Teachers:
What a Good Teacher Should be
By Zhang Xiao Yu
Pre-Service Teacher,
School of English
Faculty of Social
Sciences
Universidad Latina de
Costa Rica
Saturday, March 6,
2016
Post 230
Harmer’s (2007) Chapter 2 on Teachers
begins with a thrilling question: “What is a good teacher?” The author recorded
interviews with a large number of teachers and students, but he did not have an
exact answer at the end of the interviewing process. Someone said that he/she
is a good teacher because of his/her personality; because they looked as if
they loved their job; perhaps, their interest in their students, or maybe
because they are a fascinating person. To be a good teacher is not that easy,
it will need many aspects to create a good teacher.
This chapter is indeed about teachers.
What factors do teachers need to include in their daily teaching? What about
the way we communicate with our students; how we balance the relationship with
our students; how we act in a classroom; teacher’s preparations, teaching
skills and knowledge, etc.? This chapter on Harmer’s (2007) book gives or reminds
us how we can become to a good teacher.
Even though the chapter is reminding
us the importance to have a good relationship with students, teachers should
listen to their students, but instructors should also set a limit to their
listening to information coming from their learners. I am not saying that a
teacher and students cannot have a conversation excluding study matters, but
the teacher should control the limit of what is or is not relevant to his/her
teaching. This limit implies that an instructor should know student’s basic information,
like where the student comes from, how many family members they have, cultural
background, financial situation, etc. You do not need to know how much their
parents earn monthly, or why the parents are divorce. Sometimes a teacher are
in need of controlling the conversation and should not go deeply in subjects
that are irrelevant to the student’s education.
I
agree with Harmer that it is important showing teacher’s personality with
students. I remember that when I was a student back in China, my teachers were
showing me the same characteristics; they demonstrated their seriousness and
authority. Our Chinese instructors made us feel scared of them. The teachers in
Costa Rica are different; they are much friendlier, and that makes the lesson
more comfortable and easier for learners.
As a conclusion, this chapter on
teachers state that “good teachers are born, not made” (Harmer, 2007), but I do
not agree that to be a good teacher first should be a born one, then, the
teaching experiences will make us become a good teaching professional.
References
Harmer,
J. (2007). Chapter Two “Teachers”. How to
Teach English. Essex:
Saturday, March 05, 2016
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