The seven sins of language teaching

This article will, probably, anger a lot of language professionals. In my opinion, education is for many more of a religion than religion itself. There are things in the classroom that need to be done, no matter what science might have to say, or productivity research.

As a consumer, I mostly hated language courses. I considered them extremely unproductive and tedious. Being forced into a group setting with a teacher that just follows his or her protocol.

Below are the top “sins” I observe in the classroom. However, they are derived from certain assumptions that some might not share:

·        Speaking a foreign language is a skill that needs to be trained (like sports, music, crafts)

·        The classroom group setting should offer something that cannot be replaced by other online and offline activities

·        The lesson time should offer a maximum of (guided) practical training for the student.

1.     A one-man (or woman) show

In many lessons, the teacher uses up 80/90% of the speaking time, thus depriving students of the opportunity to train themselves. Yes, many students may like it. Listening to an expert speaker may give them the illusion they themselves speak it at the same level. And, if they occasionally are asked to give short answers (most often single words), they might “feel” they are able to maintain a long conversation.

2.     Being too teacher-centered

My key question always is: what if the teacher needs to leave the classroom for 5-10 minutes (without giving some reading or writing assignment), will the training process go on or will it break down. Typically, most of the lesson time hinges upon a teacher “moving” and pushing the group through different activities, like a dynamo. Problem: to train at home and to make progress beyond our classes, students need to become self-regulated learners.

3.     Having no classroom training routine

A good sports or music training always includes certain standard routines, like warming-up, finger exercises, etc. Do you just rely on jumping from one page of the textbook to the next? Or do you have your personal training routine to start and finish lessons: e.g. voice exercises, sentence or phrase production)? And, if yes, do you have them in written form so that a fellow teacher could replicate your style, in case you are ill or on holiday, so that your students get a similar experience?

4.     Not ensuring proper note-taking during the lesson

5.     No productive small-group activities

6.     Relying on “games” to make lessons “interesting”, and not productive

Many language teachers, rightly so, think that the main complaint of students is that lessons are “boring”. However, many a teacher jumps then to the wrong conclusion, to make lessons more “interesting” by including as many “games” into the classroom as possible. There is nothing wrong with games that teach experiences no other exercise can do. However, many of the games are 1) activities to just keep students occupied so that the lesson passes quicker, 2) at a kindergarten/elementary school level of required intelligence, 3) remain teacher-centered, relying on the teacher to keep the game going, 4) are often time-consuming and tend to drag on. Relying on games for their own sake may backfire, because – later on – students may get the impression that they had fun, but learned little. In my experience, the key for students to stay engaged and enthused is to make lessons productive, and productive in the original sense. The more a student produces something (sentences), the more interesting. It is like in sports: the more you are yourself on the ground (and the less on the sidelines or listening to your trainer preaching), the more fun.

7.     Not instilling a proper training routine at home for students

If you want me to go into more detail with some, or don’t agree: please leave a comment below or contact me.

Stay tuned!

Gerhard

Why should language schools and teachers care about quality management?

Language schools and teachers leave a lot of money on the table, as long as they do not develop their own quality management system.

If at all, most adults associate the term quality management system with some sort of ISO (International Organization for Standardization) certification, typically ISO 9001. It has something to do with obtaining some internationally recognized accreditation, lots of preparation work, headache for the managers and resistance from the whole organization.

Typically, language schools do not aspire to obtain an ISO certification, the exception being multinational language companies like Berlitz or standardized test providers.

Why should you as a language teacher or school care?

Quality management means having systems in place to provide customers consistently with quality services that comply with certain standards. One needs not wait for an ISO accreditation to implement key elements of quality management.

What are typical problems related to language teaching that could be addressed by a QM system?

·        Having diverse groups of students (by ways of age, educational and social background, personality, learning styles and cognitive abilities) may make it difficult to maintain a certain standard in your teaching;

·        How to make it certain that all teachers at one school offer a common level of quality, while taking into consideration their individual teaching styles?

·        How to handle complaints – pronounced and hidden?

·        How to take your teaching systematically to new levels?

·        How to create systems and routines that allow your students to progress almost automatically (e.g. getting them to talk, that is, produce their own sentences flexibly and with ease), without solely relying on your textbook and the curriculum?

In the next article, we start answering some of those questions, by looking at the seven areas of focus for improvement in a typical language school setting.

Out of the three main actors (administration, students and teachers), we get seven areas in which we can let our QM system do its work.

1.       Administration

2.       Administration/teachers

3.       Administration/students

4.       Teachers

5.       Teachers/students

6.       Students

7.       Students/teachers/administration

Language teaching differs radically from any other production process in two major aspects.

While selected customers may be somehow involved in developing a new smartphone or app, their participation is typically limited to some kind of feedback to the company.

However, in language teaching all customers are directly involved in producing the output: speech.

A second major difference is that in a company all persons engaged directly in production are, in principle, controllable by management. In language teaching the levels of possible control vary considerably.

The most pressing problem is assuring that students develop a learning routine at home. Apart from inference through questions and homework checking, we do not have many other possibilities of monitoring, how much effort they really make. And, it is much more difficult to enforce certain routines outside of the classroom (should we tell them “you are fired”?)

From the teachers’ perspective, the administration’s activities are not directly controllable. However, the experience students get in interacting with office staff may greatly influence their expectations, attitudes and effort during the course.

On the other hand, administrators of language schools may not be informed about what goes on in the classroom, apart from occasional visits and feedback questionnaires. That is, they may lack critical information how to match individual students to the most compatible teacher, or how to sell outstanding elements of individual teachers.

Stay tuned!

Gerhard

Answering complaints for language teachers

Think back to your school days. Or when you yourself attended your latest language course. Where you always satisfied with the teacher and the course? However, how often did you voice your criticism? If you were like most students, you probably avoided any harsh criticism and getting confrontational with your teacher. Out of politeness, being part of a non-confrontational culture, fear of negatively affecting your grades, or just out of a philosophical attitude that “this course too shall pass”.

Many of us feel somewhat uneasy about getting feedback from students. On the one hand, we have those “raving” students of us who just love our way of teaching. But, we are quite aware that not everybody is quite satisfied. Of course, when asked afterward, everybody liked the course. If our school forces participants to fill out a feedback questionnaire at the end of each level, most students tend to embellish their answers, also out of the fear of harming their teacher.

The sincere conversations about our teaching take place outside our sphere of influence: in the family, with friends or at work.

Why should we care about those complaints and try to control the conversation about our courses, even if we are not present?

Today’s language students have more options to choose from than ever: competitors in your hometown or online, language learning apps, e-books and video courses, chatting with foreigners. Our culture is becoming less patient and more focused on quick results. Consequently, the willingness increases to hop from one language course to another, as soon as something “unpleasant” happens. Much of this need not be true complaints. There need not be much wrong with your teaching. Students may just feel resistance, being outside their comfort zone (or “safe space”) or obstacles. This is normal for any long-term endeavor, like sports or learning a musical instrument. However, what if the students lack this kind of personal experience, and the significant people around, too, with whom he or she interacts? What advice do you think they will give to your student as soon as it becomes “difficult”?

By not systematically addressing potential complaints, we may be losing a lot of money:

·         by students dropping out earlier than planned;

·         by not getting referrals from our students;

·         by potential customers being actually discouraged to come to us;

·         by not being able to raise our fee due to a lack of perceived value of our teaching.

In my training for language schools on complaint management, we go into much more detail. Here is just the gist of it:

1.       Develop an avatar of the ideal student you want to serve. You will never be able to satisfy every customer. Without having a clear focus who your target audience is, you may adapt to complaints of customers that are not your ideal students, while at the same time even worsen the experience for your core target group.

2.       Listing actual and potential complaints. Create a standard document on your computer where you note down complaints. As soon as you hear it, document it. Imagine yourself present whenever your students are being asked about their progress in language X? What will they say: about the materials, your teaching methods and you as a person? Group the complaints on your list according to common features. What complaints pertain to your target students? What complaints are typical for your “nightmare” students?

3.       Prepare immediate responses. Create a column right to the list of complaints. How do you plan to react? What have you said in similar situations? Write it down and see whether you could react otherwise? What is your goal in reacting this way? Could you reach this goal by other means, quicker and without disrupting classes? Ask colleagues what works for them. Read books and articles on how to deal with complaints: on sales or negotiation.

4.       Improvements in your system. How many complaints can be prevented if you systematically change your teaching system? Many complaints appear due to unclear or unrealistic expectations. You could ask students to complete a form on the things they plan to learn to during the course, right at or before the first lesson. You could send all students a standardized welcome message, already “steal the thunder” of typical complaints by anticipating the typical struggles they may have, and how to react to them. Or you could form pairs of students as accountability partners, who assist each other between lessons.

5.       Regular audits. Set intervals after which you go through your personal complaint management system. For example every 3 months. Update the list of complaints. See whether you have found better ways to react. Improve your other quality management system documents pertaining to complaints, like your welcome message or feedback forms. Show your system to colleagues, even from other professions, and ask them for advice.

For more information on the topic, or if you would like me to give a live training on complaint management for language teachers at your school, please contact me at gerhard.j.ohrband@gmail.com.

I wish you much success in your teaching!

Gerhard