Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Second Edition
particular stage. In language work, it is far more important
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particular stage. In language work, it is far more important to be thorough than fast. We have, then, a scheme of work, with an introduction, a series of stages and a checklist. There are two other possible additions. One is a series of sections of advice on teaching procedures in the classroom, and the other—which is much more important—is some kind of indication of appropriate materials to use at each stage. This may mean linking the stages to particular textbooks (indeed many schemes of work are based in practice on textbooks), or to exercises in a variety of textbooks, or to exercises being produced by the school or neighbouring schools. Either way, the emphasis should be on the quality of the materials and methodology used. Good materials, whether published or unpublished, should be freely available, and teachers need not hesitate to steal good ideas from textbooks, other teachers or from any source whatever—but acknowledge the theft! On the basis of a document such as this, produced by all the English teachers in an institution co-operating with each other, the kind of general framework for thinking about English teaching, referred to above, will be rapidly established. The document will certainly require revision— slightly, every year—and a major overhaul should be necessary every three to five years, but once the basis is set up the process of revision will be easy. Without such a document, it will not be possible for teachers to see how their own work fits in with that of others, nor will it be possible for outsiders to be shown easily what the school does. Above all, on the basis of such a scheme, the department will be able to keep a public record of the varying progress of different classes and will be able to clarify its own ideas in discussion on what everyone is doing. Being forced to compile such a The English Department 206 scheme of work concentrates the mind wonderfully on all sorts of problems which would otherwise have remained deep in the subconscious mind. The scheme of work suggested above may be a useful basis for the kind of professional discussion which will be going on all the time in a good English department, but it will not in itself be enough to ensure full commitment by all staff. They will only have time to be committed if the administrative machinery runs as smoothly and effortlessly as possible, and many of the items discussed later in the section on administration have a direct bearing on professional efficiency. Before that, however, there are a number of minor, but still important, points which need to be made. Just as the head of department will expect to be able to spread some of the more routine chores, so he should be prepared to spread the discussion and policy-making, both major and minor, in the department. Whether it is discussing what books to teach from, attitudes to discipline in the classroom, or who should teach what class, members of the department have a right to expect to be consulted. But all these decisions will only make sense if they are taken within a framework of educational priority and service to the needs of the students. Discussion of these aspects of the work will occur inevitably in the course of examining syllabuses and schemes of work, and on this foundation can develop discussion of administrative matters. Thus staff have a right to be kept informed of all matters relating to the teaching of English, whether it is an important circular from the Ministry of Education, or a trivial request for students to enter an essay competition in English. There should be some sort of file on permanent open access, into which all relevant items of recent correspondence can be put. At the same time, there is a great deal of information which should be permanently in the possession of all English teachers in addition to the school scheme of work. Copies of external examination syllabuses and some past papers should be in the possession of all teachers, lists of all textbooks, recordings, aids, etc. available, and any information which a teacher might ever need to ask for. If each new teacher, on arrival at the school, is handed a file containing all the information that he needs to know, a great deal of time will The English Department 207 be saved, and the teacher will at once realise that he is coming into a professional organisation with high standards. Even in a big department staff should have the opportunity to contribute all the time towards the development of efficient teaching. Small things can help in this. For example, it is a good idea to have a permanent book available in which staff comments on the textbooks they use can be entered, and all staff should be encouraged to examine and evaluate the usefulness of new books as they appear. The department should subscribe to some of the basic periodicals concerned with EFL teaching (a list appears on page 220), and some discussion of ideas in these may be a feature of department meetings. Indeed, staff, individually or collectively, should be encouraged to contribute to these periodicals if and when they have anything original to say. The department should meet regularly—probably two or three times a term. Ideally, these meetings should be informal but serious (it is probably unnecessary to keep minutes, but some record should be circulated of what people have agreed to do, and some check made in subsequent meetings that what was agreed has actually been done). Above all, the meetings should not become dominated by the day-to-day administration. If necessary, hold separate professional meetings, but make sure that professional matters are discussed. In a good department the activities of all members will be discussed with each other, in and out of meetings. The head of department should be aware through the meetings of everything that is going on in the department. Existing methods should be discussed in meetings and suggestions for improvement of all kinds should be discussed, and perhaps experiments carried out on improving the work in a variety of directions. Different members of staff will have different interests (though there should be no one who is unwilling to take an interest in every aspect of the work), and while one may wish to experiment with a method using drama in the classroom (to report back on the work after a term or two), another may be developing materials for controlled writing or listening comprehension. All these activities will be improved by discussion, observation by fellow-teachers, and consultation, and the department should make all this as easy as possible. It may be, also, that some department The English Department 208 meetings could involve discussion of more theoretical issues, with or without outside speakers, and certainly members of the department (including the head) should assume that they will be expected to report back on courses, conferences and meetings that they have attended. Each group of teachers will develop their meetings in a different way, and the nature of the activity is probably less important than the fact of activity. The new teacher should feel that he is joining a community of professionals, and not a group of people who happen to be working in the same building. Download 0.82 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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