Teach English in Shiziling Jiedao - Maoming Shi

I found that the statement in this unit, that good teachers make good students, really serves as its thesis and key point. When reflecting on the qualities of a good teacher, I found many to be critically important, such as the ability to build rapport, to ensure that students are given equal attention throughout the lesson and both the ability to assess student weaknesses as well as address them in such a way, that will not offend nor undermine student motivation. But I think the key attribute of a good teacher is quite simply a love of teaching. This is something that can't be faked, and really will inform all other positive aspects of being a good teacher. But most of all, it will be readily perceived by students, even at the most basic level, and they are likely to respond in kind regardless of age or motivation. And from that flow the characteristics of a good learner. If they are engaged because the teacher is engaging and able to motivate them, they will be more likely to listen attentively, ask questions, take risks, and truly take ownership of their own learning methods and process. I'm excited to return to the EFL classroom, this time better armed thanks to this course. While most of my experience has been with adult learners, who are by and large self-motivated, often with an economic incentive, I'm looking forward (not without some trepidation) of teaching young learners in all age groups. I recognize that the adolescents will be the most challenging as they will be the least motivated and most self-conscious, while the pre-adolescents will be probably the most receptive and capable of new language acquisition due to their attention spans and relative mastery of their native language, and of course with the very young learners, I'll have to be ready to break out the crayons, get down on mys knees, and brush up on my singing!