Successful EFL / ESL teachers have these 5 characteristics in common:
- Excellent Interpersonal Communication Skills. A successful teacher should enjoy people, show enthusiasm and excitement in the classroom, and be positive.
- An Attitude of Flexibility. A successful teacher should be flexible and open to change when things go differently than planned. ...
- Appropriate Classroom Management. A successful teacher should be well-organized, dependable, and able to effectively manage the classroom.
- Meaningful Lessons. A successful teacher should develop lessons that appeal to students’ interests and goals. ...
- Cultural Awareness. A successful EFL / ESL teacher should be sensitive of cultural differences and traditions. ...
- ESL Teachers Establish Genuine Relationships with Students. ...
- English Language Teacher Seek to Understand A Student's Cultural Background. ...
- ESL Teachers are Trained in Second Language Education Techniques and Approaches. ...
- ESL Teachers Understand the Individual Needs of Students.
What makes a good ESL teacher?
No teacher loves every minute of their job; but the best ESL teachers genuinely enjoy interacting with their students, being in front of the classroom, and seeing their students learn and grow over the course of a school year. Teaching is so much more than just walking into a class and lecturing at the students.
What is teaching ESL?
What is Teaching ESL? Teaching ESL (TESL) means “Teaching English as a second language”. Others use the term “Teaching English as a foreign language” (TEFL). Both terms are more or less interchangeably. ESL teachers teach English to people whose mother tongue is any other than English.
What kind of English teacher should I be?
Basically, you don’t want to be the socially awkward, red-faced English teacher, but rather the open-minded one that can have fluid discussions with his or her students about such matters.
How to find ESL teaching jobs?
If you want to teach adults, language training centers, community schools or business classes are the options to find teaching jobs. On online teaching platforms, you can find any type of jobs, from teaching little students to professional business people who want to hone their negotiation skills. Teaching ESL is different than teaching English.
How do you define a good ESL teacher answer?
Here are a few things that come together to make a great ESL teacher.Passion for the job. ... The ability to build relationships. ... Commitment. ... Adaptability. ... Cultural Sensitivity. ... Learning a Second Language Yourself. ... Not taking it all too seriously.
What are the good qualities of an ESL teacher?
Successful EFL / ESL teachers have these 5 characteristics in common:Excellent Interpersonal Communication Skills. A successful teacher should enjoy people, show enthusiasm and excitement in the classroom, and be positive. ... An Attitude of Flexibility. ... Appropriate Classroom Management. ... Meaningful Lessons. ... Cultural Awareness.
How do I become a good ESL teacher?
8 tips to be a better ESL teacherGames, games and more games.Don't plan a lesson too much.Always have a backup plan.Learn a language yourself.Acquire lots of different resources.Buy a pack of cards!Reduce Teacher talking time.Be humorous in the classroom.More items...•
What makes a successful online ESL teacher from your perspective?
An effective online ESL teacher possesses excellent interpersonal communication skills. The teacher displays enthusiasm and excitement in the classroom while guiding the student throughout the lesson. As an online teacher, you must show positive, enthusiastic, and energy when teaching your students.
What is the job of an ESL teacher?
Your job as a teacher is to help kids learn, and that’s serious business. But that doesn’t mean you have to be uptight and dull in the classroom. Good ESL teachers have a balance of fun and work in the classroom, and know how to use teaching games, jokes, and fun activities to motivate, teach, and inspire.
What is cultural sensitivity in ESL?
As an ESL teacher, you are teaching in a culture that is very different from your own, and which may have a drastically different approach to learning, discipline, and the student-teacher relationship.
How to be more empathetic to students?
Nothing will make you more empathetic to your students than being in their position. It’s easy to get frustrated at how quickly a student will forget a new vocabulary word, or how much of a struggle it can be to pronounce a certain sound.
How long does it take for a teaching assistant to step into the classroom?
When your teaching assistant steps into the classroom five minutes into a well-planned lesson and tells you they will be doing a school-wide project right in the middle of your class, you’ve got to be able to roll with it.
Do you have to be paid for ESL?
It’s a fact that in ESL, you’ll have unpaid grading hours, and times when you’ll have to be there for extracurricular activities. You can treat it as a chore, gripe about the unpaid time or the way that teaching is cutting into your weekend.
Do ESL teachers love their job?
No teacher loves every minute of their job ; but the best ESL teachers genuinely enjoy interacting with their students, being in front of the classroom, and seeing their students learn and grow over the course of a school year.
What is the job of an ESL teacher?
It is your job as the ESL teacher to construct a classroom setting around creative activities, exercises, and discussion questions. Admittedly some things are inherently less fun than others – English language learners often moan at the mention of writing, and exam classes can feel incredibly dry.
How to Become an ESL Teacher?
Teaching ESL is a responsible profession, so you should be well-prepared and -educated before you teach your first ESL class.
How to get an ESL teaching job?
To get an ESL teaching job abroad a candidate must: 1 Have a passport from a native English speaking country 2 Have a bachelor’s degree in any subject 3 Have a TEFL certification 4 Complete and pass a (criminal) background check
What is the difference between ESL and English?
Teaching ESL is different than teaching English. It is more than merely teaching grammar, writing, or vocabulary. First of all, English language learners want to get the possibility to talk with a native, learn to imitate their way of pronunciation and accent and learn about the culture in Western countries, too.
How much should an ESL teacher talk?
In an ESL class or any language class for that matter, the students should be talking at least 60% of the time and the best teachers get their students to speak 75% of the time. In other words, if the class is sixty minutes, the teacher roughly speaks for twenty minutes and the students speak for forty minutes.
Why is teaching ESL so attractive?
That’s why teaching ESL is such an attractive job: As a native English speaker, you can find employment nearly anywhere, travel the world, finance yourself and make a difference in other peoples’ lives. Teaching ESL is not just a job. It’s not about you, it’s about your students.
What does it mean to create a classroom environment?
What it means is that you should create a classroom environment where the students feel comfortable to speak, ask questions, be creative and engage not only with you but with their fellow classmates.
Communicate Clearly
Good teachers speak at a slower pace so that their students can follow, pronounce words clearly and refrain from using regional slang. You are the source of English in the classroom. It is your responsibility to be understood in the class so speak at your students’ level and at a pace that makes them feel like English isn’t that hard.
Get Students Talking – Increase Student Talking Time
Ask questions and do activities that let them interact with the language. That is your most important job. Motivate your students to speak, ask them questions and give them enough time to answer. You can even scaffold the lesson by writing vocabulary on the board first to help them construct sentences.
Control the Classroom
This is one of the scariest for new teachers in the class, managing difficult classes. The best way to do that is to keep students engaged and have structured lessons so that students know exactly what is expected of them. Have rules and procedures to keep order but focus on leading the class in an engaging way.
Build Relationships
When students like you they will open up and give you their best. Before class starts or when they enter the room ask them questions about their lives. How are they doing? How was their weekends? Anything special happening that week? Get to know them by showing you care, do that and they will move mountains for you.
Use Collaborative and Fun Activities
For younger learners use games, songs and chants. Flashcard games, board races, phonics hoops and flyswats. At that early age you want to make learning fun by using these activities, especially with young Phonics learners. For older students you should let them interact with friends.
Be Prepared!
Prepare for each lesson and have back up plans for when you get a last minute class. Be sure of your schedule and have your week planned out. If possible, Go over the grammar points that you will teach in each lesson and have examples ready to explain to the students.
You are the Messenger, not the message
You aren’t the only source of language. Many teachers think that their word is law. Be modest – You only have your own experience. Find other sources and expose your students to different ideas.
What are the characteristics of an ESL teacher?
Successful EFL / ESL teachers have these 5 characteristics in common: 1. Excellent Interpersonal Communication Skills. A successful teacher should enjoy people, show enthusiasm and excitement in the classroom, and be positive. If the teacher is positive, enthusiastic, and teaches with a smile, the energy will spread to the students.
What is a successful teacher?
A successful teacher should be flexible and open to change when things go differently than planned. The teacher needs to be aware of what is happening in the classroom and make mid-lesson alterations, if necessary.
Why is cultural awareness important in ESL?
A successful EFL / ESL teacher should be sensitive of cultural differences and traditions. Teachers should learn the culture of their students to gain a deeper understanding of their way of thinking and background. It also helps if the teacher tries to learn the language of the students to better understand the culture.
What is the role of a teacher in a successful classroom?
A successful teacher should develop lessons that appeal to students’ interests and goals. Students should have the opportunity to use the language in genuine tasks and gain fluency without worry of mistakes. Students are excited to be in a foreign teacher’s class and will respond more positively to meaningful tasks that allow them to “use” the language.
What does it mean when a teacher is positive?
If the teacher is positive, enthusiastic, and teaches with a smile, the energy will spread to the students.
What is appropriate classroom management?
Appropriate Classroom Management. A successful teacher should be well-organized, dependable, and able to effectively manage the classroom. In a well-managed classroom, students know what is expected of them and respond with pre-established procedures throughout the lesson.
What does a loving teacher know?
The loving teacher knows the difference. Because in that love, the manifestation of it will be translated through that loving discernment. I think the other thing that the good teacher does: The good teacher is always open. Just open, open to learn from the environment of her students. She’s an ethnographer.
Is a strict teacher good for Sarah?
A strict, stern teacher may be very good for Jimmy, but not so for Sarah. A gentle, less-structured teacher may be a great thing for Rachel, but may not be so great for David. David may need somebody who’s a little different.
