Students who haven’t succeeded in learning a foreign language in the first place tend to search for a good teacher who would fulfill a miracle and ultimately manage to make them speak the language fluently.
In reality, neither of the best teachers in the world, though, will be able to force the student to study if not the student himself. On the other hand, there are some tricks which a good teacher may share with the student, making the learning process simpler and more accessible.
Here are some of the aspects you had better take notice of provided you are looking for a reliable teacher.
The Country of Origin
As for nationality, choose anyone from any country on condition that the teacher’s pronunciation and accent are close to the original one. A mother tongue may be an excellent speaker, and yet not to be a promising teacher. You risk doing a lot of passive listening rather than putting new knowledge into practice through the opportunity to speak.
Another point in support to non-native teachers is that they are highly likely to know English grammar better than native speakers, as well as to be more susceptible to truly useful lexis. Not to mention, know how to build up the studying process in order to gain essential results faster.
Having said that, they are bound to share with you all the prompts on how to retain words in long-term memory, teach you useful idioms, more advanced words and collocations, and provide you with tips on how to ace an English exam. Such expertise can be explained by their relentless quest for the ways that would approach them to the advanced level.
In general, teachers who speak English as a second language are likely more informed and, given non being a native speaker, display continuous curiosity and inquisitiveness towards the language, thus boosting their knowledge and preparation, unlike “all-knowing” natives, many of which are quite satisfied with their “native” status and therefore do not do anything to remain up-to-date or increase their knowledge.
Humane Qualities
The teacher you choose ought to be empathetic, supportive and encouraging. This means to be completely aware of the efforts students make and challenges they are facing on the way to improvement. Senses of empathy and comfort the student may experience from the teacher, while being listened to, may help them express themselves more effortlessly and eliminate tension.
Trust-based relationship
As a follow-up to the previous one, trusting relationship between the teacher and the student may be essential for a successful learning process. For this matter, non-native teachers’ first-hand experience or “having been in the student’s pans” serves as a base for generating comprehension, connection and confiding relationship between the two.
As a result, the student who attends classes willingly is not afraid of speaking to the teacher or making mistakes. Being in non-judgmental setting, they tend to share their life experiences or daily occurrences which contribute to their speaking skills improvement, and thus overcoming the language barrier.
Equal Interrelationship
A good teacher is one who can be at a level with a student, namely, not to use very complex vocabulary in order to avoid some confusion and not to give the student a feeling of being worse or not enough.
Inability to figure out what has been said by the teacher or enormous efforts made to keep up with the interlocutor may create misunderstanding and withdrawal. Even correcting mistakes, depending on personal resistance to criticism and willingness to embrace remarks, should be done by the teacher in a delicate way, not letting disappointment take over the student.
Interest in Outcome
A teacher who is interested in your progress is certainly a good teacher. That is possible to reveal after time through activities being prepared for the student – whether they are elaborated, well-structured, focused on development of the speaking skills through engaging conversations, or they are merely boring aimless exercises from a textbook just to pass the time fast.
The teacher who is interested in your progress considered it as a personal victory, and his or her desire to teach is not counted in money, but in personal aspiration drawn on honesty responsibility and hard work.
Concern about the Student
Lastly, choosing an appropriate teacher, remember you choose a like-minded friend that should inspire you, be interested in you as a person, and that can be manifested in the teacher asking questions, showing enthusiasm for your success, being a good listener.
Once you have overcome the language barrier with the help of such a friend, you will have just to continue sharpening up on your vocabulary by watching videos or films, listening to music, reading stories without help of other’s.
To sum up, what really matters is the feeling the teacher gives you. So, choose a teacher not according to a number of degrees or certificates they have, but according to the time you are willing to spend with them conversing in the language you are learning.
