Meet our Top 3 Teachers

When I was a child I remember myself playing a game of “teacher and students” with my friends or toys. I was always the teacher and I enjoyed “explaining” things to my “students” and giving them scores. When I was 15, my English tutor invited me to co-teach toddlers in her class, and that was my first real teaching experience. I was out of this world with happiness. Seeing younger generation learning from you solidified my desire to continue to pursue this career. It gives me a sense of fulfilment when my students achieve their goals. It's just awesome.

I believe a teacher should be patient and understanding and preferably a good listener to be able to understand students’ feelings and intentions. Studying is not only a process of transferring information to one another, it involves communication and creating a certain type of relationship between the instructor and the class. So a teacher should be able to handle it and know how to build trust/friendship with the students.

Personally, I still have a few teachers from my adolescence whom I still keep in touch with, as well as I have some former students of mine who always remember to drop me a line on my birthday or just to say 'hi'. Being able to build such a connection with your students is certainly very important.

To be able to reach their goal they should clearly understand what their goal is. For example, if we talk about learning a language for traveling, studying or business. It’s also great to set mini-goals which are easily achieved in shorter periods of time. That way students can follow up on their progress which would encourage them to go forward! Unless their goal is to study just for fun, which is also great, as long as it gives them a feeling of fulfillment and pleasure.

The first one definitely has to be speaking. Most EFL (English as a foreign language) learners hesitate to use the language even after years of learning and are afraid of making mistakes. They also don’t find their grammar perfect and dwell on their structure a lot while speaking. Those who don’t have these two problems complain about how difficult it is to learn slang and idioms. Most attribute these common problems to lack of exposure to the target language, but with the right kind of help, these can be solved.

Private students set very clear goals and give more feedback on the course because it is tailored for them and adjustable. Corporate students tend to be more motivated as there is competition within the company. They also prefer learning in specific business context.

There are many qualities I value. Tolerance, patience, and expertise, for sure. Learning is a process with trial and error in which students may lose confidence. A teacher’s role is to balance the pressure and use his or her expertise to lead students. Students come from different backgrounds and the speed they learn with also varies. A teacher should also be able to accept different views however different they are from theirs.

Teaching for me is about unlocking potential and taking students on a journey. Making them realize that not only they can learn something, but they can find patterns and solve problems on their own. I'm always fascinated when I look at the difference between students on the first day and the last day, and the growth within that period. Not only in terms of the subject matter, but also the maturity, and other soft skills that will help students throughout their life.

The most annoying thing about learning for me is when I don't understand the importance of the topic. Good teaching ties the topic to our lives and shows us why it is relevant. Great learning is less about memorizing formulae and facts, and more about understanding the world slightly more, it is about being able to apply the learning to your life.

Working outside of my home country, and meeting others who do as well, the three key attributes I've seen across the board are:

1. Flexibility - Working abroad means you need to adapt to the culture where you work. It is about understanding that others do things differently, and while you can bring your own style, you will still need to adapt. When you mix your style into the local style, you create something different and unique to you that others value and something that can be passed onto the younger generations.

2. Resilience - Working abroad is hard. Especially in the beginning. You're usually away from family, having to make new friends in a new environment. They may speak a different language and have different cultural norms as well. Those who are successful understand that it is hard and fight through the initial change, and find strategies that allow them to settle in more comfortably. They include meeting people of a similar background, other foreigners, adapting to the environment and being open minded to the new experiences that they are going through.

3. Goal-setting - When abroad it is always good to set goals with what you want to achieve. Do you want some experience before you return? Do you want to settle permanently? Do you want to rise through a company, or work across multiple companies in the market? Setting goals allows you to have a direction to follow during your time abroad and you can work towards something. This forces you to create strategies that will help you during your experience abroad.