Managing in TEFL - “How can I help?”

Managing in TEFL is a companion for language school leaders written by Simon Pearlman.

We're a few weeks into the academic year, we're getting a feel about how the teaching team are doing. There are a few teething troubles, there always are, they'll mostly sort themselves out, won’t they?. A couple of teachers look a bit out of sorts, how can we approach this? How can we help?

In the background we have our radar up and are sensitive to how everyone is doing. We might be aware of a few background noises coming from the admin team about some students being less than 100% happy with their teacher. That's normal, it'll probably settle down, it usually does. We might have some concerns about one or two of the new teachers, maybe a late hire who's not quite what we'd normally look for but they were the best we could do at the time. It's amazing how often those unusual recruits turn out to be great choices, but sometimes they’re not; recruitment is a funny old game.?

Things are OK in the round; there are students and there are teachers, it's all ok, we can breathe a sigh of relief, phase one, done. It's not long though before those background noises become a little louder, we listen more closely, we have our concerns. In this class there's just too much noise, in another, not enough or students seem a bit over-excited in one and bored in another. How can we help without undermining confidence and spreading uncertainty?

Routine check-ins

It’s a good idea to have regular check-ins where teachers can share how things are going, the good, the bad and maybe even the ugly. We want teachers to feel confident sharing their successes and their difficulties. Do this with all teachers rather than just the people you’re concerned about, it will seem like a normal thing then. This is best as a one-to-one moment rather than a group and it could be done in person, it could be done initially by email and then a follow up if required, it depends on how much time you have and how quickly you want things to move.?

Some possible questions could be…

“Which of your classes are going well? Tell me about those classes.”

“Which classes are more difficult? Tell me about those classes.”

If we’re meeting, leave plenty of space for the teachers to talk. Take notes rather than interrupt and then you can get deeper into things afterwards. This also gives space for the teacher to talk about the good things first, hopefully it’s not all doom and gloom.

“Are there any of your students that you’re particularly focussed on?”?

This might be a good follow up question. It's good to avoid “worried about” or “causing problems”, let’s frame it neutrally, teachers might want to talk about their best students who might be able to move up a group. It also opens up the inclusivity space. At this time of year teachers might well be on alert and concerned about issues around neurodiversity (possible dyslexia, autism, ADHD, etc.) and, more commonly, the differences in level in classes. This is where we can move into thinking about how much help the student and the teacher need and we can try to help them. Issues might well come up that we feel less confident in addressing, how can we get help?

Help and support for TEFL managers is often difficult to get. If you’re having a problem and you’d like to share it, please do get in contact with me Simon at [email protected]. I enjoy trying to help people and if there’s a few people we could start a group, who knows?? Do be in touch.

Teaching can be tough, managing in TEFL can be tough - more support strategies

There are many things we can do to support our teaching teams. Here’s a few in brief.

• Managing by wandering around (MBWA)

This is a recognised management strategy and might be especially important in our situation. Do you have an office? How much time do you spend in there? How much do you get out and about? Is it important that the students and their parents ? If so, be there for them. Do you work across a number of sites? How often do you get to spend time there? Get out there, get a feel for things. Simply by being present we can support our teams, be there for them. When we’re out and about it’s all about the interpersonal, listen and gather information, engage with teachers, students and their families depending on your role and remit, of course.

• Structured support

Some teachers need more continued support than others and we might well need to provide more tailored one-to-one support and create programmes for them. Often the best support we can give is around lesson planning; if teachers feel more confident that the plan is ok going into the class, they can begin to feel more confident in general.

• Team planning

Some schools will provide mutual support by having team planning meetings where teachers can work alongside each other. This can spread good practice and help everyone. One question to consider here is how to pay for these extra meetings.

• Mentors

Some people will appreciate more one-to-one support and we might not be the best person to do it; we have time pressures, different priorities and different skil lsets. Is there someone on your team who could help? It could be a good way for a more experienced teacher to feel valued and able to contribute. Again, is there a financial investment needed here??

• Professional development meetings

By meeting as a team with structured professional development meetings. How often should they be? How do you choose the focus? Who runs the meetings? Is attendance optional or obligatory? Again, there might be a question of money in there too.

• Courses?

For many schools, sending teachers on courses can be a huge help. Do make sure the courses you choose give the teachers and you what you all need.

Which is the best course? Our course, of course! The Teaching Younger Learners course? with Active Language is online, 3-weeks, 28 hours and gives strong up-to-date methodology, a huge number of practical ideas and activities meaning teachers finish the course more comfortable and confident. Better teachers means happier students.

For more information, comment here, see www.activelanguage.net or email us at [email protected]

And if you’re in Spain, we are registered with FUNDAE, so the course could effectively be free.