Thread: Building a Better Teacher

This article is 9 pages long, and it deals with teaching in US public schools, but it is relevant to what we've witnessed in Thailand and elsewhere in EFL.

Worth a browse.

Building a Better Teacher

Link: Building a Better Teacher - NYTimes.com

Thanks milky, interesting. Although I'd argue nothing new or earthshattering.

Originally Posted by kingwilly

Thanks milky, interesting. Although I'd argue nothing new or earthshattering.

Agreed, interesting yet all too familiar.

Education's always in a crisis, needing reform, and the solutions are to dictated by an army of politicians and technocratic experts. "Research based," standardized testing, market incentives and all that, yada-yada. Hooray for social science!

I understand the boredom and misery my English students (P-4 to P-6) feel from my unsuccessful efforts to learn Thai. Learning a foreign language is a miserable and difficult undertaking. Good article, but hard to apply to ESL teachers here. I try everything I can to make the class bearable including giving out prizes, buying ice cream for the afternoon classes at least once a week, and even breaking the class in half with a 7 minute cartoon in the middle. It helps alleviate the boredom, and it also helps if the children like you. They at least come to my class with a decent attitude.