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This is how our TEFL graduates feel they have gained from their course, and how they plan to put into action what they learned:
Role of the teacherBeing a teacher is more than just being someone who teaches others. Depending on how the teacher behaves and plays a particular role in the class, the class atmosphere and students learning can be greatly influenced. Therefore, the teacher should always be willing adopt many different roles during a lesson. Teachers should be able to control the class effectively when they take on the role of a controller or manager. The teacher would be standing at the front of the class giving explanations and instructions. Being a charismatic controller of the class can inspire the students and keep the class a better environment for everyone to learn and study. However, it is important to note that the teacher who plays a role of a controller should not overuse his/her authority because this can in fact result in less productive class as the students feel restricted at exploring their thoughts freely. Moreover, the students are usually very keen to find out whether or not they are producing correct English. This is when the teacher will need to act as an assessor, giving feedback and correction as well as evaluation and grading. The teacher should be fair and consistent with all the students and be sensitive to the students? reactions. Another role of the teacher is to prompt activities. When the students are lost in new materials or being confused, the teacher needs to be decisive and lead them back on the track. Also the teacher is often required to prompt the students to use English and not their native language. At certain stages of the lesson, the teacher may wish to participate in the lesson as an equal, not as the teacher for a number of reasons. Sometimes, the teacher provides tutoring most often when students are working individually. In order to provide the best help, the teacher should be aware of each student?s English level. Another very important role is being a model because especially for a native-speaker of English, the teacher is usually the only source of real English the students have ever encountered. The teacher is the fount of all knowledge on English grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. The students will tend to learn from imitating what the teacher says and this imposes a great deal of responsibility on the teacher. Instead of getting involved in the activities, the teacher can adopt a role of observer or monitor. Monitoring what is going on in the classroom enables the teacher to adjust activities responding to the situation. While observing the students, the teacher may want to make notes for correction or praise. However, there are occasions when the teacher may also need to get involved in a little more to hear spoken work or to look at writing in progress in order to monitor effectively. The role that teachers employ is largely going to depend on the type of activity and what we wish the students to achieve. At some stages of a lesson, the teacher should adopt a more dominating role at the same time being ready to employ another role as the lesson progresses.
