Teachers and students.
Last night, an ex-student and friend of mine and I got together for a pint and a chat about our summer holidays and the three-week language course he did in Dublin. As he was feeling rather nostalgic about his Irish experience, we drank, yes, you guessed: Guinness.
Between sips, it was very interesting to hear his reactions to the course and he has agreed to write something on this for my other website. However, what struck me was his response to a question asked by one of his summer course tutors. The question was ‘What is more important, a highly motivated student or a highly motivated teacher?’. The teacher was expecting an answer that indicated motivation levels to be about 50:50, whereas my friend said 40% student, 60% teacher. This apparently left the teacher a little flummoxed, although I don’t really know why. As my friend pointed out, well motivated teachers can motivate their students, but well motivated students cannot really motivate a teacher (and should not be expected to). Hence, in part, the 60% weighting towards the teacher. The other part of the 60% reflects the students’ perception of a teacher. A teacher, especially when dealing with adult learners, needs to be able to, almost, give off an aura of confidence and competence, otherwise the students’ will question whether they can really learn something from this person. In street terms, it is this ‘respect’ thing and it is understandable. And this is why my friend wants to be taught by someone who appears to be worth learning from. This sounds perfectly logical to me.
Good teachers who are obviously interested in their subjects, come across as being well-motivated and motivating. I know this from my own learning experiences. But there is also a collateral effect, if you like, in that well motivated teachers can create well motivated students. Well motivated students may even develop a greater level of interest in subjects being taught and go off and read up on these things. Bingo, job done. The students are teaching themselves, or at the very least learning how to learn.
Generating enthusiasm and interest is something I attempt to do in my own teaching. This is the teacher as a facilitator thing. It does seem to work and attention levels in-class are higher as a result and I continue to be asked for advice on how to develop language skills outside the classroom. This is encouraging.
Alas in the majority of the real world, teachers are not valued highly enough by society - which translates into them being poorly paid and thus possibly poorly motivated. Then there is the fact that poorly paid professions do not good people attract. And you have a big problem. Mix this with disciplinary problems at secondary school level and the problems are magnified considerably. Not good. Our youth are our future. They are an investment. Invest well and positive yields are more likely. Do not invest and you get no return on equity.
The point of all my blathering? Good teachers are worth their weight in Platinum. Good students know this. Our leaders, in general, do not, or do not want to know. After all, there is no profit in teaching, is there? Er, well, ever heard of something known as ‘research and development’, Mr Politician, sir? Or would you rather just add a nice new set of missiles to your country’s armoury?
Short termism ain’t good.
On Teaching Lawyers
I’m running a course for a law firm at the moment, and the experience has led me to reminisce. I used to work with lawyers, or solicitors as some are known in the UK, and legal executives, and I remember these people fondly.
There was this rather Dickensian chap called Robert Earl, who was quite a character, a nice chap and very expert at what he did. Then there were two legal execs I remember well, Sara Butler and Sunnita. They were good people too. I wonder what they are up to now and if they remember me. Maybe they will come across this blog entry and say hi. I would be good to hear from them.
Teaching by not teaching
While drifting around the www looking for information on flash photography I came across this quote:
“The trick to education, is to teach people in such a way that they don’t realize they’re learning until it’s too late.”
The person who uttered these wonderful words was the late Harold Eugene Edgerton, MIT professor and flash photography pioneer. Sounds as though he was one heck of a teacher too. I one hundred percent agree with his approach to education, but I have found that some students are not clever enough to understand that they are learning, until it is too late. Then there are those who don’t want to learn anything in the first place.
Anyway, the success of this approach depends on how skilful the teacher is in teaching by not teaching, well, by not using obvious techniques. Indeed, all teachers need to be taught the ability to teach stealthily. Generally, as I have noticed from being on both sides of the desk, if you make learning interesting and it ceases to be a chore and starts to become a pleasure. Once the chore factor has been removed, real progress can be made.
I do try to employ Edgerton’s approach, mainly by keeping the atmosphere in my lessons quite light and, this is really important: by showing an interest in what I am teaching and in who I am teaching. And I just love it when those who attend my classes show real signs of progress. Talk about job satisfaction.
End of pontification.
Miffed, I am.
I got the ‘we want to do more speaking’ comment from my students today.
Yet they make no attempt to try using English while working in pairs or groups as they do one of the activities I have set them. This is despite my repeatedly telling them that they need to speak in English.
It’s no good, they just don’t get it. They don’t realize that by simply trying to use English at all times, they will become more fluent, and overcome their lack of self-confidence problems.
Yes, I know there is the Italian fear of making a ‘brutta figura’, but we are all adults, we can be mature about this. Make mistakes and you learn. Clam up for fear of making yourself look stupid, and you will not learn. I’m sorry, but you really don’t have time to play such games. Make an effort, as some have and do, and the English course can make the difference between being offered a 3 month zero pay internship, or being offered a paying position with a company that can offer real future prospects.
The choice is yours. I cannot work miracles.
English, like it or not, is perceived as being an essential skill for those who want to go places.
No English, no party.
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