Individual learners have very different conceptions of what exactly makes a teacher ‘great’. As a result, great TEFL teachers come in many forms. Their approach to teaching may be perfect for one student while not meeting the expectations of the next. Although it may be impossible to please all your students all the time, a healthy mix of the following traits will ensure that you please most of your learners, most of the time.
Subject knowledge
A great TEFL teacher has great subject knowledge, and by this we do not just mean grammar. Subject knowledge includes how language is used, how it is taught, and how it is learned. A great TEFL teacher will seek to develop their knowledge, and will enjoy doing so. Luckily, teachers have ample opportunities for the development of subject knowledge: reading blogs and literature; speaking to and observing other teachers; taking courses or attending training sessions or conferences; and speaking to students about their learning, to name a few. The beautiful thing is that the more you teach, the more you learn!
Professionalism
Great TEFL teachers are prepared and organised. Their students know that when they arrive for a lesson, their teacher will be there, set up, and ready to begin. Their lessons will be planned to suit the needs of their learners and there will be a clear thread linking lessons. Organisation is something that comes more easily to some than to others, but one simple recommendation for all teachers is to keep a lesson planner. A planner is like a diary in which you keep a record of what was covered in a lesson and what will be covered in subsequent lessons, therefore providing an overview of teaching and learning. You can also include any homework set, any difficulties or questions that need to be addressed, and any upcoming assessments. The last point here is important, as there are few people in the world who enjoy coming to class only to be told that they have to take a test with no forewarning!
Humour
You don’t have to be a comedian to be a great TEFL teacher, but a little humour helps! A language classroom is a social context and, for everything to go well, the participants should be relaxed and at ease, both with the teacher and with the other students. Some gentle humour is a great way to achieve this, and if your students are happy and relaxed it is much more likely that they will benefit from the lesson. Of course, humour can be a tricky area to get right, and it is important that any humour used is appropriate and that you don’t insult any of your students!
Patience
A great TEFL teacher has limitless patience, or at least the ability to hide their own frustrations. This is useful in a number of situations: one student doesn’t understand a language point; another refuses to follow instructions; two more show up half an hour into the lesson; and another is on their phone. Each of these situations can be resolved in a kind and respectful way. For example, it is perfectly normal for a student to struggle with a certain language point – in fact, this is good. A misunderstanding is an opportunity to explore and to learn. The role of the teacher here is to be positive, provide support and to not give up, even if this means returning to the issue in a subsequent lesson.
Empathy
Learning a second or other language is a difficult and at times frustrating task. A great TEFL teacher will always bear this in mind when planning and delivering lessons. It’s important to remember that our students are people with stresses and frustrations of their own, who may have made a great effort just to be in your lesson. Great TEFL teachers know how to read the room. If your learners seem tired is it better to get them up and moving at the beginning of the lesson, or ease them in with a video or reading activity? Empathy cannot be taught, but we can always try to remember that students have not come to our lesson, they have come to their lesson.
Introspection and Criticality
A great teacher is capable of self-evaluating. One of the best ways to develop as a teacher is to reflect on lessons and to consider other approaches. There is no such thing as a perfect lesson, so it is always useful to consider what worked well, what didn’t work so well and, importantly, why this was the case. This is also a great way to keep challenging yourself in your teaching, to try out new ideas and to keep things fresh for your learners and, more importantly, for you! For more on self-evaluation, see our article ‘6 Real-life lessons about taking the DELTA’.
Humility
A great TEFL teacher is not afraid to relinquish responsibility. Lesson time is not our time to shine, but our students’, and as such it is our students who should be front and centre. Great teachers know when to fade into the background and let the students take control - it is them, after all, who should be doing all the work! Another way humility comes into play is linked with subject knowledge: language is an incredibly complex system, so there is no shame in not having an answer to every question. If you don’t have the answer, don’t just make it up – it is very difficult to un-teach an incorrect rule – simply tell the student that you don’t know, but that you will find out for the next lesson.