On Being and Becoming a Good/Better Teacher (Part 1)

By Rakesh Bhanot
Rakesh Bhanot (teacher/trainer/educator for over 40 years) ran a workshop at the 33 rd TESOL
GREECE Convention on Will you be a better teacher next year? We asked him to share some of
his thinking about this title and to outline some of the ways in which teachers can enhance their
professional skills. In the first of three articles, he provides a brief introduction to the rationale
behind his work in teacher education. Subsequent contributions will include more practical
strategies about teacher development.
Now, it may come as a surprise to some of you (and I am assuming most colleagues reading this have a
university degree; perhaps even more than one) that your higher education teachers (tutors, professors,
supervisors etc.) had little or no training, coaching, development etc. when they taught you or, to be
more precise, when they were helping you to learn.
In most countries (still), university/college teachers are not required to undergo any formal training before
they are let loose on their students. This was certainly the case with yours truly when I became an
undergraduate, BUT that was in a different century and there has been some progress on this front since
then. However, even in the UK, we had to wait till 2006 before it became a requirement for university
teachers to be registered professionals by participating in a one-year in-service programme designed to
hone their pedagogic skills. I used to be Programme Manager for one such course for about ten years.
HANG ON, I hear you shout; but, what has all this got to do with my urgent priorities for my C1
class on Monday morning? OK, OK, for those (sadly few) who read articles such as these for their mere
immediate practical worth, let me get that bit out of the way; then we can concentrate on (for me) the
more interesting stuff. After all, you are not (necessarily) going to become a better (sic.) teacher by
reading this short article. So, on Monday morning, ask your students to write down (in their mother
tongue/s if you like so that you can turn this exercise into a vocabulary lesson as well) the essential skills
of a good teacher; similarly, ask them to make a list of what constitutes a good learner or student for
me these two terms are different but that is stuff for another article. When the students have compiled
their lists, do whatever follow-up you want, or need, to with what the students come up with. However, a
word of warning! The list of (mostly) adjectives describing good teachers produced by your students may
include items such as humorous and/or having charm/charisma. This does not mean that you should
enroll on a course for stand-up comedians or undergo a personality transplant; unless, of course, you
really feel that it would help I know that it (personality transplant) did not work in my case!
Back to where we were aboveHow do we as teachers become good professionals; let alone better
ones? The answer is a simple acronym: CPD or CPE, defined as a structured approach to learning to
help ensure competence to practice, taking in knowledge, skills and practical experience. CPD can
involve any relevant learning activity, whether formal and structured or informal and self-directed. Yes,
Wikipedia has its uses sometimes! By the way, in case you are worried, the C stands for continuing not
continuous.
Before even bothering to delve into the mysteries of CPD/CPE, the question arises: do you really, really
wanna become a better teacher? Or, are you happy that you do a pretty good job and that you have
reached an optimum level of competence? I mention this, not tongue-in-cheek but, in all seriousness
since a respected friend and colleague - when asked why she was not going to attend a national TESOL
conference replied: I learn nothing at such meetings; I dont think I need to learn anything because I
have been teaching quite successfully (thank you very much) for over 20 years! Of course, this person is
not typical of our profession.
So, let us assume that you genuinely want to enhance your professional skills for your own sake and,
also, for the benefit of your students. What are the options open to you? Without having to pay some
public or private institution, that might also award you a certificate of some sort, what can you do to
engage in CPD? Who and what can help you with this? Are you aware of your current strengths and
weaknesses? When was the last time you conducted a SWOT analysis Strengths, Weaknesses,

Threats and Opportunities in relation to your professional practice? Are you familiar with Kolbs learning
cycle and do you apply this to your own learning/teaching; and/or to your students learning? Do you
reflect on your teaching in line with Donald Schns ideas about Reflective Practice? Details on these and
other ideas for CPD to follow in the next issue of this Newsletter.
Bio Data
Rakesh Bhanot has worked in ELT in various capacities - teacher, trainer, inspector, writer, editor et al since 1972.This (and other educational consultancy work) has taken him to over 30 countries. He is the
founder editor of Language Issues (a journal for ESOL teachers in the UK). Rakesh now lives in London
where is Arts Editor for a new publication called Asian Gobal Impact.