Amp up your effectiveness as a teacher today by doing one simple thing: Discover your student’s need, and then meet it with your course work.
“Define the future first, then determine and develop the skills that take you there. Leadership skills are best learned when needed. Outcomes, deliverables, and noble goals infuse leadership skills and techniques with meaning.” (Build the Plane While It’s in the Air. Dan Rockwell.)
What would happen if you replaced ‘Leadership skills’ with “English skills?” – English skills are best learned when needed.
How do you find out what is needed?
- Today, try to find out what on the job frustrations your students are facing with their English skills. Yes! You can and should be asking them that question! Then develop your class to solve that problem. (Or at least move them in the right direction. Be a Teacherpreneur. )
- Today, talk to your students about their ‘English future.’ Where are they trying to go? What do they need to be able to do in English to get there? Design your classes accordingly. Are they thinking of working in an English only company? Begin reviewing their resume. Practice for those English interviews. Start helping your student construct their future.
Effectively teaching English means that what you do in class is sticky, and is of immediate practical use for your student.
So go ahead and listen more to your students. Find out what problems they need to solve, and become part of their solution. Find out where they are trying to go, and help them get there.
What can you do today to be part of your student’s solution? How can you be part of their future?
Photo by U.S. Navy Seabee Museum