Job Discussion Forums

[Sashadroogie]

More midnight musings. Please bear with me, I know I'm a touch rambly, but there is a point.

I remember being in attendance at one of the final input sessions on my DELTA course when another trainee complained bitterly about some recent kerfuffle in his school. He just sort of blurted it out during an open discussion. I can't remember the exact details but there had been some student complaints lodged against him or a colleague or something. His line was that he now understood it was all very well and good being on the DELTA course and developing professionally etc., but that ultimately the 'popular' teacher was going to do just as well as all the trainees like us slaving away, so why bother. Slightly stunned, we looked to our trainer expectantly.

His response didn't let us down. Unfazed, he said he understood this trainee's concerns but didn't agree they were well-founded. It was a fallacy, quite prevalent among teachers but a fallacy nonetheless, that popularity was a substitute for teaching ability. In all his considerable experience around the world he had never come across a class or individual, even teens, prepared to keep investing time or money in a popular teacher or pay for entertainment value alone. Time was a crucial factor, and what popular teachers were living on was always borrowed. Eventually, the initial charm wears off, and the students demand to get the learning they are paying for. Hence the DELTA was always a worthwhile investment, he quipped.

I took this sentiment very much to heart, and have to say that in my experience also his insight has been borne out. However, I see from other posts on the forum that this is far from being a universally accepted proposition. So any comments, for or against, could make for an interesting discussion and a valuable thread.

Your thoughts?

[johnslat]

Dear Sashadroogle,

I agree - only "popularity" may carry you for a while, but it will inevitably let you down with a huge crash.

I liken it to films, where a pretty/handsome face might get you through the door, but if that's all you have, if you lack talent, it'll be a very short career.

Regards,
John

[fluffyhamster]

Your trainer's theory assumes that all students sooner or later 'demand to get the learning they are paying for'. Unfortunately this just isn't true - IMHO, in Japan, the steady stream of eikaiwa zombie* customers such as dotty spinsters, and children forced to study English by their ever-distant "kyoiku" mothers (of whom the latter payer can be forever fobbed off by the school management at least with bland assurances about how well little Ken and Keiko are doing) mean that the 'popular' teachers will always remain popular; they move on only when they decide they are "tired of teaching".

But of course, people who gain DELTAs and MAs don't stay in the trenches long - unfortunately, for the wounded students who need tending to! And fortunately, for the supposed "teachers" who might actually be forced out if the profession genuinely valued raising the standard of teaching rather than just teacher-training, SLA research etc.

Yup, I'm afraid that until many so-called language schools (especially those in non-English-speaking countries) - the bottom, supporting echelons of the industry/field - start hiring or rather paying enough for more suitably-qualified genuine teachers, then there is going to be this apparent divide between the ideal and real. Maybe it just isn't economically viable to employ somebody good enough to do one's language learning almost for one? (Meaning: language learners, invest in comparatively cheaper, and more informative, books instead!).

*A serious teacher could actually try teaching such customers a thing or two - but one would soon find out nothing but a "headshot" would do. And given the generally rubbishy materials available, and methods recommended for ELT, it would be a bit like hoping to survive in a zombie apocalypse film armed with only a UK-legal low-powered .177 calibre air rifle firing rubber-tipped slow-flying darts. No chance! (I await some sort of futuristic neural download or implant, which will remove the need for the currently painful, seemingly never-ending series of lessons for the more hopeless students! 'Wut disss?' 'Book!' 'Booook!' 'Yes, book! Well done, Ken!' 'Hungrrrryyyy - brainssss!' 'Argh, no Ken, please, arghh nooooo.....!'. And working in a language school, with often tyrannical bosses, can be a bit like surviving in the bunker in Romero's Day of the Dead. 'Audiolingualism is the only thing these things understand! Drill 'em all through the noggin', I say!' 'Can't I try the Lexical Approach a bit?' 'Nope. <<Click>> Buddabuddabudda').

[Deicide]

Give me a break...

[Justin Trullinger]

My experience on this has been a little more ambiguous.

Teachers who are popular with kids (if they're too young to evaluated their own learning) may have a long run.

A lot of places I've worked, turnover is high anyway. If the "run" of a popular teacher is (to pick a number) 10 months, and you always move on after 9...you see what I'm saying.

A couple of years ago, a teacher left our organisation. He was a nice balance- young, bright, nice, handsome, hardworking...also a good teacher. I was worried that his former students would be hard for his replacement to handle, as is often the case when a much-loved teacher leaves.

After a couple of weeks, I started to get complaints about his replacement from one of the in-office classes he used to teach. I talked to her about it, and it seemed like she was doing her job, well-prepared...I couldn't see the flaw, but it got me thinking. So I went to visit the students in their office. THey weren't mean about the new teacher, but were insistent. She wasn't as good as Bill, and they wanted someone as good as Bill, or they wanted Bill back, or...but they couldn't really say what he did that was so good, or where she was falling short.

So I called Bill. (Cool to keep in touch.) After a few minutes of pleasantries, I asked him about the class in question. He seemed awkward, then confessed. Their office had so many interuptions, they came so late and attendance was so irregular that he had given up. Hadn't planned a class for ages. Went, waited, and when they turned up, they talked about football.

Shocked, I commented "Well, at least it was a little English practice."

"It was in Spanish," he admitted.

This was the teacher that the group felt others couldn't live up to.

I imagine there's a lot of truth in what you're saying Sashadroogie. But there's nothing that's 100%.


Best,
Justin

[Glenski]

[Justin Trullinger]

[Sashadroogie]

Very true, Justin, of course - nothing's absolute.

I see what you are saying, but maybe who was paying for those 'Spanish lessons' is a factor. Would I be right in guessing it wasn't the students themselves? Certainly they weren't investing any time in Bill's lessons. And how long had they had him for? For the sake of argument, perhaps we could conjecture that eventually they'd have also complained about wonderful Bill once they had to take a progress test? Though to be fair to Bill, it doesn't sound like he is a 'popular' teacher: just in the unenviable postion of a trying to teach a no-show, no-win corporate class with the usual time constraints.

[Sashadroogie]

BTW, DELTA trainer in question has been in TEFL since the 70's. Seriously capable fellow, Phd. Few in the EFL world could match, a god amongst mere mortals etc. At least, that was how we lowly trainees saw it...

[Chris_Crossley]

[Sashadroogie]

Yip, published. I am not sure, but I think he was also one of the people who designed the original DTEFLA way back when.

[Glenski]

[basiltherat]

Ideally, it is to be a 'popular' teacher simply because one is a 'good' teacher. We cannot begrudge such a teacher's popularity.

The problem arises when people see a teacher who is popular among his students and then automatically assume that his popularity is down to factors other than being a 'good' teacher.

Best
Basil

[Sashadroogie]

Who's moving goalposts?

[Sashadroogie]

Good point Basil. 'Popular' teachers would still need to be teaching effectively for students to continue investing in the lessons. Though other colleagues may not see that they are effective and assume that it is just down to students liking their teacher.