Page 50 - Teaching English as a Foreign Language for Dummies 2009

Chapter 2: Looking at What TEFL Teachers Actually Do
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always turn up with a pen and notebook because they want to make their own notes on the course, but they expect any materials you provide to be concise and effective.
Unless you’re teaching a dedicated speaking class or writing class, most stu- dents want some kind of coverage of the four main skills in language – read- ing, writing, speaking and listening – so that they can function fully in English. They don’t usually want to cover all four to the same degree but they expect to work in each area.
Because TEFL doesn’t require the same degree of training as some other edu- cational roles, teachers sometimes forget the importance of professionalism. Even though your students may be of the same age group as you, and some may encourage you to socialise with them at the local pizzeria or wine bar, as a class they expect you to work professionally and conduct yourself in a dig- nified way. This includes the overall management of your classroom – what
it looks like, what time your lessons start and finish and your supervision of the students.
Some people enrol on language courses because they want to make new friends but you can still help them to focus on the course aims so that they take learning seriously.
Students want you to be both fair and flexible. They become irritated if you seem to favour one student over another. Equally, they expect you to under- stand the real world involves many pressures so it’s not always possible to do homework to perfection or arrive early every single time. When something of particular interest happens in the world, they want you to depart from your lesson plan so that they can talk to you about it (hopefully in English). The USA and UK are major players in world politics so some students want to discuss current affairs with their new tool, the language of those nations.
Culture is very important in a language lesson; it’s almost impossible to teach one thing without the other. So students want a role model who can give them a window into the English-speaking culture while showing due respect to their own. They definitely don’t want a hint of superiority from their teacher but instead they want to know about any pitfalls in terms of appropri- ate behaviour and expressions.
Students want you to point out the customs of English speakers in certain situ- ations but they don’t want to be forced to accept these as good or right.
Believe it or not, students love it when their teachers correct them. I mention this because new teachers are sometimes too polite about this as they think that students may be offended. In my experience, students want to know where their errors lie and what to do about them.