Questions & answers

In this section we publish questions and answers sent in by users of the site about English language teaching topics.

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Giving clear instructions  

I am a teacher in a teacher training college in Belgium. My students (trainee teachers) went on their first teaching practice period / internship and most of them faced problems using classroom English fluently.

What makes a good teacher?  

As teachers, we are constantly reflecting on our teaching, our students, our methods, and even our decisions as educators.

Teacher positioning  

I am a teacher in Shanghai, China. May I ask what are the instances or situations that the teacher must sit on the floor? When must the teacher shout?

Teacher observation  

Please can you help me in assessing an ESL teacher in action. What are the key features I should look for and observe while he is in action? I would appreciate some help.

Giving clear instructions  

I am a teacher in a teacher training college in Belgium. My students (trainee teachers) went on their first teaching practice period / internship and most of them faced problems using classroom English fluently.

Teacher talk  

I am a beginning ESL teacher who is also learning Spanish. At a recent conversation group at a Latin American cafe, I spoke to a native Spanish speaker for about 10 minutes after an hour of struggling to converse with other non-native speakers.

Home help  

"There is a situation arising in China that is becoming more and more of a problem. It concerns the parents of children in our schools. No matter how hard we try to tell them what they can realistically

Long-term planning  

Hi there. I am a very new teacher - I've only been teaching for 5 months - and am having huge problems with long-term lesson planning.

Teacher competencies  

At the moment I am writing a paper about teacher competencies. I am gathering any opinions, suggestions about the possible ways of improving our skills in English teaching.

Nervous teachers  

Hello. My name's Hay. Although I have been teaching English for nearly two years, I sometimes still feel nervous in front of the students. Is there anything I can do about this? Thank you

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