The Teacher Trainers

This piece features interviews with a gentleman and his wife in the Netherlands who both train teachers, but in different ways. He gives workshops to teachers of English as a foreign language and other languages for a professional training academy at a language centre, whereas she supervises interns at a secondary school that follows the international baccalaureate and has a bilingual stream.

Giving Workshops

1) What was it like giving a workshop the first time you did it?

I was approached by a lady named Yvonne, the former manager of a language centre’s teacher training academy, who saw something in me I guess, and was the first person to give me the opportunity to get into teacher training. I liked the fact that I could choose something myself, though I did have to explain what I had in mind, which was perfectly OK with me, and, after it was given the green light, I was able to put it all down on paper in the form of a lesson plan. Presentation Skills was the name of the workshop, and the premise was to focus on building rapport with the audience. At the beginning, there was a brainstorming activity where I would elicit from teachers what the most important things about giving a presentation are and how to win over your audience.?Then teachers were instructed how to give feedback and could give a short presentation about themselves in small groups and give constructive criticism to one another, which involved two things you liked and one suggestion for improvement. NB: the feedback element had been influenced by tips I had received from a co-ordinator at one of the Dutch Universities I had taught at.

Once it was time to discuss the evaluations, I found myself being my own harshest critic; although the ideas had been flowing and everybody was enthusiastic, the way the writing on the board was displayed could have been better structured, and as one person noted, it could have been ‘a bit more polished’.?In fact, criticism was the biggest learning curve for me. When I had received the feedback from the group, I somehow missed all the positive remarks, which outnumbered the one or two more critical comments, and felt dejected, at least until I realised that most teachers had in fact been very positive, and there was no need to take it to heart; I needed to learn from this, as I chalked it up to experience.

2) How about the second time around?

Creativity in the Classroom went down a treat with my fellow teachers. This time, I made it more interactive, fun-packed, and made sure that everyone got involved. The idea was to focus on three things – freedom of expression, imagination and inspiration. Groups of 3 or 4 discussed brain-teasing questions, and then I gave my two cents worth. Questions included one during an ice-breaker and brainstorming activity: what does creativity in the classroom mean to you? Then, to get them really thinking, they were asked why some people are imaginative whilst others were not. ‘One’s upbringing’ was one of the many valid responses. Activities included an abstract discussion topic on virtues, which had been designed to catch learners off guard, as thinking on your feet is a valuable skill, and a creativity challenge for each group to compete and come up with the best creative activity, and the one that got the most votes would be demonstrated right there and then in the same groups. The winning idea was called: ‘what’s in your fridge, which is exactly what each teacher would ask his/ her neighbour. The thinking behind it is that a fun speaking task with unpredictable results can help learners (especially low level) to increase their vocabulary.

Other questions I raised were specific to situations that tied in to the role-play activities, i.e. what would you do if you found out that your student dealt with existing mortgages and is asked different questions to those in conversations with first-time buyers, which you had used before in a role-play? The best solution is to ask the student to write the questions for homework and then they will be relevant and appropriate and he/ she will get to practice using the appropriate language when the role-play is performed. This solution can be perceived as another kind of creativity, albeit resourcefulness, which should not be discounted. Lastly, there were some other interesting areas that were touched upon like psychology and expressiveness.

What struck me about this workshop was that it was highly energised with lots of interesting questions and activities that everyone could sink their teeth into.?It is true that the inspiration for the topic had come indirectly from my book: The EFL Teacher’s Handbook, as writing all the articles that made their way into the book had made me analyse various elements of teaching such as psychology (Classroom Management), role-plays (Using Role-Plays in the Classroom) and Business English (Business English for Beginners), and the entire writing-publishing endeavour has been a very creative process. The workshop was a huge success, and I was very happy with the feedback I received from those who took part, and from the programme managers as well. It is certainly fulfilling to give a successful teacher training workshop; I have been asked to work with the academy again next year, and I look forward to doing so.

The Superviser

1) What does supervising interns entail?

It means walking them through the term and year planners, explaining what needs to be done and when. The way they do it is up to them, as I give my interns the freedom to choose their own path and develop their teaching style. We often have the materials ready for them, but the way they go about using them in the classroom, and the work forms they decide to go with is their choice. It is good for them to experiment, see what works and what doesn’t, and to make mistakes, which is part of the learning process too.

It also means checking and giving feedback on their lesson plans to see if they allocate the right amount of time for various tasks that must be covered within a reasonable amount of time; this is particularly important in helping interns to keep control of the pace of their lessons. Further, keeping tabs on them in case they produce too little or even too much material, and, additionally, if there is variety in their work forms, i.e. alternating between pair and group-work, and ensuring that they have clear aims for the lessons they are about to teach. This can all be time-consuming, but it’s crucial to their teaching.

Another aspect of supervising interns that takes up a lot of time and is essential to their teaching process is the feedback sessions. These are used to discuss and evaluate what happens in lessons, how they manage to explain new material, activate prior knowledge, and to manage all kinds of issues that may occur while they are teaching, i.e. elicitation, involving everyone, multi-tasking and students’ behaviour.

2) What do you like best about this part of your job and why?

The part that I like best is being a mentor on top of being a subject coach. This way you get to know the teacher-in-training as a human being, complete with strengths and weaknesses, as well as their own vulnerabilities. Not only do you contribute to their successes, but you get to be a part of their failures at the same time.

Another aspect I enjoy is that I myself can learn from them while observing lessons. For example, as I am not the most computer-savvy teacher on the planet, I have benefitted from the use of digital material in these lessons. After all, they are new to the job and often bring fresh ideas with them and new activities to try out.

3) What do you like the least and why?

What I like the least is the amount of time I must invest, which does depend on the intern. Some need more extensive feedback, more support and guidance as to what works best in the classroom, or more tips and ideas on how to manage a group of teenagers, depending on the class dynamic, whereas others require more time to talk about what they find difficult (classroom management is usually a key issue) and how to overcome their insecurities. While there are some who have difficulties in opening-up, being reflective and remaining pro-active, with regards to their own learning.

In addition, depending on how the school is organised, sometimes the subject coach may not have all the classes/ levels that an intern has; this means trying to get their colleagues on board to help. This involves supervision, observation and feedback from those fellow members of staff and, for various reasons, not everybody is willing or ready to put their time and effort into it, i.e. because they are too busy or it is not a part of their allocated tasks.

4) a) Is there any other teacher training that you would like to do in the future and why/ why not?

Dutch secondary schools use supervisors at school (begeleiders op school in Dutch or BOS in short), who act simultaneously as both quality controller and mentor. Basically, each new teacher gets assigned to an experienced teacher who will help them with classroom management, organisation and understanding the organisation.

b) how would you feel about teaching other teachers in the Dutch school system?

There is a programme at various graduate schools of teaching, which are affiliated with Dutch Universities and teach secondary school teachers who already have a Master’s in education. Personally, I have no personal interest in being a teacher trainer at such a place.

5) What tips would you give to new teachers who are considering becoming teacher trainers?

Be open to new ideas, flexible, caring and understanding (there are a lot of emotions and difficulties involved in the process of being a teacher). Lastly, be ready to invest your time in it.

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Have you any tips to share with teachers who wish to become teacher trainers, or experiences you've had in the country where you work?

It would be good to hear from you!