(cheerful music)
- Hello TEFL students and welcome back.
In this free talk, I'm going to discuss
some of the concepts of a teacher presence.
I'm going to go over five general ideas
that help get you thinking about some things
that will give you a strong teacher presence.
The first one, presenter, being a presenter.
Your book talks about this
and they couldn't be any more true.
The idea of what you do with your eyes, for example.
When I held a class, eye contact is very important
and it's not eye contact with some
it's eye contact with everyone
and your eyes circulate the room
and they flutter around, at any minute
I could be looking at you in the eyes, creates engagement.
Movement, the way you move your hands,
the way you move your face and your body and everything,
particularly in second language learning.
It really helps your students understand
what you're saying, and it creates engagement.
Finding the right movements for you,
I'm a bit of an exaggeration,
but you need to find some types
of movements that work for you.
The third one, dress.
The way you dress needs to match the
culture that you're in, the institution you're in,
it needs to create a sense of,
okay, this is the teacher,
we are in an environment that I am accustomed to.
It's kind of a bigger topic,
but you need to consider the way you dress
in the impression that it gives your students.
The fourth one is voice.
The volume that you have is going
to vary depending on where you are.
Sometimes, I worked in schools
where the air conditioners and fans
and classrooms were so close, I really had
to think about my volume, so students could hear me.
And the last one, for presenter,
that your book doesn't talk about, is pauses.
This is very important.
When you're processing a second language,
you need to give your students adequate pauses
so that they can catch up mentally.
Okay, first, turn the picture over.
Even if it's in your first language
and you're listening to a presenter,
the best presenters place pauses strategically,
to engage, to give your mind a break, the audience.
And it works very effectively.
Moving on to topic number two,
would be showing your students excitement and joy.
It is so much more enjoyable (laughs)
to be around people who really like
what they're doing, teaching is no different.
The third one, super important,
well, they're all important.
Expectations.
Setting clear expectations for your students.
I want you to think about the rules
and the expectations right away, okay.
Before you enter the classroom,
you should have them all figured out,
their very, very important.
They're not a negative thing, they're a positive thing.
They give your students a sense of structure.
Topic number four would be a balance.
You as a teacher need to find your balance.
You are not your student's friend,
that is not the dynamic, you are a role model now,
and you are a leader and you're a supporter.
And so, finding the way to be that leader
and be that approachable leader
is something you need to think about
how you are going to find your balance
as being the approachable leader.
And the last one I want to talk about
is building a sense of community or a sense of ownership.
If you can achieve that one,
that is also very important to having a good class.
A sense of ownership or community, I'll give you some ideas.
Your book talks about allowing
the students to set the rules for the class.
Now not just rules for them, the rules for me,
it's a group activity, it shows them that
they have the responsibility, they created it.
That's a good idea, it doesn't always work
for every class, but something to consider.
It could mean something simple,
like allowing your students to decide
on what activity they will do that day.
We could do reading A or reading B
or maybe what chapter, if that works,
"Would you guys like to do chapter seven or chapter six?"
And we take a little poll and they decide,
that gives them a sense of ownership in the class,
The sense of community, maybe I could have them
create posters and that doesn't mean children,
adults, we can create grammar posters,
and we decorate our room and it's like our space,
we built the space together.
Other things, ownership is maybe you
have them create personal goals for themselves,
and we revisit those goals.
I want to read so many words per minute,
and then they go back and it's like,
"Okay, I set my goal, I am working towards it."
It's not everything teacher forward,
it's student generated and that builds community
and it builds a sense of ownership.
So those are five general ideas, recap.
The way you present, showing a joy
and excitement for what you do,
setting clear expectations, finding a balance
for you as a leader and five would be
building a sense of community or ownership.
These are some general ideas to get you thinking
about ways that you can build your own
personal teacher presence that works for you
and works for your particular class.
Thank you.
(excited music)