Leading a group of learners

I’m very fond of anecdotes, so here’s one of my favourite teaching moments: fifteen years ago, a young student told me that there were men, women, children and teachers in the world, setting us apart from the other members of society. Little did I know then what she meant. We are all humans, but if we are to make a difference and provoke changes in society, we need to understand we are more accountable for the impact of our words and attitudes than we give us credit for.

In this post I would like to discuss the role of the teacher as a leader. Ever since I started school, I have seen teachers as an inspiration for their learners: sometimes of what not to do and others, more desirably, a good role model. I believe this is one of the most important and most challenging roles of a teacher: behaving in a constructive way for a better world, teaching more than a language, but a critical view of the world, building respect for the differences and opportunities for all the learners to develop.

As language teachers we have even more responsibility for the impact we bring to those we teach: our subject matter implies knowledge of communication, efforts to interact, consequently demanding a need for behaviour that will benefit the learners and, more broadly, the society. The classroom is a micro-society and its orchestration (e.g. discipline, productivity, growth and development) depends greatly on the teacher.

So, here are some practical tips for teachers who lead groups on how to positively influence the atmosphere in the school environment and work towards excellence and development in the classroom:

1. Give equal attention to learners – as a leader of a group, if you pick favourites, the ones you choose to favour may feel protected, but the others are possibly going to feel left out and unsupported. If they are teenagers, they may even question you and you might think the world is not fair and this is preparing them to the world. Well, I believe we have the power to inspire progress, rather than reflecting what everyone else does and keeping the status quo. A very different thing is to plan to cater for all the learners in different ways – listening, observing and knowing what each one needs and addressing those demands in the most appropriate way for each of them is called differentiation, it certainly teaches learners that everyone gets attention in a unique way.
2. Be punctual – especially here in Brazil. The level of tolerance the society has for delays only reflects the lack of respect for those who make an effort to be there on time. If you want to show your learners that you care and that they are important, you start your lesson on time and do imply that those who are present should wait for those who frequently come in late. The awful truth is that sometimes they come in late simply because they know nothing happens until most of them are in class and our waiting reinforces that idea.
3. Set an English speaking atmosphere – respond to learners in English, help them ask and respond in English. Chat to them outside the classroom in English. However hard it is not to react to the jokes and stories they tell the group in Portuguese, this is going to impact their understanding of the need to communicate even when they have difficulties with the language – it will help them develop communication strategies to use paralinguistic features, for example, or learn how to use circumlocution if they do not have words.
4. Don’t take cognates for granted – learners may struggle with cognates as much as they struggle with Anglo-Saxon words, simply because they do not necessarily transfer knowledge from L1 when learning English. I’m not saying we should clarify all the cognates and use lesson time to check their understanding of each and every word in a text, but we should not assume that a word is easier because it is has the same root as in L1. Perhaps teaching them strategies to better identify cognates and check meanings, helping the learners in a group also help each other will create a positive learning atmosphere where they feel comfortable to ask questions without fearing to feel silly.
5. Walk your talk – asking learners to bring homework the following lesson and disregarding deadlines ourselves does not cause a positive impact and is possibly teaching learners how to get away with not doing what they are supposed to do. Is that the real goal of education? Also, shouting at teenagers so that they stop shouting may give them confusing messages. Better than asking learners to do something is showing them it is possible by doing it ourselves. It also goes for reading the books we ask them to read.
6. Talk about your learners in a caring and productive manner – in the staff room, around the school or even outside, ensure your talk reflects what the profession entails: everyone can learn a language (at different paces, to various extents, but everyone can communicate). As a leader, you do care about those you have influence on, so let it show in your discourse as well. If you continuously say one is hopeless and give up on helping to assume a position of joking about learners, you might be unconsciously behaving in unhelpful ways and powerfully contributing to the hopelessness you talk about (the very popular ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’). How about trying positive unexpected changes instead? Learners will develop in different ways; it takes a great teacher to understand and believe they all can when everyone else has lost hope. That is the magic a teacher has the power to perform and I bet you all have stories to tell in that aspect – when everyone else lost hope that the learner would do differently, your belief he/ she could made all the difference.

I believe that is what that student meant years ago: teachers are special and expected to be more than language experts in the path of helping others become as special as they can be. If you want your learners to excel, every attitude counts more than anything as a leader. What other attitudes do you think we can take to make our learners feel special and grow?

Recommended materials:

https://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/Differentiation_Is-IsNot_infographic.pdf (infographic on what differentiation is and is not)

Thornbury, S. (2005) How to teach speaking. London: Pearson Longman.