What makes a good English student?

One of the things I’ve learned during my 20 years of work as a school director is that, no matter how good and committed a teacher is, he will never, ever make the learning happen unless the students are fully committed as well. We can teach but never learn for our students.

Learning a language requires effort, dedication, discipline and commitment from the student side.

Having that in mind I made a list of things adult students can do to make the most of their course. Please feel free to add to the list.

1. When in class be in class. Turn off your mobile and any other device that can serve as a distraction. Focus is important.
2. Have a pro- active attitude during the class. Ask questions, say so when you don’t understand something, ask for clarification, more than once if necessary. Teachers are patient and love student who ask questions.
3. If you don’t understand the reasons behind an activity, tell it to your teacher. Knowing why you’re doing something in class helps you to perform well.
4. If you prefer one kind of activity, tell your teacher. We understand that some students prefer specific activities and we know that people learn better when they enjoy what they are doing.
5. Trust your teacher!
6. Take notes during the class. It’ll help you revise latter on and even if you don’t revise the act of taking notes helps you to remember things.
7. After the class read your notes.
8. Organize a vocabulary notebook. And keep adding new words to it.
9. Whenever possible bring English to your life out of classroom: watch TV in English, it may be tough in the beginning but do not give up, the more you do it the better you’ll become. Read things you like in English-a magazine, newspaper, internet…
10. Join a conversation class/group.

Hope it can help!

 

What makes a good English teacher – The point of view of a school owner.

As a school owner, I want to provide our students with the best service possible and to do so, we need professionals who are well-suited to enabling us to achieve this goal. However, finding a good English teacher is not a simple task.

The most important characteristic of a good teacher, for me, is a sense of commitment to the student learning process. A committed teacher will care about the students, about whether they are really learning and making any progress or not. He/She will not just go through the motion, come to work from 9 to 5, and cover a unit in a book just for the sake of doing it. After having met so many teachers, I learnt that when we have a teacher who is truly committed, he/she will do whatever necessary to make the learning process happen. And this is important!

Other important characteristics I look for when hiring teachers are:

1. Qualifications
   Qualifications can show that you really want to be a teacher because you have spent time obtaining it, and that you are investing in your career. However, qualifications are not the be all and end all. In my 20 years as a school owner, I have met teachers who are not so qualified but are effective and great in the classroom, and I have also met teachers who are qualified but are not as effective.
2. Choice
   A good teacher chooses to be a teacher and sees it as a career.
   Just because you speak English, and can’t figure out what you want to do with your life, does not mean that you should become an English teacher. I’ve interviewed many candidates who are surprisingly not able to convince me that they have made a conscious choice to be a teacher.
3. Curiosity
   To be a good teacher, you definitely need to be a good learner.
   You need to be curious about the students and want to learn more about them.
   You need to be curious about language and want to know how best to teach it.
   You need to be curious about development and seek opportunities to keep growing as a teacher.
   Sometimes, I meet a person who has been working as a teacher for, let’s say 15 years, and the last time that person has applied for a development course was 15 years ago. Alarm bells ring when I hear of such things.
4. Sensitivity.
   A teacher needs to perceive, understand and react to the learning needs of the students. We should try and understand what works for our students and the reasons behind it. We teach human beings who have emotions, problems, and lives that exist outside the classroom. We shouldn’t just treat them as students.
5. Professionalism.
   Being professional includes: Being respectful towards the school, his/her colleagues and the students; being punctual; being prepared for the class; being appropriately dressed for class.
6. Flexibility.
   Understand that your student is first of all a human being, and like any human being, they can feel tired, angry, or hungry, or they might be suffering from a headache. Maybe the wonderful class you have planned on that very tough grammar point may not be suitable for that particular day and you may need a plan B. It is important to realize that sometimes, the way you are used to working may not be the best way for a particular situation/student/course. So learn to adapt.
7. Courage.
   Challenges could be a good thing. It takes courage to face them with a positive attitude and to leave your comfort zone behind.
8. Effectiveness
   Although we can’t force students to learn and can’t ensure that learning takes place in every lesson we teach, having the ability to create a conducive environment for that learning to happen can be part of being an effective teacher.
9. Taking pride.
   Good teachers see themselves as a very important part of society and act accordingly. A good teacher adds value to the students, the school, their peers and to themselves. Be proud of it!

 

And finally, the most important of all, not only for teachers but for anyone who wants to live a meaningful life:

1.  Passion!
   Having a passion for what you do is crucial.
   Passion spurs us on to make things meaningful.
   Without passion, teaching or any other vocation would be nothing but a bore.
   With passion, we believe in what we do.

   And, a teacher with passion can make all the difference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ten top tips for Skype classes

I couldn’t start this post in any other way except by telling you that I simply LOVE classes via Skype. Both, as a teacher and as a student. The idea of working from the comfort of my house without facing hours stuck in a horrendous traffic jam is a scenario I love picturing. Finishing a class at the end of the day, after learning lots of new things and just being one room away from my family is, in my opinion, synonymous to having a good quality of life.

The burdens of modern life can really take a lot out of you: travelling a lot, being in different cities each day, leaving home early to work and returning only late at night, living miles away from your favorite teacher. None of these are excuses for not having classes anymore.

But despite all the advantages of having Skype lessons, there are some people who still frown at the idea of not being in the same room as the teacher. Why? I wonder. Don’t you think we should make the most of the technology available?

Having those people in mind, I made a list of ten top tips that may help students and teachers maximize their Skype class experience.

1. Make sure you have an internet connection that allows you to make the call with a camera. Being able to see the teacher is crucial to the quality of the class, making it a more lively experience.
2. A headset may help you to better hear what your teacher says.
3. Have the class in a quiet room without people walking around you. Make sure the TV is switched off. Make sure you won’t be disturbed or interrupted during the class. Ask the people in the house to act as if you were out having class in a school.
4. Turn your mobile phone off.
5. Get yourself comfortable for the class: have a glass of water near you, relax for five minutes before the class, make sure you have the things you need for the lesson within reach. After all, you are saving a lot of time by not having to commute to class, so take the extra 5 minutes to get into mood for class.
6. Do not go to the class wearing pyjamas, it is a real class and you wouldn’t go to a school wearing those. Or would you?
7. When you are ready to turn on Skype, send a message to your teacher/student using the Skype chat area, telling him/her that you are ready to start.
8. Bring pen and paper to the class and take notes the same way you would take notes if you were attending a face-to-face class. Print any material that your teacher might have sent you to be used during the class beforehand. If you are a teacher prepare in advance as you would do for any face to face class. Remember to send to the student, in advance, any handout he may need. Send it by e-mail and ask him to print it if he prefers.
9. If you prefer, you can take notes in the chat area of Skype, and after the lesson, cut and paste it into any other place you choose, e.g a word document, in order to keep a record of your class notes for a future review.
10. If you have any problem with your connection during the class, do not panic. Just wait for a while until you get connected again. Most of the time, it is a little bug that won’t last long.

 Give Skype classes a try!  Technology is here to stay and we must take advantage of it.

 

Starting a blog

I’ve always liked writing because for me it’s a way of organising my ideas.

Anyway, writing is one thing but writing and sharing what you write is a completely different thing, and it was not easy deciding that I would share my thoughts with the blogosphere. Making public what you write may be quite terrifying.

But fears are to be overcome and I’ve decided to confront them. Perhaps, sharing my experience can be of some help (at least I hope so!)  for some people who are either starting as a teacher or as a school owner, as well as for those who are concerned about issues related to education and corporate life in Brazil. Blogging of course would be a tremendous learning experience for myself as it would serve to act as a tool for reflection and re-thinking what I might know or not know about things, and any dialogue that arises from fellow readers commenting on my blog would further contribute to my learning curve.

So, let me start by introducing myself: I’m Beth Vasconcelos, Brazilian, 47 years old, mother of a lovely 12-year-old boy and the wife of a marvelous husband who has been my main supporter and best friend in every single moment of my life. I’m an English Teacher and the owner of English House Corporate, a private language school in Brazil, for more than 20 years.  Above all, I’m a professional deeply concerned about finding a new management model that helps both clients and staff members of the company to develop, improve on themselves and their quality of life, and increase their level of satisfaction and happiness.

I always say that the school I run is a school where we care about the learning process of our students, and it is also a school that wants to improve the teacher’s quality of life. And to achieve that goal, I think  we must find a way of changing the way English teachers are seen by our society as well as changing the way an English teacher positions him/herself in society. I hope this blog can contribute to achieving that goal. I am not running a school just for the sake of having one, but because I really believe that teaching is a good way of adding value to people’s lives.

Having said that, I want to add that the blog I’m starting will show my point of view on the topics discussed. It’s not meant in anyway to be seen as the truth but as a possible perspective among many others that you may already have. And please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.

I could not end this first post without saying thank you to Chia Suan Chong – a great teacher I had in 2010 at IH London and who showed me, among many other things, that writing a blog is possible even for those like me terrified by the idea of showing off.

Here are my reasons for writing this blog:

1. Organizing my ideas – (sorry for being so selfish!)
2. Sharing experiences, encouraging discussions, and promoting new ideas.
3. Some help for newly qualified English teachers.
4. Professional development for qualified English teachers.
5. Encouraging others to write a blog and share.
6. Hearing and learning from you.
7. Reflection
8. Helping companies to build an English language training policy for their staff.
9. Making English House Corporate a place for development.
10. Helping to build a better world and becoming a better person.

I hope I can achieve some of these!

Thank you for reading!