Emotional Intelligence: Is it More Important Than any Other Assets?

By Flor de María Vila

                                                         

      Nowadays people contend that it is essential to be able to handle certain difficult situations at work. These situations usually are related to the ability of managing your emotions in a social context.

      What does this have to do with teaching English? We think that our job is safe if we have a good level of English, we know how to apply the different teaching methods needed to instruct different kinds of learners and sufficient teaching experience, don’t we? Shouldn’t that be enough?

        Thinking about this, a memory of a difficult situation came to my mind.

This is it:

            I used to train teachers who gave lessons in a five-day program institute and one of them came to  me and related the following case: As part of his duties, he had to give a grade for the homework done in the workbook. He needed two scores per week, so he didn´t need to check students´ workbooks every day. One day, he checked the students´ workbooks and after that there was a break. When he returned to class, a lady (one of his students) was waiting for him outside the classroom. She claimed that he chose the day she didn´t do her homework to ask for it to make sure that she would fail. Unbelievable, wouldn’t you think? Everything that came to his mind was: “What! What in the world is she talking about?” Instead of retorting to the absurdity, which was his first spontaneous reaction, he tried to calm down himself, and tried to understand why she was behaving that way. Eventually, he realized she was extremely worried about the possibility of failing the course, so he serenely explained to her that there was no way he could know beforehand when she had o hadn´t done her homework. He also offered to help if she had trouble doing the assignment if she didn´t understand. The woman quieted down, returned to class and later in the course she asked for help only once. After that, she became the sweetest person one could ever imagine. Even more, she recommended him to all her contacts.

       So, what had happened? Why didn´t this episode with the woman become a nightmare?Had the teacher used his emotional intelligence or Emotional Quotient-EQ, as David Goleman calls it? According to him there are five components. Let´s see if the teacher in the example used them.

1. When he calmed down himself and tried to understand his student, he definitely identified his emotion and worked on regulating it. This covered two abilities: self-awareness and self-regulation.

2. Offering his help he showed he was able not only to understand how she was feeling but also to manage his response at the light of this information. This is related to a third component: empathy.

3. Being able to interact well with others is another important aspect of emotional intelligence. This ability is known as social skill and he used it when he could manage the woman´s emotions by listening actively when she was explaining what she thought was happening. He got her to return to classes and, even better, later act as a reference for other students.

4. Even though the example given does not display a specific action that illustrates motivation, it is certain that the teacher mentioned encouraged himself to achieve his goals which were beyond mere external rewards. In fact, he used this experience as a driving force to use his emotional intelligence every time it was necessary and became a teacher whom everybody liked and wanted to work with. 

            Was he born with these qualities? Can we learn them? 

                            Do we need to learn them?

       Many employers find emotional intelligence extremely important since it is the one quality that allows people to productively work with peers in better conditions. Employers consider soft skills as important as hard skills since without them employees find employment challenges insuperable.

For us, teachers, the situations in which we may need to use our emotional intelligence are many. Probably the most common ones are the circumstances in which we interact with our students, our colleagues, our students’ parents or relatives and our supervisors, whether they are coordinators, trainers or directors.

  

       A tip that usually works for me is to think the following: Behave, react and respond in the way that person would if he or she were you. For example, be the teacher that student would need if he were you. In the example given lines above, did he need an interlocutor as a punching back? or one that tried to find out what was happening that made her behave that way? It´s certainly not an easy job, but if we work on this, we will definitely be on the right track. Putting myself in the other person’s shoes works for me. What about you?

       And if you do not want to love your neighbor as much as yourself, think about the possibility of losing your job because it is very demanding for others to work with you. If it is extremely difficult to manage your emotions with students, it is very likely that the same happens with the other people with whom you work. We need to educate ourselves or look for help.

        We would be “safe” and keep our jobs if we act proactively and update not only our language skills and our methodological foundation but also train to improve our emotional intelligence since this is precisely what technology would never dominate, in the words of laureate professor Vikas Pota, Chairman, of Varkey Foundation, a family organization seeking to improve global teacher capacity and promote universal access to quality education.

What do you think?

Is Emotional Intelligence really important?

Have you ever been in a situation in which you needed to use it?

Have you trained yourself or is it natural in you?

References:

Goleman,D. "Emotional Intelligence (Goleman)," in A Blog by Concordia University, November 17, 2017, https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/daniel-golemans-emotional-intelligence-theory-explained/

Pota, V. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/people/vikas-pota

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 Teacher trainer, Pedagogic Consultant and Member of the Research Team at Centro de Idiomas de la Universidad del Pacífico. She is Academic Director of International Contacts (test training & foreign applications advisory) and relationship manager for American universities´ MBA admissions officers with International Contacts. 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, IELTS).

Be Chained to the Textbook or be Creative?

By Flor de María Vila

When teaching English, we, teachers, always try to find the best way to help our students achieve their objective: to communicate in English. In this process, we need to take into account our students’ needs, their preferences, their interests as well as the reasons why they are studying. Furthermore, we should enable them to convey their message beyond the topics offered by the course. Thus, to offer the opportunity to express themselves regarding different themes is crucial because of the following:

1.  Students must have a real motivation. Sometimes, unfortunately, the only motivation is to pass their course, exams and so on. Probably this answer varies according to the place where English is taught. It might not be the same to learn English at school as it might be to learn it at a private institution. Nevertheless, in any of the cases, there are pupils who are studying this language because they “have to,” because of either work or studies requirements. The latter may be because they need to study abroad or they need to finish a school or university term successfully. Having further information about what engages students will definitely become a valuable asset.

2. Students must be able to use English in contexts beyond the ones presented in the coursebook. The idea is not necessarily to teach English through different contents as suggested in the article http://languageteachingblogger.blogspot.com/2018/08/teaching-foreign-language-are-we-on.html. The plan would be to use the same themes used in other subjects at school or propose themes that are relevant for the students who are not studying at school or university. In the first case, pupils may consider one of the themes worked in other courses. This is really advantageous because the student would have to deal only with the language (structure & vocabulary) and not the topic which many times inhibits participation. Since students would have already worked with the concept of the theme, they will find less threatening to try to communicate. In fact, they may feel more comfortable because not everything is new. For instance, if at school all courses are working with the topic of “drugs,” the English teacher can use this topic to help students communicate giving their opinions in a debate organized with students from different classes. Students from different levels and years could participate. Even more, if possible, the whole school could organize things in such a way that different places at school could display banners with information related to the topic.

Regarding our students of the second group, they will always find it more appealing and useful to exercise using English in contexts that are more meaningful for them.

3. This way of working adds variety to the lessons: Not following always the material presented in the texts makes our teaching less predictable and thus more stimulating for both students and teachers. Contemplating other themes whether they are transversal like the ones worked in schools or just different and relevant for students automatically generates a different environment in the lessons. Experience shows that students are more willing and engaged when they are challenged with useful and interesting issues they can use to communicate. 

Are there any other advantages? What about the disadvantages? Do the benefits outweigh the drawbacks?

BIODATA

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, IELTS).

FROM PAVLOV …..TO FedEx…....TEACHING IN PERU!    Is motivating students becoming more difficult?

By Flor de María Vila

What makes students listen to us teachers, pay attention, and carry out the exercises we prepare? Motivation?

The immediate answer may be YES! And we may quickly say that to motivate kids means to grant rewards such as happy faces, candies, more points, etc. Nonsense!! First, answer this: Is there anything that you love doing? singing? dancing?, or anything that you will do for free?.  These activities you love doing show the intrinsic motivation that lies behind; nobody has to oblige you to perform any of these activities. That´s the kind of motivation we need to provide because that will help us to achieve our main goal: encourage students and get them to learn.

What happens with the motivation we have provided so far? Is it wrong?

No! It is good. In fact, giving rewards shows our knowledge of the Classical Conditioning Theory by Ivan Pavlov, which is useful in a way. Furthermore, doing this helps students achieve the simplest categories of the cognitive domain such as “remembering” and “understanding” classified in Bloom´s Taxonomy. But how long do we keep students motivated with this approach? Does it work on “difficult” days such as, let´s say, Monday or Friday? Does it work well enough in the last hour of a Friday´s class for instance?  No? Well, the reason must be that the extrinsic motivation provided by the “rewards” is not strong enough to keep them engaged. Actually, the extrinsic motivation generated by having the students associate the reward with “obedience” or “participation” does not have a long effect. Furthermore, we may find out that they are even less motivated if they have to work on activities that demand the use of more complex intellectual skills such as “evaluating”, “creating” or “analyzing” (Bloom, 1994).  For God´s sake! What can we then do?

Daniel Pink (1) points out how extrinsic motivation produces a result on people´s performance and how lasting its effect could be. He quotes Karl Duncker´s experiment, The Candle Problem, which has been used in Behavioral Science. This experiment proves that rewards narrow our focus. Giving rewards is useful when solving clear and simple tasks but not when it is necessary to solve insight, complex problems. In classes, narrowing students´ focus means keeping them working “motivated” to get the prize, NOT TO LEARN. Luckily, some students may learn, but only simple concepts such as new vocabulary. However, when it comes the time to do more complex activities, the stress caused by the need of obtaining the “prize” is too much. This stress narrows the focus, so learners are not able to perform the task. Not being able to accomplish a task causes DEMOTIVATION. Then, students stop trying and the reward is NOT appealing anymore.

So…what keeps students interested in our classes?

Indubitably, motivation should appear before, during and even after we propose any activity.

Before: for instance, the teacher must show a positive attitude from the very beginning. If you do not show enthusiasm for what you are doing, why should students? We need to be coherent, don´t we? Just picture yourself doing what you love doing: singing? dancing? That´s the attitude we should show!!! After: for example, when evaluating the outcome of an activity, make sure to provide feedback first on what was best, praise everybody´s participation and, if possible, find out together with learners what needs to be done to improve it. There are more ideas about motivating before and afterward, and they will be included in another article.

During: Among other things, using higher level of thinking is what keeps students engaged and happy for longer periods. In fact, that is what helps students learn and that´s our main objective, isn´t it? How can we achieve that? First of all, we need to change the focus: make sure that our students commit themselves rather than just obey us.  We need to give them self–direction (autonomy) and they will love carrying out the tasks suggested. Students need to feel that they are taken into account, that their ideas and choices are valued. So what we need to do is to include events such as the FedEx Day (2) , a day in which basically students themselves design what they are going to do (autonomy)  as long as they do something different. This is not utopian at all. Google and many other companies have implemented this kind of day and they have had great results. Schools around the world practice this and the results are amazing!!  Let students decide what to do on Fridays, for instance, and they will naturally feel more motivated; thus, more engaged with our classes. They can decide to do innovative and different kinds of projects of their choice and interest.  For example, they can do some research about their favourite video game, singer, sports, actor, group etc and prepare a talk about that. They can even decide to do the presentation with a video and/or music. They could act out a chapter of a book they are reading at school (part of a reading plan?) They could prepare a speech or debate about “zombies” or life in another planet!! They will need you to help them with the language or to guide them but with less intervention.                                                                                                                                     

These kinds of activities provide not only autonomy but also purpose and mastery. Having an objective is the engine that keeps the car moving. Mastery must be felt and that will lead to try to become better and better; thus, students won´t stop trying to make progress in what they find interesting.

Does FedEx Day really work in Peru?

It is very likely that we have done this on “project day,” for instance, and we may have considered it a waste of time. The students speak Spanish, not everybody works, and so on. How can we make it different? In order to make this FedEx Day more effective and have students use English the most, make sure they work in pairs or in groups of maximum three members. They could also work individually if that is what they need to feel more autonomous. Let them be! Make sure students choose what and how to work. Needless to say: monitor students´ work. Make sure you collect some evidence of both students´ work and the reasoning behind the activity. You can use the model proposed by Pernille Ripp (3). On the one hand, this can be useful to have some sort of evidence of students´ achievement, which may be required by the principal or our pupils’ parents. This may be necessary for them in case they cannot see the project itself.  On the other hand, students will need to use higher cognitive skills by creating, designing, evaluating, recommending, comparing or solving. Remember that the use of these skills is what makes motivation last longer. Isn´t that what we want? Suddenly, you will see your students waiting for FedEx Day. I am sure you will take advantage of that in many ways during the other days. It is worthwhile the try, is it not? Anyway, if you´ve got any questions on how to do this with your class, do not hesitate to write. I´ll be ready to help you take the FedEx flight!!

Regarding the above, please choose any of the following questions and share your thoughts.

1. Although it is true that intrinsic motivation lasts longer, do you think there could be some instances in which extrinsic motivation can be more effective?

2. What works better with you in class: commitment or obedience? Does it depend on where you work? (school or institute)

References:

(1)    DANIEL PINK- About motivation     https://youtu.be/8SXkUvIzMFw

(2)    FedEx Day  www.scrum.org/Portals/0/Documents/Community%20Work/Scrum.org-Whitepaper_FedEx%20Day%20-%20Lighting%20Corporate%20Passion.pdf

(3)    PLAN SHEET BY PERNILLE RIPP https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NeYqEn2mkZUHIi0z9CqhXSSMA62zkQNrg-KynUVn1iI/edit?usp=sharing

Biodata

Flor de María Vila. 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. She is Academic Director of International Contacts (test training & foreign applications advisory) and Relationship Associate Manager for American universities´ MBA admissions officers with International Contacts. She is official Examiner for several University of Cambridge tests, former freelance consultant with Universidad ESAN, experienced speaker on diverse English teaching issues for prestigious institutions, and senior international examinations trainer (GMAT, GRE, TOEFL, IELTS).