The English Teachers. RF Duncan-Goodwillie
of their reasons, is it possible that some people are just born to teach regardless of how they finally arrive at that point?
There are no correct answers to these questions but the answers people give might say a lot about them, even to themselves.
Of course, you can’t dwell on the past forever and so we look to the present to investigate what contexts our interviewees find or have found themselves in.
3
“Where are you now?” – Teaching Contexts
Most experienced language teachers know context is everything when it comes to teaching what things mean. The context of a word determines its meaning and appropriacy, among other aspects. The same is true of the context in which we teach. To an outsider it might all look the same, but in different places, different ways of teaching are practised, attempted, even enforced. By knowing more about different teaching contexts, the challenges they pose and opportunities they afford, we can see how they affect our beliefs, perceptions and ideas… and perhaps how we can affect them.
I started this part of the interview by asking all the participants to describe where they worked and left it open for them to answer. Some of them spoke directly about their schools first. Others chose instead to talk about the countries they worked in (or had worked in) to provide more information before starting to speak about where they worked.
When it came to discussing workplaces, I had a general pattern to the questions, rather than a specific set of categories to divide answers into. It was important for participants to describe their workplaces free of any bias in the question. I wanted to know more about the positive and negative aspects of where they worked, aiming to highlight the various pros and cons of working in different environments. I hoped this would give a complete picture of various EFL working environments.
Some participants’ answers were connected closely with what they said earlier in their interviews when talking about their backgrounds. Rather than waste time repeating myself, or trying in vain to disconnect what they said from its context, I opened this section of the interview with a different question. You will see this where I start with a question as opposed to participants answering the question “Can you describe where you work?”
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John Shaw (JS)
JS: I work at a language school in Moscow. People can probably work out where.
RFDG: Why did you choose this one?
JS: It’s where I started and I’ve developed here. Every year I get more and more responsibility and I feel like I’m part of the project. I also work at a summer camp and that’s my main project. I’ve a wide variety of things that I do and I still feel like I’m developing here.
RFDG: How long have you been here?
JS: Six years.
RFDG: But you didn’t initially become involved in having greater responsibility.
JS: No. That’s happened in the last two or three years.
RFDG: What influenced that?
JS: When I started my career I don’t think I was particularly good. It took me a long time to develop. I took plenty of courses when I started but I needed that experience. I guess I’m the kind of person who needs a bit of time to adapt, but once I do I think I do a pretty good job. The increase in responsibility came slowly and it suited me. I feel fine about it.
RFDG: Why do you keep working where you do?
JS: Like I said earlier, I feel like I’m part of things and that I’m developing. The school definitely puts an emphasis on development as a teacher and as a manager.
RFDG: How have you developed?
JS: I understand methodology a lot better now and my language awareness has increased a lot. Also managerial responsibility. I’m learning how to deal with people. I’ve always been kind and considerate, but I’ve learned how to motivate people and show leadership.
RFDG: Has it always been possible to be kind and considerate to people?
He sighs like someone whose kindness and consideration may have been tested by reality.
JS: I think it’s always possible, but it’s not always the most effective way of working with people. You always need to try, but it doesn’t always work with everyone. Sometimes people push their luck or take it as weakness and you need to remain polite and calm. But you need to tell people that they have responsibilities and to keep them.
RFDG: Is that a feature of working in Russia?
JS: No, I think that’s a feature of life. No matter how kind and non-confrontational you are, you need to stand up for yourself and complete your duties. If you’re a manager you need to fulfil what’s expected and keep people in line to get the best from them.
RFDG: Why is that the best description of being a manager?
JS: It’s probably not the best one, it’s just one aspect of it. The main role is to motivate and guide people, but it’s a key part of the contract to meet targets and part of that is up to you and part of that is up to them. Basically, you have to be as supportive and helpful as possible, but there’s another side where you have to remind people that they have a responsibility to meet their targets, too. And even though you’ll help, they signed a contract to meet that responsibility.
RFDG: How much has your execution of your duties influenced your personal beliefs about how things should work, and how things are described in contracts, etc?
JS: I think in many ways they are both compatible, but if something was really against my beliefs I wouldn’t sign to begin with. So, my beliefs are probably the primary thing. I just wouldn’t sign something where I felt uncomfortable about doing something.
RFDG: Could you summarise your beliefs about work?
JS: First, it’s important to help people achieve what they want to achieve while at the same time helping the company achieve its aims. To give advice, to always be able to listen. It’s just to try and meet a common goal with the employee and the company at the same time.
RFDG: What are the good things about where you work?
JS: One of the best things is that the school trusts the teacher a lot. They aren’t tied to any coursebook or anything very strict. There is a pacing schedule* but the teacher has the freedom to use their judgment and the student’s needs and personality to execute the course. Also, there’s a wide variety of classes. There’s very young learners, adults, exams, business, summer camp, so there’s a big set of opportunities to develop and try new things. It’s not always successful, but it’s great for development.
*Note: pacing schedules map out what pages from certain textbooks should be covered per lesson. Some pacings are more flexible than others and teachers can be permitted to choose materials that best meet the needs of their students.
RFDG: Do other places have less academic freedom?
JS: I’ve heard other schools have their own coursebook and the teachers aren’t allowed to supplement. There’s a wide variety of schools. Some schools just want a native speaker and they can do what they like but that’s not really teaching, that’s more like being a babysitter. Out of the “real” schools I think some will have a similar level of freedom, others are stricter. Regarding observations, new teachers here are observed at least