Qualities of an English Teacher
The Qualities of an English Teacher :- The sources of failure of an educational programme depends upon the quality of instruction. Besides Courses of study, reading material, equipment and good specious classrooms, good supervision and administration also contribute: to the success and effectiveness of instruction.
All these factors are ineffective without a good teacher who possesses certain Qualities of head and heart. To quote Sir John Adams, "If the teacher is to prove really a maker of man, he must possess qualities of personality, character and intellect".
However the teacher has his own limitations.. All the teachers of English may not possess all the required qualities but they should try to equip themselves with the maximum possible qualities in spite of their own limitations.
1. Physical Qualities
(i) Clear and pleasant voice
An English teacher should possess a clear appealing voice, neither too low nor unnecessarily loud and shrill. Regular practice and care can make his voice effective and appealing.
He should neither shout in the class nor speak too fast. Clearly in his speech he should be audible to all of his pupils, sitting in different corners of the class-room. He should have the sense to give the exact shade of meaning to the words he speaks.
(ii) Good physical health:
Physical health brings smartness, enthusiasm, vigour, vitality and activeness, so essential for an English teacher.
Good physical health will make the teacher alert, cheerful and emotionally stable enabling him to meet the day-to-day demands of a modern school: A sound mind can live only in a sound body.
A sound body requires regularity and moderation of habits, simple nourishing diet, participation in sports and games and physical exercise.
(iii) Good Personal appearance
An English teacher should have a good personal appearance to produce a good impression upon those who come in his contact.
Free from all physical deformities and abnormalities, he should be neither too tall nor too short, neither too fleshy nor too lean, neither too black nor too white.
He should be a normal human being having tolerable features, smart, clever and active, A shabbily dressed, untidy and bad-looking teacher is seldom-liked and owned by the pupils.
2. Moral Qualities
(i) Friendliness, sympathy and understanding:
A good English teacher should be the best friend and guide of his pupils,. Sympathetic, kind hearted and humane towards his pupils he must understand their difficulties and problems and try to remove them.
As pupils look to him for guidance and encouragement at every step, he must exhibit deep interest in them, in their activities, their welfare and their progress in studies.
(ii) Honesty, sincerity and impartiality:
Absolutely fair in his dealings with others, a good English teacher must be just, honest and impartial and free from all prejudices and bias. To win respect from others his words must reflect his actions.
As M.K. Gandhi said "Woe to the teacher who teaches one thing with the lips and carries another in the heart". Not the teacher's words, but his actions carry weight with the young students.
3. Psychological Qualification
(i) Tactfulness, patience and self-control:
A good English teacher should do things at the right moment, even under trying circumstances. He should be able to control the young children under his charge. Pie must keep cool and balanced.
Heshoul patience and control of nerves even if things are not happening according to his wil expectations. Patience is required not only for dealing with your own pupils but also with office colleagues, publicmen and common people.
(ii) A sense of humour:
"The class-room has no place for a confirmed pessimist and long-faced, sour-visaged and humourless grouch. The class- room needs to be a happy place and it cannot be that without a good- natured teacher in charge.
" Therefore a good teacher should possesses sense of humour to delight his pupils in tense moments. A good laugh will relax pent-up feelings and exhausted nerves and will, thus, pave a way for further action and Concentrated efforts.
(iii) Sound toentaf fcealth:
A dejected, frustrated, melancholic and pessimist teacher cannot create wholesome influence upon his pupils. He must always be cheerful and optimistic and have faith in the goodness of humanity.
Whatever may be the conditions and circumstances in which he is put, he must adjust himself to those environments. This is possible only when he possesses emotional stability and control over his anger and passions. Thus, mental health is even more important than physical health.
4. Executive Qualities
(i) Initiative and resourcefulness:
A good teacher should be able to collect material and adopt his plans according to the circumstances. He should be sensible enough to take independent action in qase of emergency as and when the occasion demands.
Without running to the Headmaster or to other superior officers, he should be able to face problems, think of their solution and then try to solve them to the best of his ability. However, he may seek the advice or guidance his senior colleagues and the Headmaster if necessary,
(ii) Organising and directive capacity:
As an organiser, the English teacher should be able to put his plans into a workable form. For a job to be done in the best possible manner and with the least wastage of time, money and energy. He should select the most competent person for doing a job for which he or she is best fitted and in which he or she is genuinely interested.
He should chalk out plans and prepare a framework beforehand to facilitate the desired educational programme. As a leader and a director, he must be a person of wisdom and vision, with a thorugh director, must be a person of wisdom and vision, with a thorough knowledge of facts. Then alone he may judge whether or not his plans, instructions and assignments have been carried out with success.
5. Scholarship
Scholarship is not only desirable but essential for a successful English teacher, the subject, he is required to teach, is very vast and extensive. He may be face to face with many problems, if his own knowledge is no: broader than the subject-matter that he teaches. In ancient India a teacher was held In high esteem in society because of his scholarship and high degree of learning the English teacher must have:
(i) A sound knowledge of the subject-matter:
An English teacher must know his subject well enough and deep enough. To have a broad and through knowledge of the content fields to enable him to select material for his subject according to his needs. He must be a specialist in at least two languages such as Latin, French, Greek etc,
(ii) A background of general and liberal education:
The English teacher must be of broad and varied interests. He must apply his mind in as many subjects and activities as possible. He should have a keen interest in current affairs, an appreciation for the dominant role of science in human life and a habit of approaching social problems with the scientific method of inquiry.
He should be able to explain the present in relation to the past correctly and successfully. He should keep himself very well-informed about all the happenings and general problems concerning men and affairs. His background of general education will lead him to world citizenship and international understanding, so essential for an English teacher.
(iii) Originality:
A regular reader of books, news-papers, periodicals and magazines etc. an-English teacher should keep his knowledge through and up-to-date. He should not be content only by what others say but should be in a position to form his own independent judgement of men and affairs. He should have a habit of inquiry and scientific approach, desire. for the truth and spirit of independence and initiative and originality to face class-room situation.
6. Social Qualities
(i) Faith in world citizenship:
English teacher should have faith that international cooperation is desirable and possible. An integrated individual, he should be skilled in the art and science of human behaviour, conscious of the wide variety of behaviour patterns in the world to which he may have to adjust.
He should know the goals of education for international understanding. He should be fully conversant with methods and resources for such: programmes. He should help create world understanding among children and youth.
(ii) Faith in democracy:
An English teacher should be an example of democratic values. He should acts as a democratic group leader and create an environment for the reconstruction of experience, utilising my school, library and community resources.
Organising democratic groups which widen the area of common concern encourage social interaction and guide democratic specialisation, he should have firm faith in freedom, justice, equally and fraternity in his dealings with others,
Good Relationship with his Puils, Colleagues and the Community
(i) Relationship with pupils:
To command faith, loyalty and respect a teacher must take genuine interest in his pupils, He must mix with them, play with them, participate in various activities. activities and encouraged them on all occasions. He must pay individual attention towards the backward, abnormal and problem students.
(ii) Relationship with Colleagues:
The teacher must cultivate "intimate relationship. With other members of the staff he must always be obliging and co-operating. He must give his colleagues a helping hand whenever required. He must neither backbite nor unnecessarily interfere in their affairs.
He should work closely with the administration and he obedient and loyal. He should, enjoy academic freedom,, but not do anything that will reflect" upon his position as a teacher,.
(iii) Relationship with Community:
A teacher should feel himself responsible to the whole society. The school is an agency that society has set up to instruct its young members. He, therefore, has an obligation to the parents of his pupils and to the community at large.
As both home and school are engaged in a cooperative task we must, welcome contacts and conferences with presents on various occasions in the interest of the education of his pupils. The More the teacher understands and serves the community, the better it is for him.
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