
We know how to teach a great lesson, and we all know our TEFL theory, so why don’t we make every class great?
Why do I see a lot of mediocre TEFL practice if I walk into a school on a busy weekend?
Some are OK, but most classes are teachers just trying to survive. It’s not pretty.
Why?
It’s not a lack of knowledge. Everyone has done a TEFL qualification and participates in professional development.
It’s not a lack of motivation. Teachers don’t say, ‘screw it, I’m going to deliberately teach a crap class to Class X tomorrow’ just because I can.
It’s not a lack of ability. If a teacher is scheduled for an observation, suddenly, they can pull their thumb out and deliver a good (if not great) class.
So What’s Happening?
Simply put, it’s a lack of time.
Enough time is essential for:
Class administration
Planning
Professional development
Extra-curricular activities
More than anything, though, there has to be enough time for creativity. A mind under constant pressure isn’t a creative mind. It’s a mind that looks for shortcuts and a mind that doesn’t take risks with new material. A mind like that isn’t motivated.
If you give a teacher enough time to engage in professional development and then enough time to explore those ideas in their lessons, you’ll get a motivated, creative teacher who takes risks and delivers high-quality lessons.
Sure, teachers have to learn how to be productive with their time. However, there is a limit to how efficient and streamlined we can be with our time. The rest has to be an institutional decision to build that time into our schedule.
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