesson?

Teachers should start off the lesson appropriately. They need to tell the students what they are going to learn or
in other lesson what they will be doing or discussing.
Teachers do not always explain exactly what they are going to do since they want some element of surprise. But a
clear start of the lesson is necessary just as a play often starts with the rise of the curtain.
When an activity ends and another one starts it helps when teachers make this clear for their students, either by
explaining to them or by the way they behave. It helps students if they are made clearly aware of the end of
something and the beginning of another thing. In order for this to work teachers must first get their students’
attention. This can be difficult especially when teachers try to draw a speaking activity to conclusion.
When an activity is over it helps if the teacher provide a closure, a summary to the lesson or a prediction to what
will happen next time.

4. What’s the best seating arraignment for a class?

a. Orderly Rows: Students are facing the teacher who can make eye contact as well as walk between aisles to
make more personal contact. It makes class controlling easier and it is best for lectures. The teacher is working
with the whole class. Some activities are best for this seating such as watching a video or explain a grammar rule.
Teachers must maintain eye contact and be sure their voices are heard till the back of the class. Teachers should
ask students randomly not one by one line by line. This help keeping students on their toes. This seating is best
for large classes where students’ number is great.
b. Circles and Horseshoes: The round table was made by king Arthur so no argument about who is more
important than whom occurs. The feeling of equality is higher in such sitting. The feeling may be less in
horseshoes seating where the teacher mostly is in the middle but still, the teacher will have a greater opportunity
to get close to the students.
c. Separate tables: Students are seating in small groups. Is it the least formal among the seating shapes. The
teacher has the chance to move from group to group. The atmosphere is less hierarchical than in other
arrangements. The teacher will feel less like a teacher and more like an adult who is providing help. Nevertheless,
such seating may be problematic due to the fact that some students may not want to sit with the same
colleagues and it make “whole-class” teaching more difficult since the students are more diffuse and spirited.
The way students sit tells a lot about the teacher style, and the institution.

5. What different students grouping can teachers use?

a. Whole class: There are many seating arrangements that promote class work. The teach will have the students
focusing on him while doing the task on hand
b. Group work and pair work: In groups students tend to participate more equally and also more able to
experiment and use the language more than class work. And all this is the same in pair work. Students are given
greater chances of independency, and they work without the pressure of being watched by the whole class while
doing a task or answering. Another great advantage of pair work and especial group work is that the teacher is
given the chance to work with individuals while group A and C are doing the task. Nevertheless, Some problems
may occur when students don’t like the grouping or their mates. Sometimes one student may dominate while
others will be silent. Sometimes students, if they have the same first language, tend to use the mother tongue to
communicate when the teacher is not working with them.
c. Solo work: It allows the students to work on their own speed, thinking time and allow them to be individuals. In
such arrangement students will focus on their own needs.
Good teachers are able to use different grouping to different activities and are able to determine which is most
successful for which task.

6. How can teachers evaluate the success or failure of their lesson?

Teachers can ask students simple questions such as “did you like the task, did you find it useful? etc. Some
students may not being able to discuss this topic on the open so teachers can ask them to write the evaluation to
the task. Teachers can ask colleagues to come to the class and observe what happen and then provide feedback,
or teachers can video record themselves…….other methods are mentioned in the book.
A good teacher also asses how well their students are progressing. This can be through the use of home works or
speaking activities.