the new roles of the language teacher budapest 2014 (wojtek graniczewski)
TRANSCRIPT
Wojtek Graniczewski
New roles, competencies and skills
of language teachers
EAQUALS CONFERENCE – BUDAPEST 2014
What is a modern language teacher?
A guru? An entertainer
A master?
What is a modern language teacher?
A professional well-trained
to deliver educational
services (foreign language
training and communication
skills) to customers who
want to buy them
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Sales and front office staff go out of their way to make potential clients …
► read our advertisements,
► look at our website,
► phone the school,
► visit the school,
► go through placement tests,
► believe that we are their best choice
And then our dear clients are taken over by the teachers …
► mostly well-trained in linguistics,language teaching
methodology and techniques
► mostly no training in other fields (alternative hard
skills) and little professional training in soft skills
Everything around us is changing.
► the market
► students’ expectations
► organisational structures,
► styles of management
► technology
► modes of delivery
► communication channels
What does it mean to language teachers?
HARD SKILLS vs. SOFT SKILLS
HARD SKILLS: specific, teachable abilities
that can be defined and measured (writing, typing,
maths, reading, using electronic devices, etc.
SOFT SKILLS: personality-driven skills like
etiquette, getting along with others, listening,
engaging in small talk, etc.
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What new hard skills should teachers learn?
► professional hardware and software
► use of professional on-line sources
► use of new communication devices
► moodle and blended teaching
► new ways of continuous assessment
► new types of teaching activities
► bridges between classroom and life
But that is not enough.
The traditional division into separate departments is disappearing.
Role culture (pyramid) replaced by project / task culture.
Book-keeping outsourced. All other staff form one team.
We are all in the PR and Student Services Department.
THE NEW, MORE EFFECTIVE MODEL:
Teachers must be made aware of the following:
► getting new clients through traditional advertising is extremely difficult
► the market is confusing as all schools claim they can deliver the same
► each staff member must acctively contribute to the corporate image
► educational institutions are being replaced by training businesses
► the role of the teacher has to be extended and modified
► new skills (and areas of training) are indispensable
Teachers must learn to:
► use the language of needs of the clients (their students)
► ask open questions, listen to answers and reflect on them
► communicate clients’ needs to the school’s management
► keep the students satisfied and motivated for more
Teachers need training in PR and marketing
What soft skills should teachers learn?
► interpersonal communication
► constructive critical thinking
► emotional literacy
► cultural awareness
► social intelligence
► understanding of multiple
intelligences
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Intercultural communication
aims to share information across different
cultures and social groups
describes communication processes
and problems that naturally appear
within an organisation made up of
individuals from different religious, social,
ethnic, and educational backgrounds
sometimes used synonymously with
cross-cultural communication
seeks to understand how people from
different countries and cultures act,
communicate and perceive the world
Critical thinking
process of analysing, evaluating and
applying information gathered from
observation, experience, reflection,
reasoning or communication to reach
a constructive conclusion
disciplined thinking - open-minded,
clear, rational, informed by evidence
commitment to using reason
in the formulation of our beliefs
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Emotional literacy
ability to understand one’s emotions, listen
to others and empathise with their emotions
ability to express emotions productively
to be emotionally literate is to be able
to handle emotions in a way that improves
one’s personal power and quality of life
It improves relationships: evokes positive
feelings between people, makes co-operative
work possible, and facilitates the feeling
of community
Cultural awareness
basis for one’s ability to interact effectively with
people of different cultures and socio-economic
backgrounds
cultural competence comprises 4 components
(a) awareness of one's own cultural worldview,
(b) attitude towards cultural differences,
(c) knowledge of different cultural practices
(d) cross-cultural skills
developing cultural competence results in an
ability to understand, communicate with, and
effectively interact with people across cultures
Social intelligence
ability to understand and
manage men and women,
boys and girls and act wisely
in human relations
competence to understand
one’s environment optimally
and react appropriately for
socially successful conduct
capacity to effectively
negotiate complex social
relationships
Multiple intelligences
a theory that differentiates
intelligence into specific
"modalities", rather than
seeing it as dominated by
a single general ability
proposed by Howard
Gardner in his book:
Frames of Mind: The Theory
of Multiple Intelligences
Initially Gardner chose eight
abilities to be considered as
specific intelligences