Focusing on Language in the Classroom

It is very interesting when observing trainee teachers on a CELTA course, how many feel the need to “teach” in the old-fashioned sense of the word.  Many trainees believe that if they haven’t stood at the front of the classroom talking at the students for a good chunk of the lesson that they haven’t actually taught anything.

In my opinion, teachers of EFL (though I am sure teachers of other subjects would benefit too) need to stop thinking that they have to teach but rather that they have to help students learn.  After all, if you have discovered something for yourself, you are more likely to remember it.