What Different Roles Could a Teacher Have During a Lesson?
According to the type of activity during a lesson, a teacher could have diverse roles in the classroom.
Table of Contents
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This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Eleana V.
Manager
A teacher can be a manager/controller meaning that the teacher is responsible for managing a class, giving guidelines and explanations in front of his students. He is the person who must stand in front of the class with the aim to control the pace of the lesson, balancing out the flow of the course and giving instructions whenever it is necessary. Some teachers feel comfortable with this role, but others appear quite shy and stressed out because the attention is placed exclusively on them.
Facilitator
Another important role is the facilitator role: the teacher assigns activities to his students so that they are confident to learn the language themselves. This is a student-centered approach and the teacher should be always available as a resource and at the same time discreet among the students. Thus, the students will be able to take part in many activities without the interference of the teacher. Additionally, the teacher might need to be an observer/monitor of what is going on in the classroom. He should take notes while the students develop a talk or praise them at the end of a talk. He should be able to jump in some activities to monitor the ongoing writing work or hear oral work. However, the teacher should never distract them and try to keep a low profile during the activity. A teacher can also function as a participant as he will need to take part in specific activities in order to balance the number of the students of pair work or just to motivate from the inside the students. Overall, he should be again discreet and try not to catch the attention of the group.
Organizer
One of the most crucial roles of the teacher is the organizer's role. The teacher must have very advanced organizational skills as he is the one who must organize and schedule all activities, organize the students to take part in them, instruct the students regarding the type of activities, follows-up on the activities and lastly, give feedback to the student. An organizer teacher coordinates effectively the activities and students and keeps the balance along the course. Furthermore, it's very important to highlight that from time to time students become reluctant to participate in activities either because they are shy or not motivated or lack inspiration. In that case, the teacher should act and decide what should be done so that the student stay alert. Overall, he should be a prompter and encourage his students to continue within the activity.
Assessor
Moreover, a teacher can be an assessor as he must give feedback and make comments regarding the students progress. Students always wonder whether they make correct use of the language and this is where the assessor comes and gives supports to them being very sensitive and fair at the same time. Apart from the role of the assessor, the role of the tutor is very important and is a more personal role. This role is used more often at individual work or pair work when encouragement is needed. Finally, a teacher can be a role model because he is the only source of the authentic English language: grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation, and he is able to inspire students. The students desire to benefit from this great source of knowledge and master their English language skills.
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