The English Teachers

The English Teachers
RF Duncan-Goodwillie

English teaching encompasses a variety individuals and contexts. Much has been written about their jobs (how to teach, what to teach, etc.) but very little about the people themselves… until now.In a series of interviews with current and former English teachers conducted in locations ranging from Rhode Island to Northern Iraq, Rory Fergus Duncan-Goodwillie provides an insight into the lives of the English teachers.

The English Teachers

RF Duncan-Goodwillie

Editor Ivan Fidrovsky

Cover designer Ivan Fidrovsky

© RF Duncan-Goodwillie, 2020

© Ivan Fidrovsky, cover design, 2020

ISBN 978-5-0051-1129-6

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

This book is dedicated to its subjects: The English Teachers. Thank you for making the lives of others better… and for making my life interesting

Glossary of Terms

The following is a non-exhaustive list of terms which appear in the book. Some of these subjects have entire books dedicated to them in detail, so what is presented will naturally be an oversimplification best corrected by a more in-depth online search.

1-2-1 teaching – describes a situation where there is one teacher and one student.

Accuracy – refers to a focus on using language correctly. Tasks which focus on accuracy will often involve a lot of correction by a teacher, etc. The opposite of this is fluency, where activities are designed with the idea of students getting their message across regardless of the accuracy. Fluency and accuracy operate on more of a spectrum than two distinct categories.

ADOS – an abbreviation of Assistant Director of Studies. These people are usually English teachers with some management and administrative responsibility, and supervise the work of a teacher. A Director of Studies (DOS) does this in smaller schools or oversees schools at a strategic level.

BKC – a large chain of language schools in Moscow and a franchise of International House. Blocks – are classes scheduled on the same day close together. For example: 1500—1600, 1615—1715, etc.

Cambridge Assessment English – a Cambridge Exam board.

Cambridge Proficiency English (CPE) – an exam that shows candidates have mastered English to an exceptional level.

Camp – many language schools also run summer camps during the break between academic years. These usually have less structured curricula, which encourages teachers to be creative and flexible.

Certificate in Advanced Methodology (CAM) – an International House training course for experienced teachers.

Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA) – a common initial teacher training qualification.

Chunks – refers to the way that groups of words are commonly found together, sometimes with no obvious reason. They are more common in native-level speech.

CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) – teaching subjects such as Science, Maths and History to students through a foreign language.

Communicative approach – an approach to language teaching which involves students communicating real meaning to successfully learn (as opposed to completing mindless activities). Outside of this description, it is hard to define without courting controversy.

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) – is ongoing training and development while working.

Controlled practice – activities in a class where students focus on producing language accurately.

Cover classes – classes taught by a substitute teacher when the regular teacher for the class is ill or otherwise unavailable.

Concept checking – refers to measures to confirm students have understood what has been presented.

Deep-end CLT – a type of communicative language teaching where explicit grammar instruction is rejected and a programme of study, based around communicative tasks, is used instead.

Delayed feedback – given a relatively long time after a task has been completed or an error/mistake has been made. Immediate feedback is given just after an error/mistake has been made or during an activity.

Demand High – another approach to teaching that favours deeper learning over just covering material in books. More detailed examinations can be found online.

Dogme – a teaching approach that prioritises a focus on being light on materials and focusing on the language students produce in class during conversations. More information can be found relating to this online.

Emergent language – language that comes up – usually unexpectedly – during classroom interaction. It is language students use to express the meaning they need to in the moment.

EnglishFirst(EF) – a large network of schools operating globally.

English as a Foreign Language (EFL) – taught to students where English is not the main language.

First Certificate in English(FCE) – a Cambridge qualification for B2/Upper Intermediate level English.

Fossilisation – a phenomenon which occurs when the mistakes students make become a fixed part of the way they speak English. Opinions differ over how much it is possible to correct fossilised errors.

Gamification – in education this process involves taking elements of games and applying them to educational tasks to promote engagement.

Grading language – refers to efforts made by teachers to make their speech more comprehensible to lower level students.

Grammar-translation – probably the method of teaching most people are familiar with. It involves a focus on grammatical rules and translation from one language to another.

Guideddiscovery – an approach to grammar teaching that involves students analysing examples of language and attempting to deduce the meaning, form and sometimes pronunciation from questions set by the teacher.

International English Language Testing System (IELTS) – an international standardised test of English.

International House World Organisation (IH) – a large network of English Language schools.

Instruction checking questions – questions asked to ensure students have understood tasks and activities.

Intelligibility – how well a speaker/writer can be understood.

The Lexical Approach – an approach to teaching that is based on the idea that a key part of learning a language depends on being able to understand and produce lexical phrases as chunks and these can and should be taught to students.

“Lifting off the page” – refers to the idea of not just teaching from the book. Some activities in books present opportunities for further, more engaging practice than if they were only worked through as they are laid out in the book.

Present, Practice, Produce (PPP) – a standard lesson framework for grammar lessons where a teacher presents language, students practise it (perhaps by doing gap filling activities) and then attempt to produce the language taught in a freer activity.

OGE/EGE – Russian state school exams.