Personal Qualities That are Important for English Teachers
The personal qualities of a teacher are the characteristics of an individual. These attributes and traits are what make up their personality. Personal qualities are what make a person unique, allow them to navigate a new situation, make new friends and possible connections, or work through conflict or tensions. Important personal qualities for English teachers include listening and being a good listener, thoughtfulness, being personable, timeliness, and adaptability.
Table of Contents
Biased attitude toward native speakers
An ability to listen and understand
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This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Anna E. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.
Biased attitude toward native speakers
In real life, not all teachers have those qualities and characteristics. Some of the native English speakers who just came to Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, etc. and start to teach just because they are native speakers and teaching is only available option to work legally for the average foreigner aboard, they might get upset with a new job. Teaching is something that requires having a big amount of love and respect for people no matter which nationality, skin color, sexual orientation, speaking ability, etc. they are.
Also Read: "9 Small Details That Matter When Teaching EFL "
Kindness and patience
The teacher must be kind, patient, and self-possessing. Lessons which he teaches must be interesting, different and helpful to build confidence in speaking for students, also, help to increase the interest to talk to foreigners and go to travel aboard. Opposite of what students must feel after class are feelings and emotions like diffidence, shyness, confusion, etc.
The teacher must consider that there a few typical thoughts of students who learn English in different stages: "The difficulty for me is intonation and accent", "I will never speak like a native speaker", "I am afraid of making mistakes, better I will be quiet".
Also Read: 4 Tips on How to Teach English Using Music
Personal learning experience
The learning experience will build confidence or crush it, so, the teacher must know some basic psychology of potential students and what kind of things are prohibited while you teach. One of the most important things is not to correct students right away, another makes everyone feel comfortable and to commend your students. This gonna help you to be a successful teacher but it is not all.
An ability to listen and understand
Very important to be able to listen to your students, to be sensitive to their needs and interests, to the ability to build rapport and to adopt.
We all aren't perfect but must try to develop our selves as we choose the teaching job, we may make some mistakes in the beginning, but it is the way to be a human. We must judge our selves but not over a judge.
Also Read: What It's Like To Teach English Online: An Online Teacher Reveals Her Secrets!
Teacher's roles
We must consider that teachers take on multiple and diverse roles in the classroom, sometimes during a single lesson. These roles include manager or controller, organizer, assessor, prompter, participant, tutor, resource or facilitator, model, and observer or monitor.
I used to be the teacher of Russian language before and it is my native language, it was quite easy to teach but I was a not a good teacher because I didn't know how to act and be good to my students, I was strict and was concentrated on a good or even perfect result. And I would be much softer now in my teaching experience because it was so important for the student not to be perfect but to be happy with my lessons. As a new teacher, I was asking my self and my students way too much.
Do you want to teach English abroad? Take a TEFL course!
That is maybe why TEFL certification is so important, as I found it because I start to think in a bigger picture than just perfection and learning and learning, no matter how.
I increased my personal qualities during this course and got ready to start to teach with respect and joy!
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