The Roles of the teacher The Good Language Teacher versus the Bad Language Teacher.

The roles of the teacher

Demands on the teacher in a learn­er-centred methodology are greater, paradoxically, not less, than in conventional "teacher-centred" approaches. We need to know more about what skills are required of a teacher who wishes to encourage good language learning. It would be not only difficult but counterproductive to generalise from the diverse and often contradictory comments made by students about good and bad teachers that follow. In fact, the diversity of opinions as to what constitutes effective teaching confirms that both introverts and extroverts, soft-spoken and outspoken people, theatrical and non-theatrical types can all hold the attention of a class and make learning enjoyable and effective.

The Good Language Teacher is friendly ,explained things, gave good notes, knew how to treat someone who sits at a desk for six hours, let the students do it by themselves , group work, we did the lesson together, took out (elicited?) things we know, talked about her life, talked about problems of the school, talked about other subjects, played games, told jokes, she was one of us, didn't push weak learners, asked students' opinions, there was a dialogue, she was like an actress; pretended a lot, she was forceful, but not strict, she was educated, he knew psychology, used movement to make meaning clear, she made sure everyone understood ,she was funny, read in a tone that made meaning clear, she got close to students, she believed in me, made me believe in myself, i wanted him to be proud of me, he had a personality of his own, was very experienced, she made grammar clear, they tried to communicate, she gave advice, he talked about personal problems, she gave me a lot of books to read, she used questions a lot, she asked all students questions, talked about the lesson.

This list of qualities is long, and the individual items are in no par­ticular order of priority. This has its advantages: it highlights the fact that there are many different and contradictory qualities that con­tribute to effective teaching, and it is encouraging that students do not come up with a single, consistent picture of the ideal teacher. To be prescriptive about what makes a good teacher would assume we know more about the subject than we do, and it would limit the options available to us.

The Bad Language Teacher : very strict, didn't let us speak, gave us a text to learn and checked it, gave marks all the time, she was fixed in a chair, always above our heads (dominates?), shouted (for no reason), gave a lot of tests, forced us to do things, didn't discuss other problems, started the lesson immediately, didn't smile, she stared at you and you couldn't say a word, his tests were too difficult, we were not prepared for the test, he just showed us a grammar rule and we forgot it, shouted when we made mistakes, very nervous (=bad tempered?), talked and talked, she spoke flat, she just said the lesson and nothing else, there was a distance from us, believed the students were all the same, we didn't do experiments, believed students all knew the same things, like a machine, not prepared, treated kids like objects, she was rigid, sarcastic and ironic, only lessons—didn't discuss anything else, avoided answering questions, you couldn't laugh, you couldn't speak, he was the teacher, i was the student, he had a blacklist and said "you, you, you", she had a little book with the marks in, no communication, nothing, she made me feel anxious, he said we weren't well prepared