By Flor de María Vila A.
Unfortunately, there are
many teachers who still believe that teaching English means to “display” the
knowledge which students are expected to acquire. Yet, some educators are eager
to find the right methodology for their courses because they think it would
help themselves achieve their objective: make pupils learn. On the other hand,
some professionals are willing to accept any help that avoids their spending
too much time preparing materials, exercises, activities, exams and even lesson
plans. It is a fact that teachers, in general, work more than 8 hours daily, so
anything that reduces their load of work is highly welcome. Everything mentioned
above may be reasonable. However, the main challenge is that even having a very
favorable scenario, there still are students who do not learn, or even worse,
stop trying to learn. Teachers may have the perfect methodology, resources and
books, yet they still cannot feel completely satisfied with the results they
actually achieve and all their efforts seem to vanish.
Having
the right methodology, books, or any other resources does not guarantee the
success of a class. There are some other aspects that may be even much more important
and that´s something we need to find out.
Would the solution be excellent lesson
plans, amazing visual aids, and outstanding technological resources?
May having enthusiastic students assure
their success in learning?
Share your ideas with us and unveil the
secret!
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
M.A. in
Cognition, Learning and Development from PUCP, B.A. in Education with a
major in English Teaching. Ms. Vila is currently Pedagogic Advisor and Member
of the Research Team at Centro de Idiomas de la Universidad del Pacífico and
Academic Director of International Contacts (test training & foreign
applications advisory). She is official Examiner for several University of
Cambridge tests, freelance consultant with Universidad ESAN, experienced
speaker on diverse English teaching issues for prestigious institutions, and
senior international examinations trainer (GMAT, GRE, TOEFL).
