A LETTER TO THE TEACHERS OF ENGLISH: 17Teacher differencesand classroom teaching [Archives:2003/627/Education]
Dr..M.N.K.Bose ([email protected])
Associate Professor of English,
Faculty of Arts, Ibb.
Dear Fellow teachers,
In one of my earlier letters about the learner differences, I mentioned the teacher differences also. I pointed out that there are three kinds of teachers – the autocratic, the bureaucratic and the democratic. I will say more about these differences in this letter and discuss which of them will be more useful to the learners in your classes.
An autocratic teacher is one who follows his / her own ways of doing things without taking the learners into consideration; he/she may be an excellent teacher but most of what he/she does will not be useful to the students. A bureaucratic teacher is one who follows what is prescribed in the curriculum; he/she is a faithful follower of the curriculum 'in spirit and letter'; a slave to the textbook, even if it is not very useful to the learners in his/her class. A democratic teacher, on the other hand, is one who is sensitive to his/her learners' needs and gears his/her teaching to suit them; he adapts the textbook, if it is not suitable to the learners, by adding to and changing the content of the textbook; uses examples which are understood by them; modifies his/her language to suit them. In other words, he/she teaches the learners rather than the textbook.
What kind of teacher would you like to be? Obviously the third kind, because you teach the learners and your main objective is to teach English to meet their needs. You will have to adapt the textbook and workbook exercises to suit the learners' language level and also to meet their needs. I am sure all of you are aware of the basic needs of your learners of English – able to read and understand simple English texts and able to write with legibility simple English texts. In order to meet these needs, you will have to make changes in the Course books and workbooks, whenever and wherever necessary. Do make these changes without hesitation, as long as your changes are necessary to suit your learners. For example, in Unit 1 in CECY Pupil's Book 5, there is information about the Department store, where gardening tools and cassettes are sold in the same store; this may not be true of the supermarket in you town; in which case you may change the things available in the store. Or if you think your students of the Preparatory class 1may not find 'Anne' and 'Tom' comfortable in the very first lesson in English in CECY Pupil's Book 1, you can change the names to Ameen and Fowzia without any hesitation; after all the purpose of this lesson is to teach 'how to wish people in English when we meet each other' and not to introduce English names to Yemeni learners. These are just two examples; you can find more in the books.
The Faculties of Education should prepare you for this. The administration including the Supervisor should not discourage you from doing this. I am sure you will get necessary help from all the sources. But remember, what I am asking you to do need not get an official sanction; you are not changing the entire textbook nor are you throwing it out of the class. You are only adapting your textbook, by changing here and there for the benefit of your learners. You have to be sensitive to your learners' needs and be aware of their abilities and a bit imaginative. Your learners will find your classes useful and interesting; you will have greater satisfaction. Try your best. Good luck.
Yours fraternally
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