ELT News Think Tank

Panelists: Chuck | Marc | Peter | Chris
Date: April 2004

Topic: "Who do your students see?"

(Fakin' it, not really makin' it)

Peter Viney

Chuck's piece is heartfelt, and contains my favourite one-word piece of teaching-training advice: Listen.

It's thought provoking. I could write a book on the various persona that ELT teachers adopt in the classroom, the masks they feel they have to present to their students. It would be hard to assess the damage to mental health that's caused by fakin' it on a daily basis, whether the assumed role is the always cheery bouncing comedy act, the vibrant team leader, the caring democratic facilitator, the beard-stroking sage, the lofty somewhat fragile intellectual, the detached strictly-controlled technician or the piercing-eyed psycho-analyst. Yes, I could put multiple names and faces to all of those. Damn, I've tried most of them myself too. Those masks disguised some seriously messed-up people (mentally replace "messed' with the more common collocation with "up' which I'll avoid in these pages). On the surface you think that some of them, or rather some of us, would benefit from baring their souls and being themselves in the classroom.

“Like most ELT teachers, I'm genuinely interested in people and want to know what they think.”

But a little voice calls out "Oh, really?" Is that actually the teacher's role? Wouldn't students sign up for a counselling class if they wanted that degree of intimacy with the teacher? Don't a lot of them come to learn (or let's face it, 'buy') a limited set of skills and particles of knowledge? Do they want to relate to us at all?

I have to examine my own teaching history. Most of it was spent teaching intensive courses. I saw most for a month, some for three months, a few for more. Not long, though within that you might see a class for ten hours a week. On teacher-training courses I'd hold a seminar group together for nine months. Never longer. I've never taught a three or four year university course, never taken kids through a five year high school course. In recent years, it's been spot testing of materials with even more limited exposure, and even then I'm a visitor with no pastoral responsibilities. I do feel the need to establish a rapport. Like most ELT teachers, I'm genuinely interested in people and want to know what they think. I hope that (most) of the students like me, but won't lose any sleep if a minority don't. I've had many dinners in restaurants with my students over the years, enough to put me off pizza for life. But I've invited only a select few into my own home. So how can I judge this need to establish a relationship?

A rapport is not a relationship. Chuck said:

"In class, I became a sometimes brilliant technician, a master of those sorts of lessons which seem to have a lot happening in them, but in fact have nothing at their core."

Don't you think that's enough? Why do you think they have "nothing" at their core? Are your students seeking more? I put myself into the role of student in recent years, none of them in a language situation. I do seek more than technical ability, but I'm convinced that Chuck's "technical ability" added to personality would include projecting charisma and interest. That would satisfy me.

I've never thought that teaching was a part of my emotional life. Nor do I consider teaching my most creative area. My 'real' life is outside that with my family and friends. I've made a point over the years of maintaining non-ELT friendships. And like anyone else I wear a mask in a classroom, in a lecture hall, or in publishing meetings. There are quite a few bits I don't reveal. But isn't this true of the average office employee, or plumber or waiter? Isn't it near universal to have a work face and a private face? A very few lucky people can combine the two but they tend to be isolated from the need for income, whether by extreme wealth or something approaching a vow of poverty.

Just thinking about today, I had weekly acupucture which is slowly getting rid of my RSI from too much computer time, exacerbated by Apple's round mouse. The doctor is Chinese and speaks little English beyond "Sore?" and "Numb?" and "Better?" He's perfected his question intonation on single words. I sometimes feel I should be spending the session trying to improve or at least extend his English in return for excellent treatment, but you know I really don't want to do that. I want to relax, trust in his expertise (which I'm paying for) and I don't want to establish any relationship beyond smiles and handshakes. It's not appropriate to the situation. I don't feel driven to seek a greater degree of intimacy. And that's where a lot of your students are at. Some may come to classes seeking a relationship, but most seek to acquire skills.

Technical ability is vital too. The other Saturday we went to an all-day 'class' on sound as therapy. I happened to see a West-Coast group using gongs as therapy a few years ago, and wanted to find out more. The 'teacher' in this one sat and read aloud from notes, head down. She had not a single ounce of technical ability, but felt it essential to impart her crass views on the universe and bare her emotions (in a monotone). I was bored by the ineptness. I started to get really irritated at the nonsense she was spouting, such as the line "The sounds A-E-I-O-U are universal. They are the five basic sounds in all languages." Yes, she did pronounce them as the capital letters are sounded in English. Then there was "Each of the chakras responds to a specific musical note." Question from audience: "Which notes are they?" "Well, it's all down to your intuition. You decide." What do you say? "You're talking utter crap," occurs, but that would be ...like... SO negative... like ...such a bad vibe. We simply voted with our feet, and left at the lunch break. No, I had no interests in her 'baring her soul'. I didn't want to get to know her. I wanted technical ability in imparting knowledge and practice in the use of sound, plus just a touch of charisma. I have to imagine that the majority of students in our classes feel the same.

Panelists: Chuck | Marc | Peter | Chris

Discuss this topic on our Message Board

Peter Viney, Freelance ELT Author

Co-author of New American Streamline & Grapevine. Peter's Web site

<<Back Number | Top | Recent Issue>>