New Advice For New English Teachers

What better way to start the new year than by writing an article that has nothing to do with movies? Well, that's what I'll do.

Last year, I wrote a bit of advice for new English teachers. I wrote about how teachers needed to talk less, know their grammar, use technology, and remember the oppressed, among other things.

I've given more thought recently as I reflect on my teaching practice, including my own strengths, my own deficiencies, my own classroom management and rapport. What works, what isn't working, what I can reconsider--things like that. So I figure I'll share some thoughts. Here is some new advice for new English teachers.  

Your students are smart (probably smarter than you are)

No, kids aren't getting dumber. In what's often called the Flynn Effect, scholars have noted that later generations have continually scored higher on IQ tests. Linguists like Steven Pinker have noted that today's students have "extraordinary brainpower" because our education system has shifted from concrete, pre-scientific modes of thinking to one that favors the ability to think in complex hypotheticals. Pinker notes Flynn's story about his father, who was incredibly racist. Flynn asked his father about his reaction if he woke up one morning with black skin. His father scoffed that it was impossible for such a thing to happen. His father not only grew up in a more racist world but also refused to think hypothetically and empathetically.

My point is that the older you are, the closer you are to the education system that favored facts (state capitals, for example) and the younger your students are, the closer they are to an education model that favors critical thinking, reason, empathy, and science.    

Additionally, you are not necessarily more knowledgeable than your students. Paulo Freire, a Brazilian educator and theorist, told a story of how he was in the presence of Chilean farmers, who were humbled and honored to be with an academic of his stature, and they told him so, explaining to him how much smarter he was than they were. Freire knew they were wrong (or better yet, not right), and so to prove his point he asked them to play a game with him. He got to quiz the farmers about his work, and they got to do the same about theirs. It was a tie. Teachers need to remind themselves of the expression that "you're too educated to be smart."

Your students, on the other hand, are not only fluent speakers of their own language but likely know more of the language you are teaching than you know of the language they speak at home. It's not uncommon for children in countries like my former home of the Georgian Republic to speak as many as four languages. Just remind yourself of that every time you become frustrated when your students don't use a continuous tense correctly.

Avoid banking
The major contribution to education from Freire is his criticism of the banking model. In a banking model, according to Freire, a teacher teaches and a student is taught; the teacher is the subject but the students are mere objects. This approach can not only be arrogant but also ineffective.    

Why? Because too often, with a banking approach, the teacher assumes that the students do not possess resources or stories worthwhile in an academic area. Too often, the teacher talk increases too much, and the students, struggling to keep up, lose interest. Basic Teaching 101 says that some students may appreciate a banking approach--in other words, the student is an auditory learner and learns best when he or she hears the information. But some students are visual learners, and need to be shown something. Finally, there's probably the least understood and appreciated student of them all: the kinaesthetic or tactile learner. To this student, the classroom desk is a prison, and that can make you--the teacher--the prison guard.

Games are a good thing
Games are great because they force (or at least highly encourage) participation, far more than our typical "volleyball-style" Socratic questioning. Why is Google Earth so cool? Part of it, of course, is the cinematic quality of zooming in on our planet and finding our street ("That's my house!"). But part of it, according to Stephen Wilmarth, is the participatory nature of it. "By providing APIS (application program interface codes) to anyone who requests them," he writes, "amateurs and professionals alike can combine photos and video and blogs and wikis with stunning Google Earth imagery." Participation is the key, and games will go a long way in helping you with that.

Think games are only for children? My eighteen-year-old students thoroughly enjoy them (though that might say something about their maturity levels). I found success, as well, with adult Czech students. Games teach many things so much more effectively than traditional methods.  Need to practice a difficult grammar structure like the present perfect? The legendary "You have changed..." game covers that (and will likely leave your students in stitches). Body parts with younger children?  Total Physical Response activities (e.g. "Simon Says") are perfect. Need to review for a test?  Jeopardy, of course.

Does this mean everyone likes games? Of course not. There are even some young children who don't like to play games. Playing a game every class certainly sends a message--the wrong message--and just like any other activity up a teacher's sleeve, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. A good general rule is any game that last more than 20 minutes is usually pushing it.

Be critical, and change the world
Whether you're teaching in an ESL or EFL environment, your students are likely from African and Asian nations where tradition, cultural norms, and hierarchy are superior to change, questioning and student-led learning. Your classroom can be the first time they're exposed to a new way of thinking--a critical one that encourages challenging the status quo.

Consider Jane Elliot's famous (or infamous) Brown Eyes/Blue Eyes experiment from 1968. Disgusted and depressed, as most Americans were, at the assassination of Martin Luther King, she decided to try an experiment with her young elementary school (all white students) where they would be segregated; one would be privileged and loved while the other would lack rights and be despised. She segregated her students based on their eye color, then switched the groups. The results were shocking. As you can see, her sweet students were turned into intolerant monsters.

In June, I wrote an article called "The Personification of God." The title is borrowed from Malak Zaalouk's book "The Pedagogy of Empowerment" about community schools in Egypt. The community schools in Egypt embraced problem-solving and conflict resolution, with a classroom that was shared, decentralized and participatory.  Quality education, she argued, was one where the teacher was no longer the personification of God.  She interviewed many students, teachers, and community members,

Repeatedly, the children indicated that they no longer carried out difficult agricultural work. Nor did they have to look after the animals. The adults took over. This was indeed regarded as a promotion in status. Rasha from Manfalur, Asyur, is thirteen and states, "Before going to school, my family did not acknowledge me as a person with rights; they used to ask me to do lots of things at home and around the house. Now they ask nothing of me during school time. They never ask me to absent myself from school. They show me a lot of respect, and I am able to express my opinions freely." Describing her relationship with her family, Faten from Dar al-Salam makes the point more emphatically, "Our relationship has changed. Before I went to school, nobody listening to my opinion. Now I have an opinion that I express, and they listen to me and are convinced by what I say."

You don't have to be God, but you can still change the world as a teacher in ways you never thought possible.  

Finally, every student needs and a champion.