Teach English in MeichuAn Zhen - Huanggang Shi

Teaching a foreign language is not always an easy case. A good teacher, except for being qualified on his major, should have exceptional personal qualities. Skills are very important in order to teach in a productive way, but if a teacher misses important, personal qualities, then his teaching would fail. Personality and values play a major role in imparting knowledge or information. However, this can be controlled partially as every person is different. In my opinion, communication between teachers and students is the key to every successful lesson. Teachers should have great communication skills, thus this helps them to impart knowledge. Without effective communication skill, everything falls apart. Sometimes, it’s good to be an extrovert, without meaning that introverts cannot do well their job. My point here is to stress that an extrovert can be more conversational with students and brake the ice. Another personal quality for a teacher that should possess is to be kind and polite. People tend to imitate behaviors, so this quality is very important. I believe that kindness and politeness are so crucial for the relationship between teachers and students. Whatever happens in the classroom, even if problems arise, a good teacher should face them with politeness. Sometimes teachers deal with adults or young learners. In each case, it doesn’t matter the age of the students, he should bring a state of peace of mind to them. Furthermore, a good teacher should have control and confidence as a person. To explain, confidence is so important when he deals with questions he doesn’t know the correct answer or when there are problematic issues during the lesson. Control is another personal quality he should possess because without control a successful lesson cannot be achieved. Especially with very young learners, teaching can become uncontrolled when children don’t compromise with the lesson flow. In that case, teachers should come up with smart solutions to avoid this situation. Teachers have to be friendly so as to eliminate barriers with their students. When a teacher doesn’t show friendly behavior, then students cannot open up. This makes the teaching procedure more difficult. Everyone likes persons that are open-minded and friendly. When somebody is very strict, communication is hard to achieve. People trust more teachers that can speak to more freely and ask questions without the fear of asking something stupid or wrong. However, teachers have to put limits if students exploit their friendliness and do whatever they want in class. People love inspirational and motivational persons. Teachers should have these characteristics. There are days when the rhythm of the lesson flow is so slow. Maybe other students have personal problems and are not in the mood of doing a lesson. Teachers have to eliminate boredom or distraction in class. This is not an easy procedure. That’s why teachers have to be prepared in advance for this kind of issue. They have to inspire and motivate students when it’s needed. This quality comes from the inside and has to be cultivated. With inspiration and motivation, students can be more productive and concentrated in class. Moreover, teachers should be joyful and have a great sense of humor. Lesson planning won’t always be as it supposed to be. Sometimes there might be unexpected factors that change the lesson flow. When there are problems in class, teachers have to bring joy or sometimes face them with humor. These qualities are very important and help students to adjust in class. Humor is a personal “weapon” that can be used to eliminate misunderstanding and embarrassing situations among students. However, this characteristic has to be used under control. Respect is earned by behaving according to each situation in a balanced mode. In addition, teachers should love learning and exploring new ideas. This is a personal quality that helps them to improve as persons, but also as teachers. When they have a spirit of curiosity to learn new techniques or methodologies, then they can offer their full potential in class. They should always be open to new ideas and do research because they want to become better in what they do. This is a long term life quality and has to be practiced every single day. Without this characteristic, teachers cannot be improved and this affects their teaching ability. Finally, another personal quality that I’d like to note is versatility or emotional intelligence. Of course, this is subjective to every person. All teachers are not born genius! This is something intellectual and not mental. Nevertheless, people that teach other people should be able to be ready to cope with problems or inquiries. Teachers, have to deal with class matters with an effective way and provide optimum solutions. They should have the emotional intelligence to understand their students and behave according to their needs. To conclude, personal qualities is a sensitive subject and opinions may differ. Every person may consider other personal qualities than these I’ve stated above. But that’s ok! I think that there are special and general personal qualities. In this essay, I tried to indicate the general ones. Teachers are human beings with their faults and flaws. That’s why they should always try to find ways to improve. Teaching and learning are two constants that depend on each other. A good teacher has to be a good learner!