Recently, I came across a notebook from my first year of teaching. At the time, I was working at an international school in Montreal, teaching mostly Latin American and Asian students between the age of 16 and 60. At the back of that tan Kraft book, I found notes on what I had learned about teaching.

Here are my little tidbits:

– Make people want to learn. (Tempt people to learn?)

– Make people work, don’t work for them.

– You can’t force people to learn.

– Don’t lecture on behaviour.

– Don’t tell people what to do, ask them if they want to do something.

– Don’t get upset and don’t be negative with people.

– Who you are as a person has nothing to do with your ability to teach.

– Self-doubt is a classroom killer. So is overconfidence.

– Don’t invest more in your students than they are willing to invest in themselves.

– Body language says a lot.

I have learned a lot since then, and my teaching/coaching style is more refined. However, I would still suggest most of these ideas to a new ESL teacher. I hope they remind us all of the challenges of finding a good balance in teaching. If you have some comments to share, please contact me by email (theenglishbusinesshouse@gmail.com) or use our Contact Us form. We will be pleased to hear from you!