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There’s always a lot of focus on how new TEFL teachers can improve, but what about those of us who are more experienced? However long you’ve been teaching, there’s always something new to learn. If you feel like you’re getting a little too comfortable in your teaching routine and need to up your game a bit, read on to discover how you can improve and develop as a teacher, whatever stage of your career you’re at.

Reflect on Your Lessons

Remember when you were training on your TEFL course and produced mountains of paperwork for each lesson? You knew exactly what each stage of the lesson was going to achieve, and after the lesson, you’d reflect on whether or not your plan worked, and how to improve it. Teachers don’t have time for this sort of heavy paperwork for every lesson of the week, but if you feel like you need to improve as a teacher, one of the best ways to start is by reflecting on how you’re doing right now.

Take a good look at one of your recent lesson plans. Are there parts of the class that don’t serve a genuine purpose? Are you playing the same old games every week, or giving out crosswords just to keep the kids quiet? Think about whether the students achieved something worthwhile in the lesson, or if they need something more challenging. Make a point of writing down your thoughts and make a list of improvements to make in the next lesson. Doing this periodically will help you nurture an attitude of positive reflection.

Sharing Ideas

Whether you work in a big school, a small school or teach online, you can learn a lot by connecting with other teaching professionals. Observing a lesson is a great way to pick up tips and ideas – it mightn’t be something concrete like a particular game or classroom activity, but maybe just the way in which the teacher has a rapport with the students, or how they manage classroom behavior.

If you work in a larger school, a great way of sharing ideas can be through workshops. One teacher can present an activity or idea that works well for them, and demonstrate it to other staff. It works well to have workshops as a regular event where everyone gets the chance to share and learn. Presentations don’t have to be long – just five minutes or so at the end of a weekly staff meeting could help everyone to progress.

If you aren’t able to connect in person, there are countless online forums and groups you can join. Making friends with other teachers can be a great way to improve your knowledge, as well as linking with new materials or even hearing about new teaching opportunities. Also, remember that a more experienced teacher might not necessarily have the best tips – a new teacher fresh off a TEFL course could also have some insightful comments to improve your teaching.

Professional Development

If you are serious about improving as a teacher and would like to follow a structured course or training session, there are endless resources online, many of which are free. From professional courses to MOOC’s, you can find something to really help you improve.

• MOOC – Massive Online Open Course. A MOOC is a free course you can do online, often provided by top universities as a taster of something you can study with them.
  
• First Aid. Whether you’re hoping to transfer into mainstream teaching or want to stay working as a TEFL teacher, being proficient in first aid can be a handy skill. While a professional course is best, following a free online course is a great way to test out if this is something you want to know more about.
  
• Resources for Kids. Everyone knows ‘Baby Shark’, but did you know that it was produced by PinkFong, a company that has countless online resources and apps to aid your teaching? Another similar company is called Super Simple and they even have dedicated teaching resources and demo videos – perfect if you teach kindergarten.

Request an Observation

New teachers get observed all the time, and it’s a nerve-racking experience, but most teachers will agree that its beneficial. Once you’ve been teaching for a few years, your senior teachers and Director of Studies will probably observe you less frequently, if at all. While this might feel like a relief, remember that there’s always something new you can learn and that even the best teacher in the world will have off days.

 Requesting an observation from a more senior member of staff can help you to highlight areas of your lessons that might need improving. They might be able to tell you that you need to focus on certain types of activity or improve the way you set up different tasks. If you know there’s something you need to improve on, ask your observer to focus on that in particular, and take on board the advice that they give you.

Needs Analysis

As a teacher, particularly a more seasoned one, it’s easy to think that we always know better than the students. However, listening to your students can be a vital way to pick up ideas on how to develop as a teacher. Doing a needs analysis or questionnaire (with older, more fluent students) might help you learn how to make the lesson better for everyone.

For example, you might have assumed that a group of serious university students would just like to study quietly with plenty of writing activities, when they may actually prefer a few classroom games to keep their interest high. Similarly, you might assume that a class of shy teens wouldn’t like extroverted talking activities, but give them the chance to act a role in a fluent speaking activity and they could easily surprise you. However, be cautious in taking their preferences with a pinch of salt – if the students just want to play games and watch YouTube videos for the whole lesson, you know they’re not taking it seriously!

Learn something new

It can be hard to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, particularly if they speak a different language. Do you know what it’s like to be immersed in a language you don’t understand? The experience of being a student can really help to develop how you are as a teacher. Being in that position – inexperienced in something, getting things wrong, being confused, feeling like you’re making a fool of yourself – can help foster empathy for the students you teach. Whether its learning a new language, trying a new sport or attending a social event where you don’t know anyone, doing something out of your comfort zone can help you appreciate what your students are going through.

Get in the Habit

There are always new things you can learn as a teacher. From new games and classroom activities to new resources and teaching methods, this is an industry that never sits still. The best way to stay on top of your game is by continually seeking out new information. Read news stories that highlight breakthroughs in research or important awards in the education sector. Follow blogs, bloggers, and Twitter users that talk about teaching, whether they’re sharing top tips, games, or just talking about the teaching experience. Read books on pedagogy, study learning styles, look into CLIL (Content and language integrated learning), and anything else that will grow your knowledge of teaching.

Most experts agree that 93% of our communication is non-verbal, with 55% of information being expressed via body language and 38% consisting of vocal signals. Body language, which is made up of gestures, facial expressions, posture, proximity and eye-contact, can convey different communicative meaning across cultures, and issues can arise in cross-cultural communication when people use and interpret body language differently. Therefore, body language plays a key role in how we get the message across. With that in mind, let’s have a look at what you, as a TEFL teacher, might need to consider before communicating in some of the most popular destinations around the world.

European differences

Throughout Europe, the cultural differences in body language are vast. Hand gestures, head movements and use of eye-contact can differ greatly from one country to the next. Here are a few differences to be aware of.

Head movements

The most common way to show agreement in the U.K is by nodding your head up and down. Similarly, shaking your head from side to side indicates that you disagree. However, in other European countries this is not the case. For example, in Greece, tilting the head first to the left and then to the right, whilst slightly closing the eyes, means “Yes.” Tilting the whole head upwards whilst raising the eyebrows means “No.” To confuse matters even further, when a Greek says “Ne”, they actually mean “Yes”. This can get pretty confusing when asking simple questions, such as “Can I please use your toilet?”

Similarly, in Bulgaria and Albania, a head shake means “Yes” while nodding up and down signifies a negative. In Turkey, a backward tilt of the head, accompanied by a tutting sound signifies “No” and simply raising the eyebrows can mean the same thing. In the U.K, we tut when we disapprove or when we are annoyed, so the opportunity for miscommunication here is huge. The first time I asked a simple question to a bus driver in Istanbul, I thought I had insulted him, his family and perhaps even his entire country, when I received a tut and a sharp head tilt in response. It took me a while to get used to this way of communicating, but I got there in the end.

Hand gestures

A thumbs up is a simple gesture to convey positive meaning, indicating encouragement or approval. So, this gesture couldn’t possibly cause offence, right? Wrong. Giving the thumbs up to somebody in Greece, is like giving the middle finger to someone in the U.K or the U.S. Therefore, I highly recommend avoiding the use of this gesture when communicating in Greece.

In Italy, body language is the most important part of making a point, and the average Italian uses 250 gestures per day. Perhaps, unsurprisingly, due to their emotional nature, there are many gestures in use to refer to negative character traits, and some are more offensive than others. In Southern Italy, craziness is indicated by mimicking the grinding of a pepper mill. This gesture implies that the person’s brain is whirring as fast as the mill’s blades. Sticking your arm out in front, with your palm rotated upwards, might look like a friendly gesture, as throughout the world, palm-up cues usually show congeniality and humility. However, in Italy, this is used to ridicule someone’s actions, words or appearance.

The horns gesture, displayed by leaving your index finger, and little finger poking out of a closed fist, is commonly used by heavy metal fans around the world to show their appreciation of their favourite music genre. However, in the Baltics, Italy, Portugal and Spain, this gesture, representing a bull’s horns, is used to say that someone’s wife has been cheating on them. Be very careful metal fans…

Asia

In Asia, making silly mistakes with common gestures could label you as rude and uncultured. Getting into trouble, so far away from home, is best avoided. Here are some social faux pas you do not want to make.

Eye-contact

In Western countries, including the U.K and the U.S, maintaining eye-contact with a person shows them that you are interested in what they are saying. However, in some Asian countries, maintaining eye-contact with someone is impolite, especially if the person you are speaking with is older or has a higher position or status than you. Malaysians tend to have an indirect and polite communication style and when communicating with a Malaysian person for the first time, direct eye-contact should be avoided, as holding their gaze could be seen as impolite. Similarly, in Japan, too much direct eye-contact in social situations can cause discomfort. It is preferable to look briefly in the eyes when greeting someone, and then look away, or down, before looking them in the eyes again. Don’t spend the whole time looking at your shoes though, as that’s just weird. Contrary to the above, during business negotiations or job interviews in Japan, you should try to maintain eye-contact whenever possible. Looking down or avoiding eye-contact can make you look suspicious, as though you have something to hide…

Posture

Being aware of your posture, when attending meetings or dining at a colleague’s house, is important in Asia. For example, in Japan, sitting crossed-legged is considered to be disrespectful and showing the soles of your feet or shoes in India and Thailand is considered to be offensive. Keep your feet firmly on the ground just to be on the safe side.

South America

South America is a popular destination for TEFL teachers, and Argentina in particular, has one of the largest TEFL jobs markets in the region. Here are a few tips to aid communication in this vibrant part of the world.

Proximity

If you’ve ever experienced a conversation with a ‘close talker’, you probably soon realised the importance of having a degree of personal space. In some countries, standing very close is considered to be perfectly ‘normal’. In South America, people tend to require less personal space. Argentinians and Peruvians love to get cosy, and in Argentina people are fond of touching each other when talking. This can seem a little scary to British and American people, who tend to be more conservative, but finding yourself at an intimate distance from Argentines will be hard to avoid. It would be better to just accept the new social distancing norms as you will inevitably find yourself pressed up against an armpit, probably on public transport, at some point during your stay.

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As you can see, there are many things to consider before embarking on your TEFL journey. You should do your research before you go, as you don’t want to end up unintentionally offending someone. Bonne chance.